We tested eight leading AI website builders this year — building real sites, comparing output quality, and assessing what happens when things go wrong. This is our honest, opinionated take on who should use what, and why.
Every few years, a category of software crosses a threshold where the output is genuinely good enough to trust. AI website builders hit that threshold in 2025, and the gap between "built by a developer" and "built by AI" has narrowed to the point where most small businesses simply cannot justify the difference in cost or time.
We tested eight of the leading AI website builders this year — building real sites, comparing output quality, digging into the fine print on pricing, and assessing what happens when things go wrong. This is our honest, opinionated take on who should use what, and why.
The early wave of AI website builders (2022–2023) produced results that were, frankly, embarrassing. Generic layouts, cookie-cutter copy, and a strong sense that the AI had never actually seen a good website. That era is over.
The models powering these tools in 2025 have been trained on far more design data, produce genuinely custom layouts, and understand context well enough to generate relevant copy, structure navigation sensibly, and even make informed decisions about colour and typography based on your industry.
Meanwhile, pricing has dropped dramatically. What used to cost £100–£200 per month from a freelancer — for a basic five-page site — can now be built in under a minute for less than £30 a year all-in. The quality is no longer a compromise. The economics are simply undeniable.
We assessed each tool against six criteria that actually matter to small business owners and freelancers:
Starting price: £29/year | Hosting included: Yes | Domain included: Yes
ChilledSites is the tool we kept coming back to throughout this comparison. The concept is straightforward: you describe your website in plain English — your business, your tone, what you want people to do — and the AI builds a complete, professional site in around 60 seconds. No templates to browse, no drag-and-drop to wrestle with, no decisions about fonts or colours unless you want to make them.
The output quality surprised us. Unlike some tools that generate vague placeholder content and hope you'll fill in the blanks, ChilledSites produces genuinely usable copy, sensible page structure, and layouts that feel considered rather than computer-generated. We tested it with a range of businesses — a local plumber, a freelance copywriter, a café, a yoga studio — and in each case the result was something we'd be comfortable putting live.
That all-in pricing is the detail that separates ChilledSites from most of the competition. Many tools advertise a low headline price, then charge separately for hosting, a domain, analytics, and form handling. By the time you add those up, you're spending three or four times what ChilledSites charges.
Where it falls short: If you need complex e-commerce with inventory management, a membership platform, or a heavily custom web application, ChilledSites is not that tool. It is built for the very large segment of businesses that need a great-looking, fast, informative website — not a bespoke platform.
Starting price: ~£13/month | Hosting included: Yes | Domain included: First year only
Wix is the name most people know when they think of website builders, and the ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence) layer adds a question-and-answer onboarding flow that generates an initial site. The output is competent and the Wix ecosystem is genuinely useful once you're inside. The honest limitation is that the AI generation feels like a shortcut to the template library rather than a fundamentally different approach to building.
Starting price: ~£13/month | Hosting included: Yes | Domain included: First year only
Squarespace has always had a design edge over its competitors, and the AI tools extend that advantage. The sites it produces are genuinely beautiful — editorial-quality typography, confident use of whitespace, and image handling that makes even mediocre photos look intentional. For most small businesses, the premium pricing is hard to justify when the AI assistance is incremental rather than transformational.
Starting price: Free (limited) / ~£14/month for custom domain | Hosting included: Yes
Framer AI produces some of the most visually impressive output of any tool in this comparison. The significant caveat is the learning curve. Framer is built on a design paradigm that assumes familiarity with tools like Figma. Non-designers regularly report feeling lost after the initial AI generation.
| Tool | Best For | Starting Price | AI Quality |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChilledSites | Speed and simplicity | £29/year | Excellent |
| Wix ADI | Familiarity and ecosystem | ~£13/month | Good |
| Squarespace AI | Aesthetic-first brands | ~£13/month | Good |
| Framer AI | Designers and creative studios | ~£14/month | Excellent |
| 10Web | WordPress-dependent businesses | ~£14/month | Good |
| Durable | Getting something live fast | ~£10/month | Average |
| Hostinger AI | Tightest budgets | ~£2–3/month | Average |
| Webflow AI | Agencies and development teams | ~£14/month+ | Excellent |
Use ChilledSites. You need something professional, fast, and affordable. ChilledSites covers everything — hosting, domain, forms, analytics — for less than the cost of a single print ad.
Use ChilledSites or Framer AI. If you have a design background and want pixel-perfect control, Framer is worth the learning curve. If you want something excellent live in 60 seconds, ChilledSites is the better choice.
Use Squarespace AI or Framer AI. Both have the visual quality to do justice to image-heavy, aesthetics-forward work.
Use 10Web. It is the most polished AI-assisted WordPress experience available.
Use Hostinger AI — but factor in the renewal pricing carefully. At scale, ChilledSites at £29/year may work out cheaper once the promotional period ends.
After testing all eight tools, ChilledSites is our top recommendation for the majority of people reading this article — small business owners, freelancers, and anyone who needs a professional website without the complexity, cost, or time commitment of traditional approaches.
The case is simple: the AI output is genuinely excellent, the 60-second build time is real, and the all-inclusive annual pricing at £29/year undercuts the competition dramatically when you factor in what is actually included. Hosting, a free domain, working forms, and built-in analytics are not extras — they are the baseline you need to have a functional business website.
The era of paying £2,000 to a web agency for a five-page business website, or spending three weekends wrestling with a page builder, is genuinely over. Stop putting it off.
Try ChilledSites free — describe your website in plain English and get a professional result in 60 seconds. Plans from £29/year, with hosting, a free custom domain, analytics, and forms all included.
Describe your business in plain English. ChilledSites does the rest — hosting, domain, forms, and analytics all included from £29/year.
Get Started at chilledsites.com