So Cool Gadget

WooCommerce vs. Shopify: which should you choose for your ecommerce business?

Unlike in years past when you had to hire a developer to build an online store for you, there are now a number of services that allow you to build an ecommerce store with little to no knowledge of coding.

When it comes to building your ecommerce store, there are two that really stand heads and tails above the rest: Shopify and WooCommerce. These are the two most popular ecommerce platforms for a reason.

But which is the best e-commerce platform? If you read the reviews, both seem pretty good. They both have glowing reviews. They both have people recommending them. How can you know which is right for you?

That’s where we come in. We’re going to break down everything you need to know about Shopify and WooCommerce, and give you some recommendations on which is more appropriate for specific situations. This can help you a lot if you’re trying to zero in on what makes one solution better or different than the other.

We’ll break this down in detail below, but long story short, here’s what you need to know:

Shopify vs. WooCommerce:

1. Both platforms are outstanding ecommerce options that offer similar features and functionality.
2. Your choice will probably depend on differences in pricing models between WooCommerce and Shopify.
3. Shopify is fantastic for those new to ecommerce or those who want a turnkey solution.
4. WooCommerce is perfect for those who want full control over their ecommerce store and also want the power of WordPress.

But let’s go a little deeper. By the end, you’ll be ready to start building your own ecommerce store.

WHAT IS SHOPIFY?

First things first: what is Shopify?

Essentially, it’s an online tool that enables you to build an ecommerce store without doing any coding.

You don’t need to hire a developer, and if you get stuck on any of the steps, Shopify will guide you by the hand. And, there’s a huge community of Shopify users and experts out there willing to help if that’s not enough.

With Shopify you can sell all sorts of products, including physical items, digital downloads, drop shipped products, and even services. If you have a brick-and-mortar store, you can integrate it with your Shopify store thanks to their Point-Of-Sale devices.

If you’re new to ecommerce or simply want a simple, turnkey solution, Shopify is certainly a solid option. It allows you to get up and running really quickly.

WHAT IS WOOCOMMERCE?

In order to understand WooCommerce, you need to understand WordPress. WordPress is a massively popular, open-source website building platform. It’s so popular that it’s estimated that WordPress runs 28.9% of the internet, including some of the biggest sites out there. You can be sure that if more than ¼ of the internet uses WordPress, it’s got some things going for it.

However, WordPress wasn’t built specifically with ecommerce in mind. Rather, it’s designed to be an all-in-one solution for creating and managing content with a dynamic website. Part of the reason WordPress is such a popular CMS is because it has an extensive ecosystem of add-ons called plugins. These plugins extend WordPress’s functionality in new and exciting ways allowing it to do much more than just publish blog posts.

That’s where WooCommerce comes in. WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that adds a host of ecommerce features to any WordPress site, including things like a shopping cart, product pages, inventory management, etc.

WooCommerce stores are free to create because both WordPress and the WooCommerce plugin are free. Yes, you will need to spend a bit of money on things like WordPress web hosting, but you have that expense anyway if you already have a WordPress website. If you’re not already using WordPress, then the cost of web hosting becomes a bigger factor in your decision. That’s an additional expense you do not have to worry about with Shopify.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SHOPIFY

Now that you know a little bit about both services, let’s explore Shopify to give you a good feel for the service.

DESIGN OPTIONS

If your site doesn’t look good, people won’t want to buy from you. Your site can’t look like it was designed during the Geocities era or by someone who really loved MySpace. It needs to look professional, clean, and be easy to navigate.

Without these elements, you can be pretty sure you won’t succeed in e-commerce.

Shopify offers more than 50 different, professionally designed store themes. Ten of these themes are free, with the rest usually costing between $140-$200. The themes are professionally designed and allow you to easily customize the look and feel of your shop.

Shopify outsources all theme design to professional developers who ensure that the themes stay appropriately updated. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage is that the theme always stays fresh, but the disadvantage is that they can cost quite a bit.

Shopify makes it pretty simple to change most of the design options on your site, like colors and styles. You can also easily update your site with new items and even change your theme completely. If you’re preparing for a new product launch, you can edit sections of your store without taking it offline.

If you’re an advanced developer, you can use Shopify’s specialized ‘Liquid’ language to make more significant changes. This isn’t necessary; only if you want to really go deep into your site.

PRICING OPTIONS

Shopify is Software As A Service (SaaS) so they offer several pricing tiers that give increasingly more features as the monthly price goes up. The tier you choose determines which options are available to you.

The most popular pricing package for Shopify will cost you $29/month, and they also have a number of other options:

• Lite ($9 per month)
• Basic Shopify ($29 per month)
• Shopify ($79 per month)
• Advanced Shopify ($299 per month).

On top of these monthly fees, you will also pay transaction fees every time you sell something. Shopify takes a cut of every transaction, and if you’re using a payment gateway like PayPal or Stripe, there will be additional transaction fees from them.

Because transaction fees vary and change depending on the payment gateway you choose, you’ll want to look into all the details to determine how you want to handle that aspect.

SHOPIFY FEATURES

Shopify offers a robust set of features right out of the box, including:

• Unlimited products
• Unlimited file storage
• Automatic fraud analysis
• Embedded Oberlo integration
• Credit card payments
• Multiple languages
• Adjustable shipping rates and taxes
• Customer profiles
• Drop shipping capabilities
• Manual order creation
• Discount codes
• Blog module
• Free SSL certificate
• Mobile commerce optimization
• Editable HTML and CSS
• Daily backups
• Site stats and product reports
• Fully featured mobile app
• Product importing via CSV files
• Different product variations
• Print orders
• SEO-ready site structure
• Individual product reviews
• Facebook selling module
• Social media integration
• Physical and digital products in the store
• Unlimited traffic to your store

Again, Shopify’s goal is to be a turnkey product that allows you to quickly and easily build an ecommerce store. Including all these features ensures that you have everything you need to build your store.

