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E-Commerce · head to head

Heartland Retail vs Wix eCommerce

Heartland Retail logo

Heartland Retail

E-Commerce

Cloud point of sale and inventory management sold alongside Heartland card processing

From
$150/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Wix eCommerce logo

Wix eCommerce

E-Commerce

Hosted website builder with a store module, using drag-and-drop layout rather than themes you can swap

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Wix eCommerce has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Heartland Retail the software is sold as part of a card processing relationship, so the monthly licence understates the real cost and the processing rate is the number that determines what you pay over a year.; Wix eCommerce a template cannot be changed once the site is built, because the layout is the site rather than a skin over content, so a redesign later means rebuilding every page instead of switching theme.
  • They diverge on capability: Heartland Retail covers Multi-store inventory, Wix eCommerce covers Drag-and-drop editor.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Heartland Retail and Wix eCommerce actually diverge.

Attributes where Heartland Retail and Wix eCommerce differ
AttributeHeartland RetailWix eCommerce
Starting price$150/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionfreemium
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android
Founded19972006

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (E-Commerce).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Heartland Retail

  • Multi-store inventory
  • Cloud point of sale
  • Purchasing and receiving
  • Customer records
  • Sales and stock reporting
  • Integrated card processing
  • E-commerce integrations

Only in Wix eCommerce

  • Drag-and-drop editor
  • Business plans with no commission
  • Wix Payments and third party gateways
  • Product catalogue and variants
  • Abandoned cart recovery
  • App Market
  • Velo
  • Wix Studio

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Heartland Retail

  • A specialty retailer opening a third or fourth site that needs one stock position across all of themnot Wix eCommerce
  • Replacing a legacy on-premise till system that requires a server in the back office of every storenot Wix eCommerce
  • A retailer whose buying team needs purchase orders and receiving rather than just a cash registernot Wix eCommerce
  • An existing Heartland processing customer consolidating software and payments under one suppliernot Wix eCommerce

Wix eCommerce

  • A small business that wants a designed site and a shop without hiring a developernot Heartland Retail
  • A studio or service business selling a handful of products alongside a content-led sitenot Heartland Retail
  • A single-operator shop where visual control matters more than catalogue or fulfilment depthnot Heartland Retail
  • A quick launch where the priority is being live this month rather than being portable in five yearsnot Heartland Retail

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Heartland Retail

  • The software is sold as part of a card processing relationship, so the monthly licence understates the real cost and the processing rate is the number that determines what you pay over a year.
  • Leaving means changing till software and merchant account together, and since the payment terminals, the reporting history and the staff training are all tied to the same supplier, the switching cost is far higher than a software migration alone.
  • It is not an online store platform, so a merchant selling on the web still buys and maintains a separate e-commerce platform, and the stock and order integration between the two is an ongoing operational dependency rather than a one-off setup.
  • Historical sales and customer purchase history rarely migrate cleanly out of a point of sale system, so a retailer who switches typically starts with an empty history and keeps the old system read-only, paying for it, for years.
  • Heartland sits within Global Payments, a group that has repeatedly restructured its portfolio through acquisitions and divestitures, so which entity owns and invests in this specific product is not stable over a long contract term.

Wix eCommerce

  • A template cannot be changed once the site is built, because the layout is the site rather than a skin over content, so a redesign later means rebuilding every page instead of switching theme.
  • There is no site export, so leaving Wix means recreating pages, layout and navigation on the new platform and building the URL redirect map by hand, and merchants who discover this after cutover lose their search traffic while they work it out.
  • Velo code and installed apps only run inside Wix, so every hour of custom work and every app configuration is written off entirely if you migrate, which grows the switching cost the longer the site succeeds.
  • App Market add-ons carry their own monthly subscriptions, and a store running several of them for reviews, subscriptions, shipping rules and marketing can spend more each month on apps than on the Wix plan itself, which is a normal configuration rather than an unusual one.
  • Multi-currency, multi-region and tax handling are thinner than on platforms built for cross-border selling, so a merchant who starts selling into new territories tends to hit that ceiling before any other, and the fix is a replatform rather than a setting.

Pricing, plan by plan

Heartland Retail

$150/month
  • Core$150/month
    • POS system
    • Inventory management
    • Customer management
  • Professional$350/month
    • All Core features
    • Omnichannel
    • Advanced analytics

Wix eCommerce

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Wix eCommerce review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Heartland Retail if

  • You need multi-store inventory.
  • You also want cloud point of sale.
Heartland Retail review

Choose Wix eCommerce if

  • You need drag-and-drop editor.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want business plans with no commission.
Wix eCommerce review

Questions people ask

Is Heartland Retail or Wix eCommerce better?
Neither clearly leads. Heartland Retail starts at $150/month and Wix eCommerce at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Heartland Retail or Wix eCommerce?
Wix eCommerce has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $150/month for Heartland Retail and Free for Wix eCommerce.
Does Heartland Retail or Wix eCommerce run on more platforms?
Heartland Retail runs on Web. Wix eCommerce runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Wix eCommerce for free?
Yes. Wix eCommerce has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Heartland Retail starts at $150/month.
What is Heartland Retail best used for?
Heartland Retail is most often used for a specialty retailer opening a third or fourth site that needs one stock position across all of them, replacing a legacy on-premise till system that requires a server in the back office of every store, a retailer whose buying team needs purchase orders and receiving rather than just a cash register, an existing heartland processing customer consolidating software and payments under one supplier. Of those, a specialty retailer opening a third or fourth site that needs one stock position across all of them and replacing a legacy on-premise till system that requires a server in the back office of every store are not what Wix eCommerce is typically brought in for.
What can Heartland Retail do that Wix eCommerce cannot?
Heartland Retail covers Multi-store inventory, Cloud point of sale, Purchasing and receiving, Customer records. Wix eCommerce covers Drag-and-drop editor, Business plans with no commission, Wix Payments and third party gateways, Product catalogue and variants.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Heartland Retail: Can I use it as my online store?

No. It manages the shop floor and stock. Selling online means a separate e-commerce platform and an integration to keep the catalogue and stock aligned.

Wix eCommerce: Does Wix take a cut of my sales?

Not on paid Business plans. You still pay card processing fees to Wix Payments or to whichever supported gateway you use, so compare the processing rate rather than assuming zero cost.

Heartland Retail: Do I have to use Heartland for card processing?

The product is sold as part of a payments relationship, and that is where the supplier's margin sits. Ask explicitly what the software costs standalone before assuming you have a choice.

Wix eCommerce: Can I change my template later?

No. The layout is the site rather than a swappable theme, so redesigning means rebuilding the pages. Treat the initial design decision as long-lived.

Heartland Retail: What should I negotiate hardest on?

The card processing rate and the contract term, not the software subscription. Ask for interchange-plus pricing in writing rather than a blended rate.

Wix eCommerce: Is Wix bad for SEO?

That criticism is largely out of date. Pages are server rendered and the SEO controls are adequate. The real search risk is migration, since there is no export and the redirect map has to be built manually.

Heartland Retail: What happens to my sales history if I leave?

Assume products and current stock export cleanly and that years of transaction history do not. Budget for keeping the old system available read-only during any transition.

Wix eCommerce: Can I export my site if I outgrow it?

Products and orders export as CSV. The site itself does not. Budget a full rebuild plus a redirect map if you move.

Wix eCommerce: Where do most merchants hit the ceiling?

Multi-currency and multi-region selling, and catalogue complexity. Both are thinner here than on platforms designed for cross-border trade.

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