Instatic vs Wix
Instatic is an open-source site builder that you host yourself. Wix is a closed-source site builder that runs on the vendor's cloud. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 13.
- Instatic Site builder · Open source · 15 of 28 built in
- Wix Site builder · Closed source · 21 of 28 built in
Sources checked: Instatic on 30 Sept 2026, Wix on 29 Sept 2026. Plans and releases can change after those dates.
WAYF is an official Payload partner and top contributor. Every platform in the table is classified by the same published definitions, and each answer lists the vendor page it came from.
Feature comparison
Built inPaid tierPlugin or add-onLimitedNot available
| Platform | |  |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| What it is | Open-source, self-hosted CMS with a visual canvas editor. One Bun server runs the editor, content store and publisher, and publishing writes plain HTML files to disk. | Hosted website builder with a CMS, business apps and hosting, run by Wix.com Ltd. Wix Studio adds an editor and workspace for agencies. |
| Edition compared The product and release each column describes. | Instatic 0.0.20, open source Version 0.0.20, released 13 Sept 2026 | Wix website builder with Wix CMS, in Wix Editor and Wix Studio SaaS, continuously updated |
| Vendor | CoreBunch instatic.com | Wix.com Ltd. wix.com |
| Licence | Open source MIT | Closed source Proprietary |
| Hosting | Self-hosting No vendor cloud No managed hosting. You deploy the Docker image to your own server, or use the Railway and Render templates. | No self-hosting Vendor cloud Wix Headless serves the same content to a frontend you host. |
| Built with | TypeScript, Bun, React admin | Hosted SaaS, JavaScript through the Wix IDE, CLI and SDK |
| Database | SQLite, PostgreSQL | Wix CMS collections, managed by Wix |
| Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere. | Free to start Free and open source, with no paid tiers. You pay only for hosting. | Free to start Free plan. Light $17, Core $29, Business $39, Business Elite $159 per month billed yearly in the US. |
| Content modelling | ||
| Content model in code You define content types in files in your repository, review them like any other code and apply them from there. Imperative migration scripts alone count as limited. | Not available Tables and fields live in the database and change in the Data workspace. Plugins can create tables through the SDK. 610 | Limited Only Wix CLI apps and headless projects define collections in TypeScript files. 13 |
| Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code. | Built in Custom post types and data tables in the Data workspace. 616 | Built in 20 |
| Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them. | Built in Visual Components with typed parameters and named slots, placed and reordered on the canvas. 72 | Built in Editors add and reorder sections and saved components on the canvas. |
| Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language. | Not available One site-wide language setting. No per-locale fields or entries. 21 | Built in Wix Multilingual, with manual or automatic translation. 14 |
| Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service. | Built in Uploads get a set of WebP sizes, and the publisher writes srcset and sizes from the layout. 81 | Built in Resize and crop through image URL parameters. 15 |
| APIs and delivery | ||
| REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content. | Limited The JSON API under /admin/api/cms serves the admin behind a session cookie. No token-based content API outside MCP. 920 | Built in Data Items REST API. 3 |
| GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content. | Not available | Built in GraphQL endpoint over the same data as the REST API. 4 |
| Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published. | Not available No built-in webhooks. A plugin with network access can call a URL from content hooks. 10 | Built in App webhooks, or an HTTP request step in Wix Automations. 16 |
| Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no. | Built in Publishing renders every page to static HTML on the server's disk. 11 | Built in |
| Editorial workflow | ||
| Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then. | Built in 51 | Built in Draft status on CMS items, on by default for new collections. 11 |
| Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish. | Built in Per page and per post-type entry. 5 | Built in Scheduled status changes on CMS items. 11 |
| Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them. | Built in Published versions of pages and entries, restorable into the draft. Added in 0.0.20. 124 | Limited CMS keeps weekly and manual collection backups. Restores replace whole collections. 9 |
| Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing. | Built in The canvas renders drafts in the site design. Branch preview links work without an account. 122 | Built in |
| Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it. | Built in Editing happens on the rendered page canvas, with a live mode for the full-size page. 214 | Built in |
| Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage. | Limited Branch merge requests with a review page and comments. No configurable review stages. 12 | Paid tier Approvals for site changes in the Wix Studio enterprise solution. 8 |
| Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release. | Limited Publish ships all draft pages at once. Branches group edits across pages and entries, but entries still publish one by one. 125 | Limited Release Manager publishes whole site versions and test sites. No grouped item releases. 12 |
| Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live. | Limited Live co-editing of pages, components and layouts in the Site editor. Content workspace entries save separately. 13144 | Built in Built into the Studio Editor. 7 |
| Access and governance | ||
| Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set. | Built in The Owner builds roles from a fixed list of capabilities. 1516 | Built in Not every permission is available to custom roles. 619 |
| Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries. | Not available Capabilities apply per table type and edit category, not per field. 16 | Not available CMS permissions apply per collection. 20 |
| Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider. | Not available Email and password with optional TOTP two-factor. 15 | Paid tier OpenID Connect only, with the Wix Studio enterprise solution. 10 |
| Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log. | Built in Append-only log of logins, content changes, role edits and plugin actions. 17 | Not available Not documented publicly. |
| Platform and extensibility | ||
| Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users. | Not available One site per installation. 2 | Built in One account or Studio workspace manages many sites, each on its own plan. |
| Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface. | Built in Plugins add admin pages, editor extensions, dashboard widgets and canvas modules. 10 | Built in Dashboard extensions add custom pages and widgets. 17 |
| Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions. | Not available Plugins install as uploaded zip packages. No official directory. 10 | Built in Wix App Market. |
| Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code. | Built in Forms are built on the canvas and submissions land in a data table. 18 | Built in Wix Forms. |
| Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors. | Not available | Built in Members Area handles sign-up and login. |
| AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content. | Built in Built-in agent in the Site and Content workspaces, with your own Claude, OpenAI, OpenRouter or Ollama key. 19 | Built in AI text creator in the Wix and Studio editors. 18 |
| Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content. | Built in Built in at /_instatic/mcp, with OAuth or scoped personal access tokens. 20 | Built in Wix MCP for docs, code and site API calls. 5 |
Instatic sources
Checked 30 Sept 2026. Instatic 0.0.20, open source.
