The verdict in three sentences
A site builder like Wix rents you a site you never own: between 10 and 30 EUR/month for life, with SEO and performance limits you can't work around. Migrating to a custom website costs 500,000 to 1,500,000 FCFA once, makes you the owner of the code and unlocks speed and ranking. Over 4 to 5 years, the owned site costs less than the perpetual subscription.
Rent or own: the real 5-year cost
The Wix subscription seems harmless, but cumulatively it often exceeds the cost of a custom site. And it never stops.
| Item | Wix (builder) | Custom website |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | 0 – 200,000 FCFA | 500,000 – 1,500,000 FCFA |
| Subscription /month | 10 – 30 EUR (~7,000 – 20,000 FCFA) | 0 |
| Hosting /year | included | 60,000 – 150,000 FCFA |
| Code ownership | no | yes |
| 5-year total | ~1,200,000 – 1,600,000 FCFA | ~900,000 – 2,250,000 FCFA |
| Advanced SEO | limited | full |
Migrating without breaking anything
The number-one fear is losing your ranking. A clean migration recovers the content and redirects every old URL. Here are the items to secure.
| Migration step | Stake | Best practice |
|---|---|---|
| Content export | text, images, articles | full recovery |
| 301 redirects | preserve SEO | 1 redirect per old URL |
| Sitemap & robots | indexing | regenerated and submitted |
| Domain name | continuity | transferred, never recreated |
| Meta tags | ranking | carried over or improved |
| Analytics tracking | measurement | reconfigured (GA4/Plausible) |
Mini case study
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
Ibrahim runs a consulting firm in Abidjan on Wix at 25 EUR/month (~16,400 FCFA), or 196,800 FCFA/year. In 5 years he will have paid ~984,000 FCFA for a site he doesn't own. He migrates to a custom site at 900,000 FCFA, hosting 100,000 FCFA/year. Over 5 years: 900,000 + 500,000 = 1,400,000 FCFA, but he gains ownership, full SEO and +18% organic traffic. The 416,000 FCFA premium is absorbed by new leads by year 2.
FAQ
Will I lose my Google ranking by migrating? No, if 301 redirects are set URL by URL. You then keep over 95% of SEO equity and traffic recovers within 4 to 8 weeks.
Can I recover my Wix domain name? Yes, the domain transfers to a new registrar. We always avoid buying a new one to preserve the history.
How much does the migration itself cost? Between 500,000 and 1,500,000 FCFA depending on page count, design rework and content complexity.
When does the migration pay off? As soon as cumulative subscriptions exceed the owned site's cost, generally between year 3 and year 5.
Will my site be faster? Yes: a custom site targets Lighthouse 90+ and an LCP under 1.5s, where builders often plateau at 50–70.
Let's talk about your project. We compute your Wix vs custom break-even and plan a zero-downtime migration. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
