AI builds a website in a minute. Do you still need a web developer?

Type "make me a website for a hair salon" and a minute later you have a page with a headline, photos and a booking button. Tools like Wix's AI builder, Framer or Lovable really do this today, and "vibe coding", building apps by describing what you want, has become one of the biggest topics in web development.

So why would anyone still pay a developer? It's a fair question. The answer depends on what your site needs to do.

What AI does well

• A fast first draft. Page structure, layout, colours and placeholder copy in a few minutes.
• Testing an idea. If you want to see whether anyone cares about a new service, a temporary page is enough.
• Simple pages on a short deadline. An event, a seasonal offer, an internal prototype.

If that's exactly what you need, an AI builder is a sensible choice and nobody needs to sell it to you.

Where it breaks down

The content is generic

AI doesn't know your prices, your strengths, your clients or your work. It writes what would fit any business, so sites start to look alike. Yet specific content is exactly why people choose you, and why AI search recommends you.

What a demo screen doesn't show

A site that looks great on a big office monitor isn't the same as one that opens fast on a phone over mobile data. Then there are the things a generator rarely gets right:

• speed and Core Web Vitals,
• SEO basics: titles, descriptions, structure, structured data,
• accessibility: contrast, image descriptions, keyboard use,
• multiple languages, with proper addresses for each one,
• a form whose enquiries actually arrive, with spam protection.

Ownership and lock-in

With an AI builder, your site lives on their platform. You pay the subscription for as long as it exists, and moving elsewhere often means rebuilding from scratch. With vibe coding the code is yours, but someone has to publish it, maintain it and fix it when it breaks.

Code nobody has reviewed

When code is generated from a description, it's easy to end up with something that works without anyone knowing how. For a site that only presents your business, that usually gets by. For forms that collect data, payments or user accounts, unreviewed code is a risk. Someone has to understand what happens to your customers' data.

When an AI builder is the right choice

• You need the site short-term or to test an idea.
• The budget is minimal and you'll maintain it yourself.
• You don't need special features, multiple languages or a serious position on Google.

When a developer pays off

• The site is your main source of enquiries and customers.
• You work in several languages or for a foreign market.
• You need something specific: bookings, a catalogue, links to other systems.
• You want the domain, code and content to be yours, with no monthly platform subscription.

I use AI too

I'm not working "against" AI. I use AI tools every day: to write code faster, to check work and to draft first versions of copy. The difference is who decides what goes on the site, who checks the result, and who's accountable when something doesn't work.

Five questions before you choose

1. Who owns the domain and the content?
2. Can I move the site if I leave the platform?
3. What does it cost per year, not just the first month?
4. How does it perform on a phone? Check it on PageSpeed Insights.
5. Who do I contact when something doesn't work?

If the answers aren't clear, get in touch for a free twenty-minute call. I'll tell you honestly whether you need a developer or whether an AI builder will do just fine.