Website builder vs web designer vs AI builder

• A DIY website builder (Wix, Squarespace and others): you pick a template and fill in every page yourself. You pay a monthly plan.
• A web designer: a freelancer or an agency designs and builds the site for you, usually for a project fee, then charges for changes.
• An AI builder (Lovable, Base44 and others): you describe what you want in prompts and the tool generates it. You keep prompting until it looks right, and you publish it.
• Built for you: you describe the business or attach your Google listing, the site is built for you and checked by a person, and you pay a flat fee for it to be live and looked after. This is what we do.

Every one of them can produce a good site. They differ in who does the work, how long it takes, what it costs and who looks after it once it is live.

When you like the work and have the hours. A builder gives you full control and a low monthly price. When we read Squarespace's pricing on October 29, 2026, plans started at $19 a month billed yearly, and Wix's plans page showed paid plans from $17.77 a month billed yearly.

What the plan does not include is the design work, the writing and the upkeep. Those are yours. If you would happily spend a few weekends getting it right and then update it yourself, a builder is the cheapest good option. If you would rather be doing your actual job, the time is the real price.

When the project is large, unusual or central to how you sell. A booking system built around your own rules, a catalogue of hundreds of products, a brand created from nothing, or a site that has to connect to systems you already run: these need a person thinking about your business for weeks, and a designer or agency is the right hire.

Expect a project fee, a timeline measured in weeks, and rounds of feedback. Ask what changes cost after launch and who hosts the site. Agencies often quote $10,000 or more for an app. Our own studio takes on this kind of project from $3,250, to a fixed scope and price agreed before work starts.

AI builders are quick at producing a first version, and they suit people who are comfortable iterating: prompting, checking, prompting again, and sometimes reading or editing the code underneath. Founders testing an idea and developers who want a head start use them well.

For a busy owner they leave two jobs undone. Someone has to judge whether the result is any good, because a generated site can look finished and still have the wrong phone number, a confusing menu or a page that is slow on a phone. And someone has to publish it, connect the domain and keep it current. If that someone is you, factor in the time.

It means the work of the other three is done for you, quickly. With us you type a sentence or attach your Google listing, and the site is built in about 20 minutes from your real details, photos and reviews. A designer checks every build before you see it. You see it free, with no card.

If you want it live, it is $99 a month with the domain, hosting and changes included, or $1,499 once to own it outright. Changes are made by emailing us; there is no editor to learn. It is the right choice when you want a professional site this week and do not want to design, write or maintain it yourself.

It is the wrong choice if you want to control every pixel, or if your project needs custom features beyond a standard business site. For those, a builder or a studio fits better. The comparison page sets the four side by side.

A builder costs its monthly plan plus your hours. A designer costs the project fee plus whatever changes and hosting cost afterwards. An AI builder costs its plan or credits plus your hours of prompting and publishing. A built-for-you plan costs its monthly fee, with the hours on our side.

To compare fairly, write down the price of each option, then add a number for your own time at what an hour of your work is worth. The cheapest sticker is often not the cheapest year. The website cost guide goes through the hidden costs one by one.

• Do you enjoy design tools and have spare evenings? Use a builder.
• Is the project big, bespoke and well funded? Hire a designer or a studio.
• Are you technical and testing an idea? Try an AI builder.
• Do you want it done, checked and looked after? Have it built for you.

Whichever you lean towards, it costs nothing to see what a built-for-you site looks like for your own business first. Start building and compare it with the others.