Jan 22 / Tara Bonhorst

Need a Website, Fast? AI Website Builders Can Help, But Not All Are Created Equal

One of the questions we get most often is: How can I use AI to create a website?

It’s a great question because, let’s face it – web development can be pretty painful, especially if it’s not something you do often. For many, it’s one of the biggest hurdles when launching a new business, product, or marketing campaign.

There are a lot of different AI-powered website builders out there right now that promise to create a landing page or complete website in just minutes. Each one has their own pros and cons; of course, none of them are going to be as customizable as building your own site from scratch.

But, if you need a quick web page, or just something functional enough to not embarrass you, there is probably an AI website builder that will give you what you need.

Here’s the breakdown on a few of the most popular tools – strengths, weaknesses, and no sugar-coating.

Gamma: Polished Designs, In Your Own Words

Gamma can create a clean, professional AI-generated webpage in record time. You’ll get a sleek design, and you can tweak the layout and content with the user-friendly editing tool. Gamma creates AI images as it generates your page, though you can easily swap in your own images if you have some on hand.

Like other AI website builders, you can generate a page from a single prompt. But, one of the greatest things about Gamma, is that you can have full control over your copy if you want. You can paste in your own words, and the app will stick to the text you provided as it builds the page and generates images. You can use another AI text generation app to draft your copy and edit it as desired before you paste it into Gamma. You can also build a page from an uploaded file, or even an existing webpage with just a URL.

There are some significant limitations with Gamma. Unlike some other AI web design tools that will generate an entire multi-page website, like Wix or Butternut, Gamma will only generate one page at a time. However, you can keep building and linking additional pages. It also lacks built-in features for integrating e-commerce capabilities, like you would find with a tool like Wix, GoDaddy, or Square.

Despite these limitations, Gamma is our go-to for designing product landing pages at Do That Dave. We love the way Gamma landing pages look, giving us a pro-level design while sticking exactly to the copy we provide. (We show you how to do it in our “Future Product Playground” course, where you invent a “product of the future” and get it ready to “launch.”)

Check out this video to see how we used Gamma to build a fast product landing page for a future product, with copy generated by ChatGPT:
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Strengths

  • Slick and speedy: Create a polished page with an appealing visual design in minutes, with minimal steps.
  • Use your own copy: Get the exact words you want, or use a file or webpage to provide context for content generation.
  • Easy customization: You can easily change the design, layouts, images, and copy with the user-friendly editing tool.

Limitations

  • Limited website functions: If you need e-commerce capabilities or other advanced functions, Gamma may not be the best choice.
  • Best for simple projects: Great for single landing pages, not so much for fully fleshed-out websites.

Butternut.ai: When You Need a Functional Site NOW

Butternut.ai is your go-to when you need a complete AI-built website, like five minutes ago. It’s fast and functional, but the customization options are pretty limited.

With Butternut’s AI website builder, you enter the name of your project along with a simple prompt. From there, it goes to work building a full website with multiple pages, a topbar menu, and a footer menu – everything you would expect to find on a typical website. Based on your prompt, Butternut automatically builds and populates a home page, an “About Us” page, an FAQ page, contact forms, and pages that highlight your products and/or services. After the initial AI site generation, you can easily add even more pages to showcase your team, your portfolio, or your pricing, to name just a few.
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The design of Butternut sites are basic – they feature a pretty limited color palette and selection of section layouts, and the AI-provided images are pretty generic. You can try switching up the prompt on individual images to regenerate them, but you still might not get something that is very specific. You can easily swap in your own images, however, if you have something specific in mind.

Sites created with Butternut’s AI website design tool may lack a certain degree of aesthetic flair, but the ability to build out an entire multi-page site in just a couple minutes is very powerful. Much like Gamma, it lacks more advanced website functionality like e-commerce; but, there are some cool features you can incorporate to connect with your customers, like a single-tap call button, or Whatsapp chat (available with a paid plan).

All in all, using Butternut may not be the prettiest website you’ve ever seen, and it won’t have as many advanced functions, like e-commerce, as a tool like Wix or Square. But, if you’re in a situation where “done” is better than “perfect,” Butternut could be exactly what you need.

Strengths

  • Ridiculously fast: Single-prompt simplicity means you can go from “idea” to “website” in minutes, or even seconds in some cases.
  • Good in a pinch: Perfect for placeholders, MVPs, or whenever you need a website RIGHT NOW!
  • Connect with customers: Useful contact features like one-tap phone calls and chat, appointment scheduling, and lead capture forms

Limitations

  • Minimal design options: You can apply your brand color and fonts, but expect basic layouts with generic images, and little to no opportunity for flair.
  • Limited functions: Lacks more advanced website features like e-commerce and blogging tools.