With Shopify, you can extend its base features using plugins called Shopify Apps. With Shopify become such a popular ecommerce solution, there’s a large ecosystem of third-party apps available to create advanced functionality like sophisticated email marketing, advanced financial and inventory analysis, and much more. If there’s a need, chances are there are already several apps that solve that problem.

Shopify also offers an Enterprise-grade solution called Shopify Plus. You probably won’t need the power and features of Shopify Plus right out of the gate but it’s nice to know that they can continue to support your store as it grows.

EASE OF USE

One of Shopify’s greatest strengths is ease of use. It’s intentionally designed to make things quick and easy. All you need to do to get started is go to Shopify.com, go through the signup wizard process, and you’re done.

After that, you can take your store live and begin selling. It’s really that simple.

The Shopify dashboard makes it easy to get a feel for your store performance, as well as any issues you need to be aware of. It’s also easy to adjust settings like shipping, taxes, handling new orders, giving refunds, and more.

For example, when you’re adding a product to your Shopify store, every option is available on a single panel so you don’t have to visit multiple spots on your dashboard when adding new products. This means you don’t have to hunt in multiple places for all the things that need to be included (description, specs, shipping, etc.) when you bring new products to market.

If technology is intimidating to you, Shopify does everything they can to make things easy.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Because Shopify wants to be an all-in-one solution, they make great efforts to offer first class customer care. You can reach a customer care specialist at any time, 24/7 via phone, email, or live chat.

They also has an extensive knowledge base that contains solutions to many of the most common problems.

If you’re worried about getting stuck or running into a problem, Shopify wants to set your mind at ease.

SHOPIFY SEO

Basic SEO practices like meta data and site copy are no problem with Shopify. Assuming you’re adding sufficient descriptions for products, home page copy, and other SEO-related items, you should be fine.

And when it comes to design, Shopify themes have a reputation for clean code and natural linking structures, both of which are important for search rankings.

Because Shopify stores are hosted on their massive infrastructure, pages load fast, which is another important element for SEO.

The only downside is that if you want to add a blog, it needs to be hosted on a third-party like WordPress.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WOOCOMMERCE

Now that you have a solid feel for Shopify, let’s explore WooCommerce. WooCommerce offers the same functions as Shopify with one key advantage: control.

Because Shopify stores are built on the Shopify platform, you are limited in what you can do. You’re limited to their themes and their selling options. With WooCommerce, on the other hand, your options are almost unlimited because you’re building on the WordPress platform, which has thousands of themes and plugins, all of which can enhance your store.

With Shopify, you don’t own your site. You get your own URL, and you’re spared the fee of hosting, but you’re restricted only to what Shopify allows you to do. This straightforward approach works well for eCommerce beginners (and lazy entrepreneurs), but not for those that prefer a hands-on approach.

By contrast, WordPress and its WooCommerce plugin are tools to facilitate building your own site. You have much more options, vast libraries of plugins to customize your site, and more control in general — especially when it comes to site design, which we’ll discuss below.

Think of it like this: You’re building a house and you have to choose between two construction crews. One lets you design the plans however you want, but the other comes with a rigid architect who tells you what you can and can’t do.

DESIGN OPTIONS

WooCommerce has been designed to work with the majority of WordPress themes, which means that your design options are essentially endless. There are many free themes available and thousands of top-quality premium themes to choose from. If you already have a WordPress site and a theme you like, WooCommerce can probably work with it. If you’re just getting started, you should pick a theme that advertises WooCommerce compatibility to ensure all its e-commerce features display correctly.

There are themes that have been built specifically for WooCommerce, so if you’re having trouble selecting a theme, these are always a solid option. The Storefront Theme is the official WooCommerce theme and is a fine choice for your ecommerce store.

While Shopify has an impressive range of themes, WooCommerce can be incorporated into any WordPress theme, in addition to its own library. That gives it far more variety, not just in template design, but in site features.

Think about it. With WooCommerce, you can integrate any WordPress plugin into your eCommerce site. This creates a nearly infinite selection of possibilities.

Of course, this means you have to put more time into designing your site, and not all plugins are free. Most of the Shopify themes are well designed, and if you have no desire to mess with design, then Shopify might be a better option.

PRICING OPTIONS

Both WooCommerce and WordPress are free. However, you will need to purchase a few things like web hosting, a domain name, a theme (if you choose a premium one), and any premium plugins you might use.

Additionally, you’ll need to factor in the transaction fees from your payment gateway. Thankfully, these will only come into effect when you make a sale.

When it comes to price, WooCommerce is at least initially, the cheaper alternative. However, if you start purchasing premium themes and plugins, your costs will go up. Depending on the Shopify plan, you could end up paying about the same amount.

FEATURES

WooCommerce can do anything that Shopify can do, and then some. While it doesn’t necessarily have all the features Shopify has right out of the box, you can be sure that someone has developed a plugin for whatever feature you need and there will probably be several different options to choose from. You’ll find plugins for everything from abandoned cart functionality to inventory management. You can fine-tune your checkout page and add in sophisticated marketing automation features. If there’s a need, there’s a plugin. In the event you need some very specific functionality and a plugin doesn’t exist, you’ll find that there’s an ocean of experienced WordPress developers that would be happy to create that plugin for you.

Whether you want to sell on Facebook, implement email marketing, or study your customer’s behavior, WooCommerce can do it.

