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An AI website builder can turn one sentence about your business into a site with words and pictures in minutes. A year later, the more revealing question is whether you can change a photo, appear in Google, take a booking or a card payment, and still like the bill. I'd choose for that second year, not the first draft.
These are hosted builders with a drafting assistant at the front: you describe what you do, the AI writes pages, and you edit them before paying to keep the site online. Squarespace, Wix, Hostinger and GoDaddy offer versions, alongside 
DurableDurableThis is Durable, a Vancouver AI business builder for small service businesses. It writes a website from a few answers, then adds bookings, a simple customer list, invoices and locaBuying guide · View store → and 
FramerFramerThis is Framer, a website builder from Amsterdam that pairs a visual design canvas with an AI design agent, a built-in CMS and hosting. It suits designers, freelancers, startups anBuying guide · View store →. The assistant gets you started; the editor and plan determine what happens next. With most of them, leaving means rebuilding the site elsewhere.
What is the site for?
A salon, a studio and a small shop need different things from a website. The choice gets clearer when the first question is what a customer must be able to do there.
For a trade or service that takes appointments, I'd consider DurableDurableThis is Durable, a Vancouver AI business builder for small service businesses. It writes a website from a few answers, then adds bookings, a simple customer list, invoices and locaBuying guide · View store → Launch, with unlimited bookings, a simple CRM and Stripe card payments. GoDaddy Airo Professional is the alternative priced in pounds, with appointment bookings and deposits. If you're selling products, Wix Core and Squarespace Core both avoid a platform cut on product sales and give you a full editor beyond the AI prompt.
If the site's appearance matters most, FramerFramerThis is Framer, a website builder from Amsterdam that pairs a visual design canvas with an AI design agent, a built-in CMS and hosting. It suits designers, freelancers, startups anBuying guide · View store → suits a portfolio or studio, provided you're content for the site to stay there. Hostinger Premium is the low-cost option for a site you'll leave largely alone, though its 48-month offer brings a much higher renewal price. For logins, accounts or saved data, I'd look at an app builder such as Lovable. That's a different kind of project, and I'll come to it later. Webflow is another option alongside Framer when publishing regularly matters.
The draft is the easy part
Once the AI has made a page, you still need to edit it. That sounds minor until a simple image change or layout fix sends you back through another prompt. In a November 2025 video, the YouTube channel Steve Builds Websites made the same site with 20 AI tools and found generation easy but prompt editing "brutally slow and unreliable": replacing an image or fixing a layout often took 30 to 60 seconds or broke the page. For real projects, the channel's advice is to stick with website builders and skip their AI generators. That's a good reason to care more about the editor than the opening trick.
The video shows the first draft and the editing problem side by side.
Squarespace's Blueprint AI draft opens in its ordinary drag-and-drop editor, so changes don't all depend on prompts. GoDaddy Airo doesn't use AI credits for text and image edits. DurableDurableThis is Durable, a Vancouver AI business builder for small service businesses. It writes a website from a few answers, then adds bookings, a simple customer list, invoices and locaBuying guide · View store → Launch includes 1,000 AI credits a month, and FramerFramerThis is Framer, a website builder from Amsterdam that pairs a visual design canvas with an AI design agent, a built-in CMS and hosting. It suits designers, freelancers, startups anBuying guide · View store → Basic also includes 1,000. Those allowances matter more if prompts remain your way of making routine changes.
Getting found is part of editing, too. If you change a page's address, a 301 redirect sends visitors and Google from the old link to the new one. Durable has a redirect checkbox beside the page-address setting; Framer reserves site redirects for Pro, rather than Basic. If search will bring your business work, that difference belongs in the plan decision. My guide to AI SEO tools covers the research and writing side.
Can customers book or buy?
For a tutor, salon or trade, a booking calendar can be the point of the whole site. The cheaper plan may put a payment button on a page without letting someone choose and pay for an appointment.
DurableDurableThis is Durable, a Vancouver AI business builder for small service businesses. It writes a website from a few answers, then adds bookings, a simple customer list, invoices and locaBuying guide · View store → Launch includes unlimited bookings synced to your calendar, paid bookings and a built-in CRM. Durable says Stripe payments are available in the UK and it adds no fee of its own above Stripe's rates. GoDaddy Airo Professional includes appointment bookings, online payments and deposits. Starter stops at payment links and a QR code. Wix puts scheduling and services on Core. FramerFramerThis is Framer, a website builder from Amsterdam that pairs a visual design canvas with an AI design agent, a built-in CMS and hosting. It suits designers, freelancers, startups anBuying guide · View store → plans don't list bookings or a checkout, so appointments there mean embedding a booking tool. My Calendly alternatives guide covers UK options, while the small business CRM guide is useful when a builder's contact list is no longer enough.