Legacy Platforms: Old Dogs, New AI Tricks

Platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy have offered tools to host and build websites since well before the generative AI era. So, it’s no surprise that they have added AI web design features to their existing offerings.

Instead of building your website from a single prompt, these AI web builder tools guide you through a short questionnaire before generating a website.
The initial site structure will usually only include the bare minimum of pages, like Home, About, and Contact, though you can add more after the initial generation. (This may require a paid plan on some platforms).

The AI web builder will produce images and copy as it lays out your site, but the content is typically pretty sparse and generic. In most cases, you’ll still need to do more work to customize your site. Luckily, there are usually additional AI tools built right into the page editor to help you generate text and visuals as you go.

Building a site with Wix or Squarespace may require more effort; but, your reward for that work is getting access to more advanced functions than you would get with a tool like Butternut or Gamma. It’s relatively easy to integrate e-commerce capabilities, and you may also be able to add features like blogs, community forums, online courses, and members-only content. You also get a lot more design flexibility than other AI-powered web building tools that don’t have a long legacy in web hosting and design.

Strengths

  • Balance of control and ease: More design options and features than Butternut.ai, less complicated than WordPress.
  • AI Page Editing Tools: Use built-in AI features as you edit for text, design suggestions, and even SEO recommendations.
  • Advanced website functions: Easily integrate e-commerce capabilities and other features you won’t find on stand-alone AI website builders.

Limitations

  • Formulaic results: Your site will look nice, but it might also look like everyone else’s.
  • Not fully AI-powered: You’ll probably still need to put in more work to edit and customize your site after it is generated by AI.

WordPress: When You Need Control (and Have Patience)

Finally, WordPress remains the gold standard for anyone who wants to build a fully customized website with advanced functions. With WordPress, you have control over every aspect of your site’s design, and there are thousands of professional themes and templates out there that let you create a site that is more unique than anything you could get from a tool like Gamma or Wix. You can also find plugins that enable all sorts of advanced website features, including e-commerce. But, as you might imagine, all that customization requires time, effort, and sometimes money.

Popular WordPress site building tools like Divi and Elementor have added their own AI features which can build a layout based on a simple prompt, and generate copy and images to fill out the page. They work a lot like the other tools we’ve discussed here; but, after you generate the page, you have the full power of WordPress at your disposal to customize everything. You’ll also have access to built-in AI assistance that suggests changes as you edit your page.

Even though AI has made it easier for people to build their own WordPress site, it is still no simple undertaking. Most people still face a pretty steep learning curve with WordPress builders, in part due to the sheer number of things they are able to do to customize your site. If you haven’t built a WordPress page before, it could take you a while to get the hang of things. At the same time, AI apps like ChatGPT have made it easier to learn about building WordPress sites, and they are great sidekicks for troubleshooting web development issues.

Strengths

  • Nearly unlimited customization: If you can imagine it, you can probably build it – if you have the skills, or are willing to pay someone who does.
  • AI-powered editing: Divi and Elementor have AI features that can streamline layout design, text generation, and more.
  • Scales with your needs: From small blogs to full e-commerce sites, WordPress has got options for every need.

Limitations

  • Steep learning curve: If you’ve never used Wordpress before, it may take you a while to figure things out; if you’re patient, you can use AI to walk you through the building process and help troubleshoot errors.
  • Time-consuming: Even with AI, building a great WordPress site isn’t an instant process. It’s going to take more time to get what you want.
  • Add-ons can add up: There are a ton of templates and plugins available to help you build and run a WordPress site, but not all of them are free – the costs can start to add up.

Which AI Website Builder is Right for You?

So, which AI website builder is going to be best for your project? Here’s a quick roundup of our recommendations:
  • If you need a single page with some design flair, go with Gamma.
  • If you needed a full website yesterday and aren’t too concerned about looks, Butternut.ai might be your best bet.
  • Need more features, like e-commerce, but don’t want to spend a ton of time designing a custom site? Try something like Wix, Squarespace, or GoDaddy.
  • Craving full control and advanced website functions? Buckle up and dive into WordPress.
AI-powered website creation tools are making it easier than ever to get online, but no tool is perfect. It all depends on your priorities: speed, customization, or a healthy dose of both.

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