Here’s what you’ll get with WooCommerce:

• Hundreds of plugins
• Runs off of your WordPress theme
• Payments via PayPal and Stripe built-in
• Adjustable shipping rates and taxes
• Complete control over your website and its data
• Facebook ad and Facebook stores extensions
• Unlimited products and categories
• Inventory control
• Mobile-friendly structure

WooCommerce does a lot right out of the box and it’s free. It’s free core features are very similar to Shopify’s paid plans. This might make it seem like a much more affordable option, and it very well may be, but you should be mindful of the fact that in order to get advanced ecommerce features you may need to buy paid plugins.

EASE OF USE

Once you get through the initial steps of setting up a WordPress site, working with WooCommerce is just as easy as working with Shopify.

The initial setup isn’t difficult, but it does take a bit longer and involve a few small technical details. If you’re uncomfortable when it comes to technology, you could have trouble at this step, but it’s really not difficult.

To get started with WooCommerce, you need to:

• Buy your domain name.
• Purchase web hosting.
• Install WordPress.
• Install the WooCommerce plugin.
• Install any additional plugins needed.

If this intimidates you, there are hosting companies that specialize in WordPress that will take care of everything for you. Some companies even have 1-click WordPress and WooCommerce installation options, meaning you can get your store up and running with minimal technical work.

Once your site and WooCommerce are up and running, you’ll be taken through a setup wizard. It will help you set up things like currency settings, shipping options, payment gateways, and more.

And like Shopify, WooCommerce makes it very easy to add new products. It usually can be done with a few clicks, meaning you don’t have to spend hours trying to get new products into your ecommerce store.

SUPPORT

One downside of WooCommerce is that, unlike Shopify, WooCommerce doesn’t have a central customer support staff. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t find solutions to your problems.

Because WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin, you can get support on their forums or by creating a free account at WooCommerce.com.

Additionally, Because WordPress and WooCommerce are open source, the developers who create the themes and plugins are available for support if you run into any issues.

WOOCOMMERCE SEO

This is one way that WooCommerce significantly outperforms Shopify. Hands down, WordPress is the best platform for blogging, which gives it a significant advantage for SEO. In fact, it’s not uncommon for Shopify sites to host their blogs externally on WordPress. Using a WooCommerce site on WordPress means consolidating these two crucial segments of the same brand.

WordPress’s blogging capabilities encapsulate both a comprehensive CMS for content management and specific SEO concerns like meta data. Again, good SEO requires effort, but with WooCommerce on WordPress, the option is there for those that don’t mind the legwork.

If you write outstanding blog content for the right keywords, you have a good shot at showing up on the first page of Google for particular searches, which can drive a massive amount of ecommerce sales.

SO WHICH SHOULD YOU CHOOSE?

Ultimately, the choice between Shopify and WordPress comes down to what you want out of your ecommerce store.

Let’s break it down like this:

CHOOSE SHOPIFY IF…

Shopify distinguishes itself by being a really simple ecommerce solution for everyone. Anybody with the most basic computer and internet skills can create a Shopify store relatively quickly. It’s a simple, powerful turnkey solution that works right away.

If the primary thing you’re after is simplicity and ease of use, Shopify can provide that. The setup is quick and easy and have a single dashboard that presents you with all the information.

You should use Shopify…

• If you don’t have a website and you want to get an ecommerce store up and running as fast as possible with minimal effort.
• If you don’t mind paying a fee for all the features, even if you might not need them all.
• If you don’t care about the technological side of your ecommerce platform and just want it to work well and look good.
• If you are uncomfortable working setting up WordPress and don’t want to pay anybody to setup your store for you.
• If you want a turnkey approach where all you need to do is sign up and follow a few simple instructions.
• If you think you’ll depend heavily on customer support.

CHOOSE WOOCOMMERCE IF…

WooCommerce takes advantage of the hugely popular and powerful WordPress platform. Because of this, you get access to thousands of themes and plugins that can really make your e-commerce store shine.

In terms of ecommerce, WooCommerce can do everything Shopify can, including coupons, shipping, taxes, and a lot more. You also have significantly more SEO options at your disposal with WooCommerce.

An important concern to consider with WooCommerce, that you don’t have to worry about with Shopify, is choosing the right hosting provider for your website. Shopify handles this for you but you’ll want to be sure you find an experienced WordPress host that’s familiar with the unique technical, security, and maintenance needs of WordPress sites. In the world of web hosting, you generallly get what you pay for so don’t bargain shop on something as important as ecommerce hosting.

You should use WooCommerce…

• If you want full control of your eCommerce store.
• If you to enhance your store with thousands of site designs and plugins.
• If you can handle the technical work required upfront to get your site up and running.
• If you’re one of those people who likes to do everything on their own.
• If you have a smaller budget.
• If you already have a WordPress site and want to build your store on top of it.
• If you already have a WordPress site and don’t want to add the additional cost of Shopify.
• If you can survive without 24/7 customer support.

CONCLUSION

Honestly, WooCommerce and Shopify are both outstanding options for building your e-commerce store. If you’re already familiar with WordPress, you might find the learning curve on WooCommerce more palatable than having to learn the ins and outs of a completely new CMS.

Whichever you choose, the end result will still be a fully functional ecommerce store that can accept payments and process orders.

So the real question is, “What are you waiting for?”

The world needs another Amazon. Go create one!

• Microsoft isn’t ready to reveal the Xbox Series X price, and the upcoming Xbox gaming event might not include retail availability information for the next-gen console.
• Microsoft this week revealed various new details about its upcoming Xbox plans, including the revelation that manufacturing for the Xbox One X and Xbox One S All-Digital Edition was halted in anticipation of the Series X launch.
• This move actually teases what could be an incredible Black Friday Xbox deal this holiday season: A cheaper Xbox offer than ever before.

