Export Wix Domain Cost to HTML

Wix advertises "free domain" with premium plans. Let's unpack what that actually means.

The "free" domain requires an annual premium subscription. That's $204 minimum (Light plan) paid upfront. You're not getting a free domain, you're getting a $15 domain bundled with a $204 purchase.

Monthly billing? No free domain. Pay month-to-month and you're buying your domain separately, either through Wix or another registrar.

After year one, the domain costs $15-20/year to renew. Standard .com pricing. Nothing outrageous, but also not free anymore. That renewal hits your account automatically unless you cancel.

Here's where it gets frustrating. Trying to leave Wix with your domain.

Wix locks domains for 60 days after registration, industry standard, fine. But then the unlock process is buried in settings. You need to find the domain management section, disable auto-renewal, request an auth code, and wait for Wix to email it.

Once you have the auth code, you can transfer to any registrar. Namecheap, Cloudflare, Google Domains, they all accept transfers. The new registrar charges a transfer fee (usually $10-15) which includes a year of renewal.

Pro tip: Cloudflare Domains charges exactly what they pay, no markup. A .com domain is around $10/year there. Transferring from Wix to Cloudflare saves money long-term.

The bigger question: why tie your domain to your website host?

Registering your domain separately from Wix gives you control. If you decide to leave Wix, export your site, move to different hosting, your domain is already independant. No transfer headache, no waiting periods.

Namecheap, Cloudflare, Porkbun, all solid registrars. Buy your domain there, point it at Wix while you use them, point it elsewhere when you leave. Clean seperation.

Wix bundles everything to create lock-in. Domain, hosting, builder, all tied together. Untangling it later is possible but annoying. Start independant and you'll thank yourself later.