Wix ADI vs Wix Editor: What Changed and Which to Use in 2026

If you searched for Wix ADI vs Wix Editor, here is what you need to know: Wix ADI no longer exists as a standalone product. In late 2023, Wix retired ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) and replaced it with a new AI Site Builder integrated directly into the Wix Editor. The question today is how that new AI builder compares to the classic manual Editor, and which one suits your needs in 2026.

• Wix ADI was discontinued in late 2023 and replaced by Wix's AI Site Builder, which generates a full website using AI before handing control to the standard Wix Editor.
• The new AI Site Builder is faster and easier for beginners than building from scratch in the Editor, while still giving full Editor access after generation.
• The classic Wix Editor remains the best choice for users who want complete creative control, advanced customisation, and access to the full app market from the start.

Wix ADI Is Discontinued: What Replaced It?

Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) was discontinued in late 2023. Wix officially retired the product and replaced it with the Wix AI Site Builder, sometimes referred to simply as "Wix AI." This is not just a rename: the underlying technology changed entirely.

The original ADI used a questionnaire-based approach. You answered a few questions, and ADI generated a basic website from a set of pre-built design blocks. The result was limited. ADI sites lived in a stripped-down editing interface separate from the main Wix Editor, with far fewer customisation options. Users frequently hit a wall when they wanted to do anything beyond simple edits.

The new Wix AI Site Builder is built on modern generative AI, including large language models. Key differences from the old ADI include:

• More capable generation: The AI Site Builder produces more detailed, context-aware designs based on your specific business type and prompts, not generic block arrangements.
• Conversational interface: Rather than a fixed questionnaire, you can describe your site in natural language and refine the output through dialogue before committing.
• Full editor handoff: Once the AI finishes generating your site, it opens directly in the standard Wix Editor. There is no restricted interface. You get every feature, every app, every customisation option from that point forward.
• AI-generated images: The builder can create on-brand visuals based on your business type rather than dropping in generic stock photos.

If you had a site built with the old Wix ADI, it still works. Wix has not forced anyone to migrate. However, you can no longer access the original ADI editing interface. Logging into a legacy ADI site today takes you to the standard Wix Editor.

For anyone starting fresh: ADI is gone, Wix AI is its replacement, and it is a significant improvement. The comparison has shifted from "ADI vs Editor" to "Wix AI Site Builder vs building from scratch in the Editor."

Wix ADI vs Wix Editor: Feature Comparison

This table compares the Wix AI Site Builder (ADI's replacement) with building from scratch using the classic Wix Editor, so you can see exactly what has changed and what each approach offers today.

Feature	Wix AI Site Builder (replaces ADI)	Wix Editor (classic)
Design Process	AI generates a complete site from your text prompts, then opens in the Editor for refinement.	Manual selection from over 800 templates with full drag-and-drop customisation.
Ease of Use	Very beginner-friendly; the AI does the heavy lifting upfront.	Requires more time and design judgment; best for users with a clear vision.
Customisation After Creation	Full Editor access once the AI build is complete, no longer locked to a simplified interface.	Complete creative control from the very start.
App Market Access	Full access to Wix's app market after generation.	Full access to Wix's app market throughout.
E-commerce Features	AI can generate an online store with product pages; full e-commerce tools available in Editor.	Advanced e-commerce features with complete layout and flow customisation.
Target Audience	Beginners, time-pressed users, and anyone who wants a strong starting point fast.	Users with specific design requirements or a desire for full hands-on control.
Speed to Launch	Generates a publish-ready draft in minutes.	Varies; can take hours to days depending on complexity.
SEO and Marketing Tools	All standard Wix SEO tools available after generation.	Full advanced SEO and marketing toolkit available from the start.
Pricing	Same Wix pricing plans as the classic Editor.	Same Wix pricing plans as the AI Site Builder.

What Was Wix ADI and Why Did Wix Replace It?

The original Wix ADI experience

Wix ADI launched in 2016 and asked users a series of questions about their business, style preferences, and goals. It then generated a unique website automatically, no templates, no manual layout work. The result was a quick, polished site that most beginners could publish within an hour.

The trade-off was limited flexibility. ADI sites lived inside a simplified editing interface that was separate from the main Wix Editor. Users could not access every design option, and many advanced Wix features were unavailable. If you switched to the full Wix Editor later, you could never return to the ADI editor for that site. For step-by-step editing instructions, see our guide on how to edit a Wix website.