---

Like Sony, Microsoft is setting the stage for the imminent arrival of its next-gen console. The Xbox Series X will launch this holiday season, and there will be no coronavirus-related delays, Microsoft said recently. This week, Microsoft revealed new details about its Xbox plans going forward. We’re yet to find out the price and release date of the Series X, and Microsoft has not confirmed the existence of the cheaper Series S. Still, Microsoft is getting its Xbox affairs in order ahead of the highly anticipated holiday season.

The company talked about backward compatibility and announced that the Project xCloud game streaming product will be available free of charge to all Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. We already explained why that may be great news to anyone looking to score a cheap next-gen console this year. On top of that, it made a huge change to its Xbox inventory that teases a massive potential deal for this holiday season.

Microsoft is widely expected to put massive pressure on Sony when it comes to pricing for the next-gen console. The Series X could be cheaper than the PS5 this fall, and the Series S is rumored to be even more affordable than all of them. Microsoft may not be ready to reveal pricing details for the new consoles, and there’s no telling whether next week’s Xbox gaming even will hold such a surprise announcement. But Microsoft is ready to “kill” the Xbox One.

“As we ramp into the future with Xbox Series X, we’re taking the natural step of stopping production on Xbox One X and Xbox One S All-Digital Edition,” a Microsoft spokesperson told The Verge. “Xbox One S will continue to be manufactured and sold globally.”

With a more powerful console on the way, it makes sense for Microsoft to stop making the One X. The same goes for the cheapest One S version, especially if Microsoft is looking to pitch a new cheap next-gen Xbox to buyers. It’s what happens with plenty of other products.

But what stands out in the statement above is the fact that the Xbox One S will continue to be manufactured. The regular One S has a list price of $299.99, although you can probably score better deals at various times of the year. But that’s the price before the launch of the Series X.

Once the Series X arrives, Microsoft could continue to sell Xbox One S as the absolute cheapest Xbox version. It may be old, the One S comes with a Blu-ray disc, and can still support plenty of new games. And once Series X drops, that $299.99 retail price of the One S will surely be changed.

This is all speculation at this time, as the spokesperson hasn’t said how long the One S will continue to be manufacture. But let’s not forget Microsoft’s previous statements on Series X sales. Xbox boss Phil Spencer acknowledged that 2020 is not a regular year for console sales, especially for the next-gen model, suggesting that Microsoft is ready to deal with the new conditions of the market. The novel coronavirus can impact sales, and Spencer said the company will focus on the gaming experience for all its customers, not Series X sales this year. A $199.99 or $249.99 Xbox One S, which could be sold for even less during the Black Friday 2020 season, could definitely help with that.

Retailers that still stock Xbox One X and One S All-Digital Edition versions could offer further sales on these products as we approach the holiday season. The All-Digital Edition is currently sold out on Microsoft’s online store, and it will probably not be in stock again.

We’re here to help you find the very best Microsoft Surface Pro prices and deals. Our price comparison tools below displays the latest buying options for you across multiple Surface devices. 

If you’ve also been checking out the latest iPad deals and iPad Pro prices, you might be on the lookout for something a bit cheaper. Plus having the Windows operating system might be a better fit for your needs if that’s what you’re used to.

We’ve tracked down the best deals on the Surface Pro 7 but we’re also tracking all the latest Surface Pro deals on older models as well. Sensibly-priced stock of models older than 2018 seems to have dried up now, so we’ve decided to keep things simple so you can get the best value for money and avoid overpaying for outdated technology.

Looking for something a bit smaller? Then you’ll want to take a look at the cutest member of the Surface family, the Surface Go – a smaller and cheaper version of the Surface Pro tablet. Microsoft set forth to make a professional tablet so good, you’ll be able to replace your laptop and we believe it’s done just that with its most recent models.

Important note: Most Surface Pro deals, especially the cheaper ones, do not come with the Type Cover keyboard attachment or Surface Pen. Retailer sites can be a bit misleading as they’ll generally show the device with the keyboard, so be sure to check the full description. We’ve included a price comparison chart for the keyboard and pen below too if you need to pick them up separately. Most retailers have the option to add one to standalone deals too.

The best Surface Pro deals and prices

The best Surface Pro 7 prices

A spec bump with a punch

CPU: Intel Dual-Core i3; Quad-Core i5-i7 | Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics; Intel Iris Plus Graphics | RAM: 4GB-16GB LPDDR4x | Screen: 12.3-inch, 2736 x 1,824 | Storage: 128GB-1TB SSD | Ports: 1x USB-C, 1x USB-A, 1x Surface Connect port, microSDX card reader, headphone/mic jack | Cameras: 8MP rear-facing autofocus camera (1080p full HD video); 5MP front-facing camera (1080p full HD video) | Mic: Dual far-field Studio Mics | Weight: i3 / i5, 1.7 pounds (775g); i7, 1.74 pounds (790g) | Size: 11.5 x 7.9 x 0.33 inches (292 x 201 x 8.5mm; W x D x H)Faster than ever processing speeds New and improved mics to improve Cortana’s hearing USB-C port Battery potentially doesn’t hold up against Pro 6Design remains the same 

The tradition of slight spec bumps in each new Surface model continues with the Surface Pro 7. Such spec bumps aren’t about to go unnoticed, however. Quad-core i5 and i7 processors allow the Pro 7 to handle multitasking even with more demanding programs without so much as a whimper. That means snappier wake times over the sometimes lagging Pro 6. Plus, if you know you don’t need to take advantage of these processing boosts, the basic i3 dual-core processor with 4GB of RAM is back to save you some pennies. 

