Wix Stores subcategories missing: what Wix says you need
By Kayabyte
Disclosure: I make Copy Products to Another Site, a Wix app that I mention at the end. The Wix parts below come from Wix’s own help pages and one forum thread, which I quote and link. Checked on 4 November 2026.
The short answer
- Wix says subcategories belong to the new Wix Stores product catalog, and that a store that doesn’t show these features may not have been migrated yet.
- To use the subcategories feature fully, Wix says your store needs the category page. If your store uses it, Wix says an “Active on your site” toggle appears in the dashboard’s category list.
- Wix’s request page says an existing Wix Stores site can’t currently be migrated to the new catalog, and that new sites come with it built in.
The question
On the Wix forum (May 2026), a store owner wrote that after moving to the new Category Pages system they could no longer add subcategories in some store versions, and asked whether this is a limitation of certain versions (forum thread). A user labelled Community Manager replied that this should work on the new catalog, with a link to Wix’s categories article. The owner answered with a screenshot of the category page, saying there is no option to add a subcategory. The thread shows no answer after that.
What Wix documents
Where the feature lives. Wix’s article Introducing the new Wix Stores product catalog has a section “Organize your products into subcategories”. Its note says full use of subcategories needs the category page, and that a store without it can migrate to the category page. It describes up to 5 levels.
How to create one. Wix’s article Creating Product Categories is about “the new version of product categories”. It says that if +New Category opens a page unlike the one in its Step 1, you have the original version. For the new version, Step 4 says to click More Actions next to a category and choose + New subcategory, or to drag an existing category under another. It also lists limits: 5 levels of subcategories including “All Products”, a recommended maximum of 1,000 categories and subcategories in total, and that one subcategory can’t sit in two places.
The original version. Wix’s article About the Previous Version of Wix Stores Categories describes categories as collections of products and does not mention subcategories. It says you may already have been moved to the new experience if your category page looks different from its screenshots.
A quick check you can make
Open Categories in your dashboard. On a Wix test site I opened on 4 November 2026, the page had a New Category button and an Active on site column. That is the layout Wix describes for the new category page. If your list has no such column or toggle, Wix’s note above suggests you may not be on the category page yet. I could not say from the pages I read what causes the missing option for the person in the forum thread, and I did not create a category on the test site.
If your store is on the old version
Per Wix’s request page, an existing site can’t be migrated to the new catalog today, and new sites come with it. So the route Wix names is a new site. Moving the products by CSV loses nesting: How to move Wix Stores products to another Wix site says categories in the file are created but not nested.
Where Copy Products to Another Site fits (mine)
Copy Products to Another Site copies products from one of your Wix sites to another. The app page, as I read it on 4 November 2026, lists “Categories, including categories inside categories” among what it copies, and says a category with the same name and parent that already exists is reused. The page does not claim to change the catalog version of a site. If the new site is on the new catalog, nested categories can exist there, which is Wix’s condition above. Plans and prices can change, so check the page.
FAQ
Why can’t I add a subcategory in Wix Stores? Wix ties subcategories to the new product catalog and the category page. If your category list has no “Active on site” toggle, check Wix’s note about migrating to the category page.
Can I upgrade an old Wix store to the new catalog? Wix’s request page says it is currently not possible. New sites come with it.
How many levels of subcategories can I have? Wix says up to 5, including “All Products”.
What did you test? I read the Wix pages and the forum thread, and opened the Categories page of a Wix test site without changing anything. I did not create categories or copy a store for this page.
Wix pages last checked: 4 November 2026. App page last checked: 4 November 2026. Spotted something out of date? Write to support@kayabyte.dev and I’ll fix it.