Artificial Intelligence (AI), you can’t escape it.
It seems like this technology is now being applied to almost every area of our lives. Seeking to make things easier, better, and faster than ever before - whether we like it or not.
The best website builders only have one real objective:
To make it quick and easy to build and manage successful websites.
So, it is little surprise that website builders are jumping on the AI bandwagon, looking to leverage its abilities to roll out new tools to improve their offering. In this article, we explore some of the latest AI developments in website builders, get some exclusive insights, and take a look at what the future may have to hold.
AI and website builders
Many leading website builders are already leveraging AI technology, especially when it comes to automating repetitive website building and management tasks.
For example, Hostinger offers a complete AI-powered website design solution. It works by users simply inputting their brand name, picking a website type, describing exactly the type of website they are looking for, and clicking 'create a website'. A few seconds later they are presented with a bespoke website template based on all the information they provided.
The results? Surprisingly good.
Diplomatic Lawn Care, Reflections in Focus, and Crystal Cutie Shop are all examples of websites that have been built using the Hostinger AI-powered website builder. Sure, these aren’t going to win any prizes for most innovative website design. But they are clean, professional, and contain all the information a potential customer may be looking for - everything most small businesses need, but what many of them lack.
Other website builders including Jimdo and IONOS offer a similar approach. However, these AI builders rely on multiple-choice questions in order to produce a personalized template, unlike Hostinger that allows you to build websites with descriptive text prompts.
Wix, our top-rated website builder, has also announced plans for a similar approach. The AI Site Generator tool will allow website owners to create websites by answering a few questions and providing details of what they are looking for. Similarly, Duda also has a ‘coming soon’ AI tool that promises to help generate sections, pages, product descriptions, and more - this could be similar in functionality to Hostinger’s AI offering.
Although it is clear that complete AI-powered website builders are the ultimate goal, it is currently more common to find AI-powered tools that support specific areas of website building and management.
Take Duda’s current AI offering for example. It provides AI tools that can help you improve your website text, as well as automatically generating search engine optimized meta titles and descriptions for your pages. IONOS offers similar, alongside AI image and color palette generation.
Is the use of AI in website building revolutionary?
The big question is, is the application of AI in website building just a fad, or does it offer substantial, sustainable benefits?
Let’s be honest, despite all the buzz around AI, it isn’t quite as revolutionary as we are led to believe - at least not yet. There are plenty of issues and challenges to overcome before it becomes a direct replacement for human input in website building.
Even the most advanced AI website builder tools aren’t without issues. Although AI will help you quickly build a strong basis for your website, you’ll still need to make tweaks in order to create a polished site that is fit to represent your business online.
For now, expert web developers, designers, search engine optimizers, and content writers can sleep easy at night knowing that, although AI can do their job on a basic level, it isn’t currently able to provide the same breadth of insight and expertise.
However, AI is a great time saver for small businesses, helping to quickly tailor templates, generate content, and follow best practices. Hostinger has shared exclusive data with us, highlighting that the median time for a site to go from start to live was just 28 minutes and 46 seconds when using their AI site builder.
If you have ever built a website before, you will know just how impressive this statistic is.
With time saving, comes cost saving. This is especially true for businesses, such as agencies, that produce high volumes of websites. A study by Duda found that 90% of agencies surveyed made cost savings of up to $10,000 in 2023 by using AI tools. It also found that agencies predict a 134% increase in cost savings from AI tools in 2024 compared to 2023.
These big savings by agencies should translate to smaller, but not insignificant, cost savings by small businesses and entrepreneurs using the same types of AI tools.
In summary:
Does AI help you save time and money when building a website? Yes.
Will it allow you to create a perfectly finished website in seconds/minutes with no additional editing required? No.
User insight
What do businesses, those on the front line of using these new AI tools, think of them?
Jarrott Brown, Diplomatic Lawn Care
Jarrott is a deputy sheriff who runs a landscaping company as a side gig. He started his lawn mowing business in 2011 and went on hiatus in 2014. He recently used Hostinger’s AI Website Builder to get his business back on track.
“I built and launched my website in one day. What I liked about it is that it took out a lot of manual work. The website I built was spot on - I had to make only a few changes. I was looking to create a website without putting too much effort into it, and it was perfect for this purpose.”
Nat Rosasco, Principal + Creative Director of Olive Street Design
Olive Street Design is a Chicago-based web design firm that has used Duda’s AI tools to save time when adding meta descriptions, page titles, and image alt-text with minimal hands-on time needed for error correction.
“The tools available allow us to provide every client with a solid start to their SEO journey in record time.”
AI and website builders: The future
The potential application of AI in website building is only bound by our own creativity. We can only speculate how this exciting technology may be applied to website building in the coming years.
For example, the application of AI could be used to generate hyper-personalized websites based on user behavior, preferences, and real-time data. Just imagine the power of a website that automatically tailors aspects such as tone, language, marketing messages, fonts, images, videos, and structure, specifically to the individual visiting it.
Pair this personalization with other technology advances such as those in Augmented Reality (AR) and website builders could be used to create highly powerful, immersive websites that bring visitors into bespoke, branded environments.
Cool, right?
Advances in text-based AI website generation could be taken further into accepting advanced voice-based commands, allowing you to literally talk your perfect website into existence. Security could also be taken to the next level, using AI to protect users' data, identify risks before they happen, and shield vulnerable internet users from engaging with harmful content and individuals.
The possibilities are endless…
AI website builders: Summary
AI is an interesting area of development in the website builder space. Many market leaders have already rolled out advanced AI tools which are improving the website building experience of customers. The application of these tools is already helping small businesses, entrepreneurs, and agencies save time and money when building websites.
Yet in reality, AI in website building is still in its infancy, with most tools being helpful and impressive, but also rudimental. It is clear that there are still huge opportunities for its application to be taken advantage of, making it an exciting area of potential development.
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