Other than the USB-C port proudly sitting on the Pro 7, you won’t be able to tell the models apart. There’s still no Thunderbolt 3 in the picture though, which puts fantasies of speedy dual-screen sessions to bed. Remember, the Surface Pro 7 doesn’t come with the keyboard you’ll see in its main photography. Nevertheless, the Surface Connect Port still remains so if you already have previous accessories they will work fine. 

Then we get to the battery. Our Surface Pro 7 review found that the newest Pro tablet bowed out with two hours less battery life than its predecessor. It’s a finding that seems to have been repeated across user experience. While Microsoft has released a patch for the system we’re still waiting on a final verdict.

If you’re looking for an amazing tablet for precision multitasking and more than capable processing speeds then the Pro 7 could be for you. If you have the Surface Pro 6 already (and you’re not fussed about ports that don’t carry Thunderbolt 3), it looks like you’re most of the way there anyway. 

The best Surface Pro 6 prices

2018’s entry might see the best upcoming discounts

CPU: Intel Core i5-i7 | Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620 | RAM: 8GB-16GB | Screen: 12.3-inch, 2,736 x 1,824 | Storage: 256GB SSD | Ports: 1 x USB 3.0, mini DisplayPort, microSDXC card reader (UHS-I), headphone/mic jack | Cameras: 8MP rear-facing, auto-focus camera (1080p HD); 5MP front-facing, 1080p HD camera | Weight: 1.7 pounds (771g) | Size: 11.5 x 7.9 x 0.33 inches (292 x 201 x 8.5mm; W x D x H)

The 2018 entry in the Surface family is the Microsoft Surface Pro 6, which follows up from 2017’s numberless Surface Pro, which itself followed the Surface Pro 4. We know, let’s just get through this. Five, Microsoft! That’s the number you couldn’t remember!

Available in a new black color for the first time (or the regular silver), the Surface Pro 6 prices should start to waver with the release of the latest Pro 7 model. The Surface Pro 6 does make some processing improvements on an already excellent line of slates, with the latest 8th-gen Kaby Lake i5 or i7 processors. Given little else has changed this year beyond the i5/i7 generational processing upgrades, there’s nothing stopping you saving money by opting for this slightly older model while stocks last – if you don’t need the added processing grunt. If you need a USB-C, however, the latest release might be better for you.

The best Surface Pro (2017) prices and bundles

Older, but still holds up well today

CPU: Intel Core m3-i7 | Graphics: Intel HD graphics 620 – Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 | RAM: 4-16GB | Screen: 12.3-inch, 2,736 x 1,824 | Storage: 128-512GB SSD | Ports: 1x USB 3.0, mini DisplayPort, microSDXC card reader (UHS-I), headphone/mic jack | Cameras: 8MP rear-facing, auto-focus camera (1080p HD); 5MP front-facing, 1080p HD camera | Weight: 1.73 pounds | Size: 11.5 x 7.93 x 0.33 inches (W x D x H)Significantly improved batteryA big step up from the Pro 4Accessories generally not included

You’d think after the Surface Pro 4 Microsoft would have gone with a Surface Pro 5? But no, just to confuse matters, and searching shoppers, this 2017 installment is simply called Surface Pro. Thankfully, we’re here to bring you the latest deals for this older version, so don’t worry about our price comparison chart showing you deals for the very first Surface Pro.

The later Surface Pro is a big improvement over previous models, perhaps justifying the reboot of the brand. The battery lasts much longer than the Pro 4 and all of the accessories (like the Surface Pen and Type Cover keyboard attachment) have also been tweaked, although we’re a bit annoyed you have to buy them separately. 

Surface Go deals

A cheap 10-inch alternative to the Pro series

CPU: 1.6GHz Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y | Graphics: Intel HD 615 | RAM: 4-8GB | Screen: 10-inch, 1,800 x 1,200 | Storage: 64-128GB SSD | Ports: 1 x USB-C 3.1, MicroSDXC card reader, Surface Connect port, headset jack | Cameras: 5MP (1080p video) front-facing webcam (Windows Hello face login); 8MP (1080p video) rear-facing autofocus camera | Weight: 1.15 pounds (0.52kg) | Size: 9.6 x 6.9 x 0.33 inches (W x D x H)

The 2018 Microsoft Surface Go is a mini 10-inch version of the Surface Pro hybrids. It doesn’t pack the same punch under the bonnet with an Intel 4415Y processor paired with either a 4GB RAM 64GB SSD combo or a meatier 8GB RAM / 128GB but it is considerably cheaper than the full-sized Surface Pro options on this page. The Type Cover Keyboard and Surface Go mouse are usually sold separately sadly.

When will Surface Pro deals include the Type Cover keyboard?

Some Surface Pro deals do include the Type Cover keyboard, usually at a price of around $699 for the entry level model. These sales are usually found during traditional seasonal discount periods, so keep an eye around national holidays, Amazon Prime day and Black Friday. 

Thanks to platforms like Wix, the process of building a website became intuitive, fast, and highly visual.

Wix is a live editor, artificial intelligence page designer, and has hundreds of professional themes. So, it could be all you ever need when making a website.

But how good Wix really is? Is it only simple to use – or is it a proper tool for you to make a functional, professional website?

In this Wix review, we look at its main features and list the pros and cons of this platform. Let’s see how it goes.

Wix Pros

Over the years Wix has earned over 150 million users – so it has to be doing something right. Most people are with this provider because of beautiful templates and an intuitive drag-and-drop editor.