For people learning how to design a website with Wix, ADI was often the recommended starting point precisely because it removed those early design decisions.

Why Wix moved on from ADI

Wix's engineering team rebuilt the AI experience from the ground up using large language models and generative design technology. The new AI Site Builder produces better, more personalised results, and, crucially, it hands off directly to the full Wix Editor instead of trapping users in a restricted interface. This eliminates the biggest complaint about the old ADI: that you would outgrow it the moment you wanted to customise anything seriously.

How to Start with the Wix AI Site Builder

If you are starting a new Wix site today and want to use the AI builder (the successor to Wix ADI), here is exactly how the flow works:

1. Go to Wix.com and click "Get Started."
2. After signing up or logging in, you are asked how you want to create your site. Select the AI website builder option.
3. Answer a short series of questions about your business type, goals, and design preferences. The AI uses these to shape the site's structure and content.
4. Wix AI generates a complete multi-page website, including a homepage, about page, contact page, and any relevant feature pages (booking, store, portfolio, etc.) based on your answers.
5. Review the AI-generated draft. You can regenerate sections, swap colour schemes, or adjust the layout before accepting.
6. Once you confirm the design, the site opens inside the full Wix Editor, where you can edit anything, add apps, and customise freely, just as if you had built from a template.

The key improvement over the old Wix ADI is step 6: you are no longer handed off to a stripped-down editor. After the AI does its job, you are in the same powerful Wix Editor that every other user works in, with no feature restrictions.

How to Switch from Wix ADI to Wix Editor

If you have an older site that was originally built with Wix ADI and want to move it to the full Wix Editor, here is how to do it.

1. Log into your Wix account and go to your Site Dashboard.
2. Click on the site you want to switch.
3. In the dashboard, look for the option to edit your site. You will be directed to the Wix Editor automatically, since the ADI editing interface is no longer available.
4. If your site was created in the original ADI, you may see a prompt to transfer your site to the Editor. Confirm the transfer when prompted.
5. Review your site in the Editor. Some layout elements may shift during the transfer, particularly spacing and column arrangements. Go through each page and make any necessary adjustments.

There is one critical point to understand: switching from Wix ADI to the Wix Editor is permanent. Once you transfer your site to the Editor, you cannot go back to the ADI interface. The ADI editing environment no longer exists for new sessions. Make sure you are ready to work in the Wix Editor before confirming the switch, because the transfer cannot be reversed.

For most users, this switch is worth it. The Wix Editor gives you substantially more control, access to the full app market, and all the latest features that Wix continues to add. ADI sites that stay in the old interface miss out on all of those improvements.

Can You Switch Between Wix AI Site Builder and Wix Editor?

For sites created using the new Wix AI Site Builder (not the old ADI), there is no separate "AI editor" and "classic editor" to switch between. That distinction no longer exists. Once the Wix AI Site Builder generates your site, it opens directly in the standard Wix Editor. From that point forward, you are just using the Wix Editor; the AI's involvement is only in the initial generation step.

You cannot "go back" to regenerate the AI design after you start editing. The AI run is a one-time starting point. You have full control to change every element manually within the Wix Editor once the AI generation is done.

What About Wix Studio?

If you encounter references to Wix Studio (formerly Editor X), this is a third, separate tool: a professional-grade builder aimed at web designers and agencies rather than individual site owners. Wix Studio is not the same as either the consumer Wix Editor or the AI Site Builder. It offers advanced responsive design controls, collaborative team features, and tighter layout grids suited to agency-level work.

For most individuals and small businesses comparing the old Wix ADI vs Wix Editor, Wix Studio is not the relevant tool. It targets a different audience entirely. Stick to the AI Site Builder vs classic Editor comparison when making your decision. If you do decide Wix Studio is the right fit, browse the best Wix Studio (Editor X) templates to find a starting point built for professional-grade design work.

Is the Wix AI Site Builder or Wix Editor Better for Your Project?

Which tool suits your skill level?

If you have little or no web design experience, the AI Site Builder is the right starting point. It removes the blank-canvas anxiety of an empty editor by generating a complete, coherent design for you. Once that site exists, you can edit every section inside the standard Wix Editor, so you are not sacrificing long-term flexibility. For anyone learning the ropes, this is now the equivalent of what the old Wix ADI vs Editor conversation was about: choose AI assistance to get started, then iterate.

