Short answer: There are three ways to build a website with AI: a website builder with AI built in, vibe coding, where AI writes the code, or letting your own AI, such as ChatGPT or Claude, work directly on a real website. The first draft takes minutes. What AI can't do is know your business. You still have to give it that yourself.
Search for "build a website with AI" and you mostly get ads for tools. Here's the honest picture: what the three routes are, what AI is actually good at, and where you'll still need to spend an afternoon yourself.
Three ways to build a website with AI
On the tools' own home pages they look alike. The difference only shows once the site is up and you need to change something.
1. A website builder with AI
You describe your business, and the AI builds the pages on a platform that also hosts them. You get a design, copy and a menu, and afterwards you make changes by clicking on whatever you want to edit. Domain, hosting and forms are taken care of.
2. Vibe coding
Here the AI writes the code itself from your description, and you ask for changes in plain words. It feels like magic for the first ten minutes. But once it's finished, you're left with a codebase, and hosting, the domain, forms, security and the fix you'll need in six months' time are all on you. Want to change your opening hours? You ask the AI and hope it doesn't break something else. We've written a full guide on it: vibe coding, and what breaks after launch.
3. Your own AI on a real website
The newest route, and the one fewest people know about. Plenty of people already have ChatGPT or Claude open all day. With a connector, that same AI can work directly on your website: write a new page, translate, update your opening hours or tidy up the menu, while you talk to it the way you'd talk to a colleague.
You write to your AI. It builds the section straight onto your site, as a draft.
You don't have to choose between freedom and a platform
The biggest problem with AI websites is that they all look the same. When the AI invents the design from scratch, it often lands on the same average look: a big headline, three cards and a blue button.
So we did it the other way round. We designed a library of ready-made sections and templates in advance: home pages, menus, galleries, prices, bookings, contact and much more. The AI picks the sections that suit your business, puts them together and fills them with your copy, colours and photos. You get what AI is quick at and what a designer is good at, at the same time.
The AI picks ready-designed sections and fills them with the café's own photos and copy.
The strong argument for vibe coding has always been freedom. You can ask for anything. That freedom now exists on a platform too: if you need a section that doesn't exist, the AI writes it in code itself and adds it to the page. The difference is that all the boring parts are already handled.
| Vibe coding | LINJERUM Studio with AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Build by describing what you want | Yes | Yes |
| Ready-designed sections that AI puts together | No, the design is invented every time | Yes |
| AI writes its own sections in code | Yes | Yes |
| Change a word yourself, without code | No, you ask the AI | Yes, right on the page |
| Hosting, domain and SSL | Your job | Sorted |
| Forms, newsletter and bookings | Has to be built | Built in |
| Multiple languages | Has to be built | Built in |
| Undo a change | If you saved the code | History with earlier versions |
What AI is good at
The blank page. That's where most people get stuck, and that's where AI is strongest. In a minute you have a structure with a home page, about, prices and contact, a design and copy you can edit. It's far easier to say "no, not like that" than to start from nothing.
It's also good at the tedious stuff. Translating a whole website into another language. Writing alt text for 30 photos. Making a long text shorter. Making the same change on eight pages. Work that takes an afternoon by hand and a minute with AI.
What AI can't do for you
Be honest with yourself here, because this is where most AI websites fall down.
- It doesn't know your business. Give it nothing more than "hairdresser in Bristol" and you get a page about an average hairdresser in Bristol. It fills the gaps with things that sound right: an address, opening hours, a phone number. Check every name, number and promise before you publish.
- It doesn't have your photos. Stock photos make any website look like all the others. Your own photos of the place, the people and what you make do more than any copy.
- It doesn't have taste on your behalf. AI plays it safe. If your website should feel like your shop, you have to say no to what doesn't fit.
- It won't get you onto Google on its own. Google doesn't care whether a text was written by AI. It does care whether it's useful. A page with your real prices, your area and answers to what customers actually ask beats a good-looking page with empty copy.
A good rule of thumb: let AI write the first draft and handle the repetitive work. The facts, the photos and the final call are yours.
How to do it with LINJERUM Studio
We've built all three routes into one place, so you don't have to choose up front.
- Start from a description. Tell us what your business does, and you get a website you can edit right on the page. Already have a website? Paste the address and we'll use it as the starting point.
- Build in a conversation. The AI builder lets you build the whole site by chatting back and forth. It's in beta, so don't expect it to get it right every time.
- Use your own AI. Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or another app that supports MCP connectors, and ask it to work on your site. It reads your pages, colours and fonts first, so what it makes fits in. See how to connect your AI.
Whichever route you take, everything the AI makes is a draft until you hit publish yourself. Before it changes anything, the studio saves a version, so you can always go back. And you can edit every word yourself, without asking anyone.
You can start with one of our templates instead, if you'd rather pick the look first.
Is it free to build a website with AI?
Building with us is free, AI included. You only pay when the website goes live: from €69 a month, or about €62 a month if you pay for a year at a time (€745 a year). If you'd like a designer to help, there's Premium. See all prices, or read how much a website actually costs.
Be careful with "free" elsewhere. Free often means a domain with the tool's name in it, ads on your site, or code you have to find somewhere to host yourself.
Source: Google's own guidance on AI-generated content, Google Search Central, February 2023.
Frequently asked questions
Can I build a website with AI for free?You can build for free with LINJERUM Studio, AI included. You only pay when the site is published on your own domain, from €69 a month.
Does Google penalise AI-written content?No. Google judges whether content is useful, not how it was written. But a text without real facts about your business ranks badly, whoever wrote it.
Can I use ChatGPT to build my website?Yes. ChatGPT can write copy and code, and with a connector it can work directly on a website in LINJERUM Studio, so you don't have to copy text back and forth.
What's the difference between an AI website builder and vibe coding?A website builder makes the site on a platform that hosts it, and you can edit it without code. Vibe coding gives you a codebase that you have to host and maintain yourself.
How long does it take to build a website with AI?The first draft takes a few minutes. Allow another afternoon to fix the facts, add your own photos and read the whole thing through on your phone.