Others are using Wix for Artificial Intelligence designs, hundreds of apps to customize, and a plan that lets you create a website absolutely free.

So, let’s look at what good and bad Wix has to offer.

1. Designer-made templates

Wix is best known for hundreds of beautiful templates it has to offer. The platform employs an in-house team of designers, working on creating responsive, functional, and award-winning designs.

There are over 500 templates covering themes for all kinds of businesses. Templates are designed for online stores, blogs, portfolios, and are also separated into different categories for various businesses.

You can make them look even better with scroll effects and other interactive features:

But if the pre-made templates are not customizable enough for you, Wix also has blank templates. It means you can start completely from scratch and create a custom design that suits you best.

If you want to start building a template on your own but you don’t know where to start, don’t worry. Wix has a page where you can explore impressive and beautiful websites created with its builder.

You can visit those websites to find a lot of great ideas.

2. User-friendly website builder

Wix claims to offer the best website builder in the industry – and for this Wix review, we had a chance to check that out for ourselves.

The process of customizing a theme includes dragging-and-dropping elements – images, text boxes, buttons, etc. on your website-to-be.

Everything you drop jumps on an invisible grid and attaches to the website. Yet,you may still put the elements wherever you wish, and it still looks tidy.

It gives you the freedom to create the website you want.

Wix also offers hundreds of fonts but you can upload your own if that’s not enough. Furthermore, depending on the background you choose, or the template, Wix suggests using a matching color scheme.

But if you wish, you can play around with all sorts of color combinations.

This feature is easily accessible once you try designing particular elements of the website.

One more feature of the website builder is the integrated Corvid code editor. It’s accessible at the bottom of the builder’s page at all times and can be used to add extra functions to your website.

Corvid uses JavaScript as its language base, so you can edit and create features right in the Wix website builder. If you want to add custom CSS or HTML to your website you have to go through site settings.

There you can use the Tracking and Analytics page to add tools and code.

While being more complicated to use, you can add new or modify any element of your page. You also can select pages that will be affected by your code and where you would like to place it.

While still focusing more on the drag-and-drop editor and easy to control features, Wix has tools and features developed for more tech-savvy users.

3. Wix Artificial Design Intelligence

If you don’t have much time for customizing and testing every little detail and if a personal web developer is not a solution for your budget, Wix has you covered.

It has a feature that is certain to please people looking for ultimate ease of use. It’s called Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (or ADI) and promises to create a personal design based on a few questions you answer.

It chooses a fitting layout, matches the color scheme to your logo, adds fonts, styles, and all that. You can also select what added functionalities you need – a blog or a live chat, for example.

Also, based on the topic of your website, ADI can recommend some features that it thinks you might like. Below we tested just how long it takes to have a functioning website created with the help of ADI.

Two and a half minutes later we have a website. Complete with a blog, fitting stock images, contact form, and text placeholders. So, now that ADI created the base for your websiteyou can modify and add finishing touches.

What is left to do is to upload your content, images, and press Publish.

4. Hundreds of useful apps

You can easily enhance the functionality of your website by visiting Wix App Market. Hundreds of Wix apps are put into 21 different categories including forums, blogs, online store tools, and must-have apps.

You’ll find both free and paid apps available here. Other apps have a free version that you can use and a paid version to upgrade to when your business grows.

Some of our favorite must-have apps are:

Visitor Analytics – lets you analyze and track tons of information about your customers. What are your most popular pages, how much time users spend on your website and much more. Its a bit more beginner-friendly version of Google Analytics and is GDPR-compliant.

Wix Pro Gallery – This plugin has been downloaded more than 2,5 million times and allows you to add beautiful looking galleries to your website. With it, you can optimize and control the size of your photo, add a video or text elements, and choose from 12 different layout options.

Wix Chat – allows you to have a live chat option directly on your website. You can connect to your customers faster and create auto-replies for different situations.

5. Free plan

Whether to test it out, or use it as a learning tool, Wix has a great option – a free plan. You can use it to create up to 2 websites using all of the offered features with one account.

What does it include?

Wix free plan gives you 500MB storage space and 500MB bandwidth. It’s enough for a lightweight website. You simply register with Wix (credit card info is not required).

Unfortunately, you cannot connect your own domain. The subdomain is generated automatically according to your website name and added to the .wixsite.com domain, eg. mywebsite.wixsite.com.

Wix also displays its ribbon at the top of the page that anyone that visits your website will see. While it’s annoying you are getting a free website in return.

Apart from that, you can use every feature Wix has to offer including ADI, Corvid code editor, and apps with the free plan.

Wix Cons

While Wix is great in general, it does have some drawbacks.

Let’s see where Wix can make some improvements.

1. Wix pricing

Wix is not cheap. There are 8 premium plans and the cheapest one starts at $13/month. For a more advanced website, you can scale up to the VIP plan for $39/month.

eCommerce plans for business start at $23/month and can cost up to $500/month for enterprises.

All of the plans get you a free domain and also allow connecting your own. With the Combo plan, you’ll also get 2GB of bandwidth and 3GB of storage. Wix suggests it’s best for personal use.

You can update premium website plans up to unlimited bandwidth, 20GB storage, 2 hours of video allowed, and priority support.

As for the business and eCommerce plans, Business Basic for $23/month will get you unlimited bandwidth, 20GB storage, and is 100% commission-free for payments. The Enterprise plan, on the other hand, offers unlimited bandwidth, even more unlimited services, and individualized maintenance support.