If you are a more experienced designer or developer who already knows what you want, starting directly in the Wix Editor gives you maximum control from day one. You choose the template, set the grid, and decide exactly where every element goes. For complex projects, multi-page sites, branded businesses, or advanced Wix Studio builds, the direct Editor path is almost always the better choice.

How much time can you invest?

The AI Site Builder is a genuine time-saver. For small businesses or solo operators who need a professional online presence quickly, AI generation followed by light editing can take under two hours from sign-up to publish. The old Wix ADI served this same purpose (get online fast), and the new AI builder does it better.

The Wix Editor rewards time investment. Every hour you spend refining layouts, typography, and content structure compounds into a more distinctive, higher-performing site. If you enjoy the craft of web design or are building something long-term, the Editor gives you the depth to do that well. Our guide on the design process in Wix walks through every step from setup to publish.

What about growth and scalability?

One of the biggest limitations of the old Wix ADI was scalability. Sites built in ADI could not evolve easily beyond the original AI-generated structure. That problem is now solved. Because the AI Site Builder outputs a fully editable Wix Editor site, there is no ceiling. You can add pages, install apps, set up e-commerce, and customise indefinitely after the initial AI generation.

For long-term growth, both paths now lead to the same destination: the full Wix Editor. The difference is just how you start. Both WordPress and Squarespace offer comparable beginner-to-advanced pathways, but Wix's AI Site Builder currently offers one of the most capable AI-assisted entry points of any major website builder.

Which option is better for SEO?

From a pure SEO standpoint, it does not matter whether you start with the AI Site Builder or build manually in the Wix Editor. Both paths give you access to exactly the same Wix SEO tools: custom meta titles and descriptions, canonical tags, structured data, XML sitemaps, and the Wix SEO Wiz setup guide. AI-generated sites do not rank differently in Google's eyes. Search engines index the published HTML output, not the tool used to create it.

Where the Wix Editor can give you a slight practical advantage is in speed of implementation. Because you are working in the full editor from the very first session, you can configure SEO settings for every page immediately. That said, the AI Site Builder generates SEO-ready page structures by default, so the gap is minimal for most users. Either way, the quality of your content and the strength of your backlink profile will matter far more to your rankings than which Wix creation tool you started with.

Wix ADI vs Wix Editor in 2026: What Has Changed

The Wix ADI vs Wix Editor debate has shifted significantly since 2023, and it continues to evolve. Here is where things stand in 2026 for anyone arriving at this question from an older perspective.

Updates to the Wix AI Site Builder in 2025 and 2026

Wix has continued to invest in its AI Site Builder since the original ADI retirement. The most notable changes include:

• Chat-based interface: Instead of a fixed questionnaire, updated versions introduced a more conversational AI interface. You can describe your site in natural language, ask the AI to adjust specific sections, and refine the output through back-and-forth dialogue before committing to the Editor.
• Improved multi-page generation: Earlier versions of the AI builder sometimes produced inconsistent page structures across a site. More recent updates improved cross-page consistency, making the AI-generated output more coherent for sites with five or more pages.
• Image generation integration: Wix integrated AI image generation directly into the builder flow, so placeholder images are no longer generic stock photos. The AI can generate on-brand visuals based on your business type and colour palette, reducing the amount of manual image replacement needed after generation.

Are old ADI sites still usable in 2026?

Yes. Websites originally built with Wix ADI before the retirement in late 2023 continue to function and remain live. Wix has not forced any migration. However, the ADI editing interface is no longer accessible for those sites. If you log into a legacy ADI site today, you are directed to edit it in the standard Wix Editor instead.

Is the Wix ADI vs Editor comparison still relevant?

For anyone who built an ADI site several years ago and is now wondering how to move forward, the comparison is still worth understanding. The core decision now is whether to continue editing your existing ADI-era site inside the Wix Editor (which is fully supported) or to start fresh using the new AI Site Builder to get a more modern design foundation. There is no technical reason you need to rebuild, but if your site feels dated, starting over with the 2026 AI builder is a reasonable option given how much the output quality has improved.

Wix ADI vs Wix Editor: Which Should You Choose?

Wix ADI is gone, but its successor is better in almost every way. The new Wix AI Site Builder gives you the speed and ease that made ADI popular, while delivering a fully editable site inside the standard Wix Editor, not a locked-down simplified view. If you are a beginner or need a site fast, use the AI Site Builder. If you want total control from the start, build directly in the Wix Editor. Either way, you end up in the same powerful editor with the same full feature set.