Wix Alternative

Best Wix Alternative for Personal Websites

Wix lets you build almost anything — but that flexibility comes at the cost of bloated pages and a steep learning curve. mnml does one thing well: clean personal sites.

Ease of Use

Wix uses a freeform canvas editor where you drag elements anywhere on the page. This sounds flexible, but in practice it creates problems: elements overlap unpredictably, mobile layouts break because desktop positions don't translate, and aligning things precisely requires pixel-level adjustments. mnml uses a structured block editor — you add blocks in order, fill in your content, and the layout is handled automatically. Mobile responsiveness is built in with no manual adjustment. For users who are not designers, mnml's structured approach produces better results in less time. Wix's canvas freedom is a liability unless you have a strong eye for layout.

Page Speed and Performance

Wix has historically struggled with page speed. Their platform loads a heavy JavaScript framework, multiple tracking scripts, and a complex rendering engine. A typical Wix portfolio scores 50-70 on Google Lighthouse, with some pages dipping below 50. mnml sites are server-rendered HTML with minimal client-side JavaScript, consistently scoring 95-100 on Lighthouse. Google uses Core Web Vitals as a ranking signal, so faster pages get an SEO advantage. For a portfolio where first impressions matter, a page that loads in under one second feels professional. A page that takes three to four seconds feels broken.

What You Get for Free

Wix's free plan publishes a live site — but with Wix ads, Wix branding, a wixsite.com subdomain, and limited storage, and you cannot connect a custom domain without upgrading. mnml's free tier is about building, not a permanently free live site: you design the entire thing with all 19 block types, contact forms, and the full editor for free, with no credit card. When you publish ($8/month or $49/year) you get a custom domain, email notifications, built-in analytics, and zero ads or branding. The contrast is stark — a free Wix site looks unprofessional because of the ads and branded domain, while a published mnml site looks like it was custom-built.

Pricing Breakdown

Wix's cheapest ad-free plan is the Light plan at $17/month ($204/year), which includes a custom domain and basic features. Their Core plan at $29/month ($348/year) adds more storage and analytics. mnml is free to build and $8/month or $49/year to publish — and the yearly plan includes everything: custom domain, all blocks, analytics, no branding. That is a four-to-one price difference compared to Wix Light. Over three years, you would spend $612 on Wix Light or $147 on mnml's yearly plan. For a personal portfolio that does not need Wix's app marketplace or e-commerce features, the savings are significant.

Frequently Asked Questions