All the main features, included with each of the plans, can be seen here:

	Combo	Unlimited	Pro	VIP	Business Basic	Business Unlimited	Business VIP	Enterprise
Storage space	3GB	10GB	20GB	20GB	20GB	25GB	50GB	Custom
Bandwidth	2GB	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
SSL	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Uploaded video limit	30min	1 hour	2 hours	2 hours	5 hours	10 hours	Unlimited	Unlimited
eCommerce support	–	–	–	–	+	+	+	+
Support	Ticket and phone	Ticket and phone	Ticket and phone	Ticket and phone	Dedicated	Dedicated	Dedicated	Dedicated

All in all, Wix services are a bit costly. However, for many, the features in the plans will be well worth the expenses.

2. Help center and customer support

Wix customer support (tickets and call-backs) in English, Spanish, and Portuguese can be reached on Monday-Friday from 5 am to 5 pm PST. Italian support is available from Monday to Friday, from 8 am to 5 pm GMT+1.

But if you wish to reach it, you’ll need to work for it.

That’s because instead, Wix intends to solve the main issues through an extensive help center – it has a lot of articles and step-by-step tutorials.

And while the help center is incredibly thorough, sometimes it may not be enough.

For example, for this Wix review, I wanted to ask the support about optimizing their video background which was causing serious performance issues.

First I discovered an article related to my problem where I found a link to the Troubleshooter.

And there, I eventually discovered a way to contact the support (a very small button at the bottom of the page).

Luckily, I only waited 30 minutes for a response. The answers were also extensive and helpful. So if the help center won’t give you the information you need, 30 minutes later, someone from the ticket service will.

Now, about the live chat:

Currently, Wix does not have a live chat support option. But with the request from multiple users, it’s planning to introduce the option at some point.

While preparing this Wix review, I got extremely lucky. I managed to get a sneak-peak to the upcoming live chat.

As far as I can understand, they are testing it – and from what I got to see, they’re heading in the right direction.

Waiting time was about 2 minutes, and overall, the agent was informative and ready to help.

So, while currently, Wix customer support isn’t perfect, it’s clearly trying to improve its current awkward state.

And that’s a very good thing – hopefully, the live chat feature will soon be available to all users.

3. Technical limitations

First, when using Wix, you can’t choose your own hosting provider or a server.  You are automatically assigned with hosting – Wix is your host, website builder, developer, and even marketing specialist.

Wix aims to be a reliable hosting provider that has everything you need. It even introduced some enhancements to its servers to offer speed faster than Captain Marvel with the new Wix Turbo feature. Or so they claim.

However, some of the website elements are not well optimized. Namely – the video backgrounds. A small looping video, selected from Wix’s own library has slowed the website down significantly.

Another technical problem might occur if you decide to move elsewhere.

Wix claims that everything on the website is yours and only yours. But transferring a website will most probably require the services of an experienced web developer.

But there are no Wix-approved tools for website transfer from and to Wix. So while you can create a great page using a website builder like Wix, it does come with a few limitations.

Wix will be great for projects both small and large. However, it might never overrun the flexibility of platforms like WordPress where you have full control over every detail.

Wix Review – The Verdict

Wix offers elegant templates, customizable editor, artificial design capabilities, and hundreds of powerful applications. This makes it a great option for personal and business use.

There are areas for improvement: the customer support needs some improvement, the video backgrounds slow the website down significantly, and the premium plans could be just a little bit cheaper.

But if those issues are not massive dealbreakers to you, then I strongly suggest you give Wix a try. It could be just a perfect website builder for you.

Pros

• ADI Website builder
• Quick response times
• Tons of beautiful templates
• Free plan available

Cons

• Free version has a lot of advertising
• Expensive premium plans

WP Astra is one of the new kids on the block when it comes to WordPress themes, so I was very interested to see how they stack up against some of the big guns.

There theme claims to be a super-lightweight, easy to use theme that is focused on working with page builders. So, instead of trying to do everything, like most themes do, they leave the heavy lifting up to the pros – the page builder plugin creators.

The Astra theme also comes with a super simple free version, as well as a pro version with more bells and whistles, especially for those that want, or need access to more config options.

Let’s take a look at what’s inside and how it looks when used on a new site.

Lightweight And Built For Speed

As someone who is always helping clients speed up their websites, I am excited to see that Astra is built with speed in mind.

A lot of theme developers will say this kind of thing “built for speed” only to put that statement on their homepage. Which is is my nice way of saying, it’s bullshit (excuse my French).

However, when you take a closer look at what the guys & gals who built Astra  promise (and I will put my developers glasses on here) it is great news:

• Loads at under 50kb which is insanely small (most homepages end up being over 1MB in total, so a big theme does not help anyone) without plugins or anything else it loads in under half a second, which is a great start
• They have decided not to bloat the theme with a Jquery library (so an extra file to load for very little benefit). They have coded all they need themselves and included it in the theme! Big thumbs up for that.
• They get high grades in all page speed test tools, which is a plus and something most themes don’t even bother checking, let alone getting a great score on.

All of the above is great news, but I thought I would also run a quick test on a newly installed theme, on a site with a couple of test pages and posts. So, it is not as pure a test as the Astra team did, but it gives us a great idea of how light/fast the raw theme truly is (especially compared to a few others).

So, here is a quick test on Pingdom speed tester of WP Astra versus – Divi, Generate Press, Squared from Thrive Themes and Ocean WP.

WP Astra – 0.68 seconds

Thrive Themes – Squared – 1 second

Generate Press – 0.65 seconds

Divi – 1.27 seconds

As you can see, Astra stacks up pretty well.

It is not exactly the size they claimed (although it is not a a completely empty WordPress installation) but the speed is close to 2/3 of a second! Nice.

