Many creators successfully sell courses via Wix this way. The only “risk” is user navigation confusion — which is solved by linking programs to plans and properly configuring Member Pages. The trial is mainly for testing; upgrading doesn’t suddenly break any functionality. 1. Trial vs Paid Plan On the trial, you can test the whole process (creating courses, subscriptions, dummy users). Once you upgrade: You can accept real payments (Stripe, PayPal, etc.). You can remove Wix ads. You can connect a custom domain. The underlying functionality — Pricing Plans + Online Programs + Members Area — works the same. Nothing in your setup will break just because you upgrade. 2. Critical Setup Steps To ensure everything works post-upgrade: Link Pricing Plans to your Online Programs (so subscribers automatically become participants). Set up Member Pages / Participant Pages so users can access their purchased courses. Test a real payment after upgrading (even a small amount) to confirm checkout, access, and email confirmations work correctly. 3. Limitations to Watch Out For Multiple programs per plan: Make sure all programs are linked correctly. Member area navigation: Wix won’t auto-generate participant links — you have to add them to the Member Menu. Emails / automations: Double-check that confirmation emails and access emails are enabled. More on reddit.com

The most cost-effective solution in the long term would probably be a self-hosted WordPress website (NOT wordpress.com). You need some affordable hosting with a few integrated domains and transfer your domain to the new host, set up a database, download WordPress from wordpress.org, and install it. Looking at your website, it wouldn't be too difficult for someone experienced in WordPress to recreate it exactly. However, if you want to do it yourself, you have some learning curve. The thing with open-source WordPress is that you have to do everything yourself, but the only long-term costs are your hosting fees. It would probably be better to rebuild the website anyway, because it isn't even responsive, meaning it isn't optimized for mobile devices. I would recommend finding a trustworthy WordPress developer in your area and let them rebuild the website. More on reddit.com

Just got the email "We've changed our plans and moved you to one that costs 50% more because WE think it fits your needs the best and we know you'll pay it because we have you by the balls. Oh, there are cheaper plans, but we won't calculate your sales tax and removed a bunch of marketing reports and stuff to make it unusable." I called customer service and they can't even answer the most basic questions about the new plans. This totally sucks! More on reddit.com

You can't host a wix website outside of wix, you can connect to an owned domain however. They do offer monthly pricing or annual whichever you prefer. If you wish to host elsewhere maybe look at using webflow or another platform. More on reddit.com