A shop has a different cost to watch: the fee on each sale. In October 2026, Squarespace Basic charges 2% on online product and service sales, on top of card rates from 2.0% + £0.25; Core drops its transaction fee to 0%. Wix takes no platform cut, while ExpertSure gives Wix Payments a UK card rate of 2.1% + 20p. Hostinger offers ecommerce at checkout and says its store has 0% transaction fees. Durable's Sell feature handles physical, digital, made-to-order and service items, though Durable says it isn't designed specifically for e-commerce.
Already on Shopify? 
ReploReploThis is Replo, an AI agent for online shops. You describe a landing page, funnel or whole site in chat, and it builds and publishes it, linked to your products and checkout, for ShBuying guide · View store → is an AI agent for online shops that builds landing pages with buy buttons leading to Shopify or Replo's own checkout. Its Starter plan is $99 a month billed annually in October 2026, and it describes Pro as for "brands scaling ad spend". I'd place it with shops that have an ad budget, rather than a sole trader making a first site. The Klaviyo alternatives guide covers that shop's email side.
Publishing regularly changes the calculation again. Squarespace's export takes one blog and its posts; FramerFramerThis is Framer, a website builder from Amsterdam that pairs a visual design canvas with an AI design agent, a built-in CMS and hosting. It suits designers, freelancers, startups anBuying guide · View store → Basic allows two CMS collections, one of which a blog uses, while Pro allows ten. Webflow Basic has no CMS, so its Premium plan at $25 a month billed yearly in October 2026 is the one I'd price for a blog.
Which of those jobs comes first for your site?
What happens to the cheap price?
The first year's headline price doesn't tell you what happens when an offer ends, a domain renews or VAT is added. These entry-plan figures are from October 2026. Sellers show a mix of pounds with VAT included, pounds before VAT and dollars; Wix's direct plans were shown in dollars, so the UK pound figures below use ExpertSure's August 2026 pricing check. For a sole trader who isn't VAT registered, that 20% is part of the bill.
| Plan | Price as listed | A year | VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger Premium | £114.72 for 48 months, paid upfront | £34.42 with VAT (£137.66 for four years) | Listed without VAT |
| GoDaddy Airo Starter | £7.49 a month, billed annually | £89.88 | Not stated |
| GoDaddy Airo Professional | £17.99 a month, billed annually | £215.88 | Not stated |
| Wix Light | £9 a month, billed annually | £129.60 with VAT | Wix says prices exclude tax |
| Wix Core | £16 a month, billed annually | £230.40 with VAT | Wix says prices exclude tax |
| Squarespace Basic | £14.40 a month, paid annually | £172.80 | Includes estimated VAT |
| Squarespace Core | £20.40 a month, paid annually | £244.80 | Includes estimated VAT |
| FramerFramerThis is Framer, a website builder from Amsterdam that pairs a visual design canvas with an AI design agent, a built-in CMS and hosting. It suits designers, freelancers, startups anBuying guide · View store → Basic | $10 a month, billed yearly | $144 with VAT | Tax added at checkout |
| DurableDurableThis is Durable, a Vancouver AI business builder for small service businesses. It writes a website from a few answers, then adds bookings, a simple customer list, invoices and locaBuying guide · View store → Launch | $22 a month, billed yearly | $264 | Not stated |
| Lovable Pro | £19 a month, billed annually | £228 | Not stated |
Hostinger's £114.72 upfront offer in October 2026 becomes £137.66 with VAT, or £34.42 a year over four years. That is appealing if you're sure you'll still want the site in 2030. All its plans are paid upfront, though, and Premium renews at £10.99 a month, more than four times the £2.39 offer rate. At renewal, a year is £158.26 with VAT, close to Squarespace Basic's £172.80.
Dollar figures deserve the same attention. FramerFramerThis is Framer, a website builder from Amsterdam that pairs a visual design canvas with an AI design agent, a built-in CMS and hosting. It suits designers, freelancers, startups anBuying guide · View store → adds sales tax at checkout according to location, making Basic's $120 a year $144 with UK VAT in October 2026. VAT isn't stated for DurableDurableThis is Durable, a Vancouver AI business builder for small service businesses. It writes a website from a few answers, then adds bookings, a simple customer list, invoices and locaBuying guide · View store →, GoDaddy Airo or Lovable in their listed prices, so the checkout total matters. Paying monthly costs more where it's offered: Squarespace Basic is £19.20 a month and Framer Basic is $15 a month when paid monthly.