Only Generate Press comes in a tad faster, Thrive a bit slower, and Divi a dismally slow and huge load (I like Divi, but seems they have some work to do).

Designed For Page Builders

I used to code things from scratch. In fact, I was a programer for over 2 years. Nowadays though, I think it is a big waste of time to code a website from scratch.

Especially when you have page builders around to help you build a website in hours!

The problem is though, that many themes are not designed with page builders in mind. Astra is exactly the opposite.

They have realised that a Theme cannot design a website completely, so they have built it to work hand in hand with page builders like:

• Elementor
• Beaver Builder
• Visual Composer
• Divi Builder
• Site Origin

Things like page templates to allow for full-width pages (boxed or completely full-width).

Pages without sidebars, headers or footers, so you can make use of those that come from the page builder. And, the removal of the page title, so you can cleanly insert the page builder content.

WP Astra Settings For Page Builders

They have even taken it a step further with their Pro plugin by allowing by allowing you to place Elementor elements in the header.

This may not seem a big deal, but most themes suffer here. They give you lots of options, but you can’t customise what appears in the header. Want to add a “contact us” button, or “buy my course” button. Too bad. Now, with Astra and Elementor, you can do this easy as pie! 

Library Of Pre-Built Websites

To be able to start from a pre-built site which is customizable will not only save you lots of time but, if you are not a graphic designer or developer, will give you an awesome site right out of the box.

Astra comes with all of the following kinds of templates that you can quickly and easily import into the theme as soon as you have uploaded it to WordPress. Just add the Starter Sites plugin, and you will get an additional menu item to see the sites library.

WP Astra Pre-built Sites

These sites are built with either Elementor or Beaver Builder, so you will need to grab one of those plugins to make them work, but look at all the options.

At the time of writing (December 2017) there are 24 Elementor sites, and 22 Beaver Builder.

And just so we are clear, these are not “pages”, they are whole websites!

Here is one just so you can see:

Astra Prebuilt Site Pages

SEO Friendly (Really)

When theme builders say they are SEO friendly, I am often very skeptical, but in this case the Astra creators have included a whole load of Schema to help get your website’s SEO on track.

If you don’t know what Schema are, here’s a quick explanation. They are a small piece of code you can add to specific pages and portions of your site to help search engines know “exactly” what is on the page.

This includes things like products, events, reviews, recipes, your organisation and a whole lot more.​

It may seem a little pointless until you check out search results for things like recipes or reviews and see the extra things Google shows when you use Schema, like this:

Schema.org data displayed for a recipe on Google

They also bake in some specific Schema code to help get a search panel in the sitelinks, which is awesome for when people look up your website on Google. Below is what the code and search panel look like:

Schema Code To Help Add Search Panel To Google Results

Search Panel on Google For The Moz.com website

From an SEO perspective, this can really help sites like Google display your search results better and potentially higher, so any theme that bakes in Schema is on my good side for sure!

LEARN MORE ABOUT ASTRA

Hooks & Filters (Great For Developers)

If you are a developer (or maybe even if you are not :>) you will find the access to hooks and filters in Astra a god-send.

Instead of having to hack your own way into the code to insert specific custom code into the theme, there are lots of intuitive hooks to help you find exactly the right spot.

And, if you really want to see “exactly” where the code will be injected, you can use their hooks visualiser plugin to give you an overview of where these hooks load.

Astra Visual Hooks

Astra Pro Addons

The great things about Astra is that all of the killer features mentioned above are free.

However, if you want to take things to the next level, you can invest in the Pro version and get some very helpful add-ons like these:

• transparent header
• sticky header
• custom header options
• mega menu (coming soon)
• custom footer
• custom page and blog layouts
• page header designer (breadcrumbs, title etc)
• further color options (all website elements)
• further typography options
• scroll to top element
• white label for agencies :>
• woo commerce designer (in Beta)

Some of the handier features include:

Mobile Header

This gives you full control over the mobile header display which we all know can be difficult to customize without full access to all the features.

Sticky Header

Having something stick to the top of your page is great for promotions and conversions. Getting people to click something is hard enough, and even harder when it scrolls away when they move down the page. That is why this kind of feature is a must have for any modern website.

Header Sections

Being able to create a custom header is one thing, but being able to add specific sections just underneath it can be great. Especially if you are using ads (which convert well so high up) and other conversion related elements.

Page Headers

Customizing your website to your needs is killer and being able to specifically create page headers is something I always want to do. Depending on the specific page, you might want a different font or color, or even a full width background image behind the heading. All these options are available with page headers.

Blog Pro

If you have any kind of blog on your website then you know how handy it can be to customize it even further than the basic features. This module allows you to play with your blog or archive pages – including things like author bio box and other design features. Of course, if you already use Elementor Pro then you can customize your blogs with this too.​

So, if you want complete control over how your website looks and the ability to whip up sites for yourself or clients a whole lot faster, this plugin is a no-brainer. It extends all the basic areas of the theme and lets you tweak almost everything I can think of? And they are constantly adding to it. Constantly.

SEE ASTRA PRO

Astra Pro Pricing

Of course, when you go for the Pro version you are going to have to fork out a little cash. But for what you get, in my humble opinion, the Pro version is definitely worth it.

The way the Astra team price things may seem a little strange, but it is kinda geared towards agencies.

For $59 you get Astra Pro and can use it on as many websites as you like. Then from there, it includes other handy add ons for page builders like Elementor, and other plugins you might need. This makes sense, especially when you are building a lot of sites.

The prices shown below are yearly prices, but if you want to just lock it all in you can go “Lifetime” and it costs about 4-5 times the price, but you never have to worry about renewing your subscription again!

SEE ASTRA PRO