- Instatic homepage
- Instatic repository on GitHub
- Instatic 0.0.20 release
- Instatic changelog
- Instatic docs: Content storage
- Instatic docs: Data workspace
- Instatic docs: Visual Components
- Instatic docs: Media
- Instatic docs: Server
- Instatic docs: Plugin system
- Instatic docs: Publisher
- Instatic docs: Site branches
- Instatic docs: Site shell and real-time co-editing
- Instatic docs: Content workspace
- Instatic docs: Auth and access
- Instatic docs: Capabilities
- Instatic docs: Audit log
- Instatic docs: CMS-native forms
- Instatic docs: AI agent
- Instatic docs: MCP connectors
- Instatic docs: Editor
Wix sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Wix website builder with Wix CMS, in Wix Editor and Wix Studio.
- Wix plans and pricing
- Wix blog: Wix Premium plans (May 2026)
- Wix Data Items API
- The Wix GraphQL API
- The Wix MCP
- Wix Help: creating custom roles for collaborators
- Wix Help: Studio Editor collaborating on a site
- Wix Help: enterprise approvals for site changes
- Wix Help: restoring CMS collections with backups
- Wix Help: SSO login for your organization
- Wix Help: managing collection item statuses
- Wix Help: Release Manager
- Wix CLI: data collections extension files
- Wix Help: Wix Multilingual overview
- Wix Media: URL image transformation
- Wix Developers: about webhooks
- Wix Developers: about dashboard extensions
- Wix Help: Studio Editor AI text creator
- Wix Help: inviting collaborators
- Wix Help: CMS overview
Considering more platforms? Compare Instatic and Wix with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
Instatic and Wix get a different status on 13 of the 28 features and the same status on 15. Instatic has 15 built in on its baseline edition, Wix has 21. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.
- Licence
- Instatic is open source (MIT). Wix is closed source (Proprietary).
- Self-hosting
- Instatic can be self-hosted. Wix cannot be self-hosted.
- Vendor cloud
- Instatic has no vendor-run cloud. Wix has a vendor-run cloud.
Built in on Instatic, a different answer on Wix 2
- Version history Instatic: Built in. Wix: Limited.
- Audit log Instatic: Built in. Wix: Not available.
Built in on Wix, a different answer on Instatic 8
- Localization Instatic: Not available. Wix: Built in.
- REST API Instatic: Limited. Wix: Built in.
- GraphQL API Instatic: Not available. Wix: Built in.
- Webhooks Instatic: Not available. Wix: Built in.
- Real-time co-editing Instatic: Limited. Wix: Built in.
- Multiple sites Instatic: Not available. Wix: Built in.
- Plugin marketplace Instatic: Not available. Wix: Built in.
- Site member accounts Instatic: Not available. Wix: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 3
- Content model in code Instatic: Not available. Wix: Limited.
- Approval workflows Instatic: Limited. Wix: Paid tier.
- Single sign-on Instatic: Not available. Wix: Paid tier.
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Wix against other platforms
- Adobe Experience Manager vs Wix
- Contentful vs Wix
- Contentstack vs Wix
- CoreMedia Content Cloud vs Wix
- Craft CMS vs Wix
- DatoCMS vs Wix
- Decap CMS vs Wix
- Directus vs Wix
- Drupal vs Wix
- EmDash vs Wix
- FirstSpirit vs Wix
- Framer vs Wix
- Ghost vs Wix
- HubSpot CMS vs Wix
- Hygraph vs Wix
- Joomla vs Wix
- Keystone vs Wix
- Kirby vs Wix
- Liferay DXP vs Wix
- Optimizely CMS vs Wix
- Wix vs Payload
- Prismic vs Wix
- Progress Sitefinity vs Wix
- Sanity vs Wix
- Sitecore vs Wix
- Squarespace vs Wix
- Statamic vs Wix
- Storyblok vs Wix
- Strapi vs Wix
- TYPO3 vs Wix
- Umbraco vs Wix
- Wagtail vs Wix
- Webflow vs Wix
- Wix vs WordPress
- Xperience by Kentico vs Wix
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