Then there is the domain. In October 2026, Squarespace's free first year gives way to its standard renewal rate plus taxes. GoDaddy's free Airo domain lasts a year, carries an annual ICANN fee and then renews at current prices. Hostinger also includes the first year; ExpertSure puts Wix's renewal at around £10 to £20 a year. Durable includes a domain worth up to $20 on Launch. A free first year is common, but it isn't a free domain for the life of the site.
VAT-registered businesses can reclaim VAT on business purchases. Registration is required once taxable turnover over the previous 12 months exceeds £90,000. If you're not registered, the VAT stays in your cost.
With renewals, VAT and the domain counted, what would a year of your website be worth?
Can you leave with your site?
Price isn't the only long-term commitment. These builders host what you make, and moving often means rebuilding. The useful distinction is between taking your domain, taking your words and pictures, and taking the working site.
| Builder | The site | The domain |
|---|---|---|
| Wix | Has to stay on Wix's servers | Can move away, not within 60 days of buying it |
| Squarespace | WordPress file with pages, one blog, text, images and galleries | Free first year, then Squarespace's standard rate |
| Hostinger | Manual mode exports pages, text, images and files to WordPress; Agentic mode gives source code access | Free for the first year |
| FramerFramerThis is Framer, a website builder from Amsterdam that pairs a visual design canvas with an AI design agent, a built-in CMS and hosting. It suits designers, freelancers, startups anBuying guide · View store → | No HTML export | Included on yearly plans |
| DurableDurableThis is Durable, a Vancouver AI business builder for small service businesses. It writes a website from a few answers, then adds bookings, a simple customer list, invoices and locaBuying guide · View store → | Help articles cover the domain, not the site | Can move after three months' subscription |
| GoDaddy Airo | Code download on paid plans, GitHub sync on Ultimate | Free first year, then current prices |
| Lovable | Code download on paid plans, GitHub sync | Connect your own on Pro |
Wix says the content you build belongs to you, but the site must run on Wix's servers. A domain bought there can move after ICANN's 60-day lock. Framer has no HTML export; my Framer vs Webflow comparison covers what Webflow's export keeps and leaves behind.
Squarespace and Hostinger offer WordPress exports, though they won't carry the complete design and business setup. Squarespace leaves out store pages, portfolio pages, blogs after the first, product blocks, style settings and custom CSS. Hostinger's manual export leaves out styles, layout, its online store, forms, collected submissions and SEO settings; its Agentic mode gives source code access instead.
Durable's moving guidance covers the domain, with no stated route for taking the site itself. A domain bought through Durable can be released after three consecutive months of subscription, and the transfer takes a couple of weeks. GoDaddy Airo and Lovable offer code downloads on paid plans. Airo adds GitHub sync on Ultimate, while Lovable syncs with GitHub. I'd value the code route if you, or someone you pay, can host and maintain it.
Do you need an app instead?
An app builder can look like a website builder from the first prompt. The difference is the result: a site builder supplies pages, an editor and hosting; an app builder writes software with sign-ins, saved data and interactive screens, changed by describing what you want.
Lovable shows pounds to UK visitors. Pro is £19 a month billed annually in October 2026, includes custom domains and removes its badge. Projects sync both ways with GitHub, and monthly credits expire two months after issue. 
AnythingAnythingThis is Anything, an AI app builder, formerly Create, that turns a chat description into websites, web apps and mobile apps. It suits founders and non-coders who want something worBuying guide · View store → Pro 20k is $19 a month on a yearly plan, with custom domains and no branding; its plan table includes code export and App Store submission. 
whackawhackaThis is whacka, an AI app builder for people who don't code. You describe the app you want in plain English, and it writes, hosts and publishes it for you, with logins, a database Buying guide · View store → takes a different approach: free apps go offline 14 days after publication. Starter is $8 a month billed annually and keeps them live without a custom domain; Pro is $32 a month billed annually and adds your own domain and code export.
Our website and app builders page has the builders we cover and their store pages. For a plumber's site or a café's opening hours, I'd stay with a site builder. An app builder makes sense when the thing has to work like software, such as a members' area, a quote calculator or a booking tool with customer logins. I'd make that call before comparing AI drafts: the editor, the plan and the way out need to fit the job you'll still ask the site to do a year from now.
BallparkA daily price game
Higher or lower?
Eleven things from UK shops, the same for everyone today. Does each cost more or less than the one before? Ten quick calls.
