Do You Really Need an AI Website Builder?
There are definitely pros and cons to using an AI website builder. The biggest pro is cutting down the time it takes you to set your website up. Some AI website builders will literally shave hours – if not days – off your set-up time, depending on the goals and aims of your site. If you just want to get up and running quickly, then using an AI website builder like Wix is worth exploring.
Another big advantage of using an AI website builder is how easy it is to build a professional-looking website. If you’re a website-building newbie and looking for a website builder that suits beginners, AI website builders will be easier to get to grips with than learning all the ins and outs of building a website independently, and far easier than building a WordPress site from scratch.
Of course, the key disadvantage of using an AI website builder is having limited customization at the start of your website-building journey, which you’ll lose by handing over full responsibility for much of the design – and in some cases, the copy – to your website builder.
Granted, the likes of Wix and Hostinger give their users template options to choose from, but it’s a much narrower remit of choice than you’d have if you started building your website from scratch yourself.
If you have a highly specific idea of what you want your site to look like, you may find using AI to set up your website just means you’ll have to make lots of changes afterward.
How to build a website with a vibe coding platform
“Vibe coding” refers to platforms that allow users to generate apps, websites, and software without the need to code. It differs from a standard AI website builder in that you can adopt an iterative approach.
In other words, input a prompt, and then issue subsequent prompts to refine what the platform has built for you. In this respect, it’s great for users who don’t have a clear vision in their mind at the outset.
AI website builders, meanwhile, work best when the user has some grasp of what they want the finished product to look like, as they can use drag-and-drop modular editing to make adjustments to what the platform has produced.
With the explosion of AI tools in recent years, they’re becoming an increasingly popular solution among software developers and casual users alike.
Building a website through vibe coding is a really simple process. Take Base44, for example. It’s a popular platform that enables you to generate an app or website from a simple written prompt. Base44 will take care of the look and feel for you, but you will be able to make adjustments via a handy drag-and-drop editor.
Once your website is built (which takes a matter of seconds), you’ll be able to push it live. On paid plans, this will include the ability to connect a custom domain. All in all, it’s certainly a viable alternative to using an AI website builder.
But with platforms like Wix letting you get started for free, and offering a range of website-specific and design features, we don’t really see the need to!
What are the limitations of AI website builders?
An AI website builder won’t be the best solution for everyone. Ultimately, regardless of how many templates are on offer, or the scope of the platform’s AI tool, you are quite limited from a design standpoint.
Users with a background in design, coding, or both might therefore prefer to build their website themselves from scratch. This is the only guaranteed way to get a website to your exact specifications. Of course, this simply isn’t practical for most of us. That’s why you can hire a website designer to handle the whole process for you.
Another issue with AI website builders is that once you’ve committed to a platform and built your site, you will likely experience vendor lock-in. In other words, it’s difficult to transfer over to a different platform should you decide to.
While most platforms do technically permit this, in a lot of cases, your designs simply won’t be compatible or optimized with the platform that you move onto. This can negatively impact your finished product, as well as causing frustration.
