Vibe Coding vs Traditional Coding

If you have been anywhere near the internet recently, you have probably heard the phrase "vibe coding" being thrown around. Some people are excited about it. Others — mostly developers — are deeply sceptical. Most non-technical people are not entirely sure what it means.

This article cuts through the noise. We explain what vibe coding actually is, how it differs from traditional coding, and — most importantly — which approach makes sense for you, depending on what you are trying to build.

We are going to be honest about the trade-offs. Neither approach is universally better. But for a large and growing number of people — small business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs who simply need a website — vibe coding has become genuinely transformative.

What Is Traditional Coding?

Traditional coding means writing instructions for a computer in a formal programming language — HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, and so on. You learn the syntax, you understand the logic of how code executes, you write it line by line, and you debug it when something goes wrong.

It is an enormously powerful skill. Traditional code is what powers everything from the app on your phone to the banking system your mortgage runs through. Good developers are rare, well-paid, and rightly respected.

But it takes years to learn properly. A junior developer typically spends two to five years before they can build a complete web application confidently on their own. Even experienced developers can take days or weeks to build something a client considers "simple".

For most small business owners, the traditional coding path looks like this: hire a freelance developer (£500–£5,000 for a basic site), wait several weeks, review something that does not quite match what you imagined, pay more for revisions, and then pay ongoing fees whenever you want to change a single word.

What Is Vibe Coding?

Vibe coding is a newer term for using AI to write code on your behalf — guided by plain English descriptions rather than technical instructions.

Instead of writing background-color: #1a1a2e;, you say "give the header a dark navy background." Instead of configuring a contact form in HTML, you say "add a contact form with fields for name, email, and message." The AI understands what you mean, produces the code, and you see the result — usually within seconds.

The name "vibe coding" emerged because the process feels more like describing an intention — a vibe — than issuing precise technical commands. You are collaborating with AI the way you might brief a designer, rather than programming a machine.

Tools like ChilledSites take this further: you describe your business in a few sentences, choose a style, and a complete website is generated in roughly 60 seconds. No technical knowledge required.

Speed: There Is No Comparison

A traditional developer building a clean, professional five-page website from scratch would typically spend three to five days on it, assuming they are experienced and working full-time. Factor in briefing time, revision rounds, and client sign-off, and you are realistically looking at two to four weeks from brief to live site.

With vibe coding tools, the same website structure exists in under two minutes. You spend time refining and personalising it — adding your actual copy, adjusting colours, tweaking layout — but the scaffolding is instant. Most people have something they are genuinely proud of within an hour of starting.

Cost: The Numbers Are Not Close Either

Freelance web developer rates in the UK typically run from £300 to £600 per day. A basic brochure site might cost £800–£2,500. A more capable site with a CMS, contact forms, and custom features could easily hit £5,000–£15,000. And that is before annual maintenance, hosting, and update fees.

Vibe coding tools like ChilledSites cost £29–£49 per year. That includes hosting, the AI builder, and ongoing updates to your site. Even the most expensive plan is less than a single hour of a London developer's time.

That is not a criticism of developers — their skills are worth every penny for complex projects. But for a local plumber, a yoga instructor, or a freelance copywriter who needs a clean, professional web presence, paying thousands of pounds for something an AI can produce in seconds is simply not a sensible use of money anymore.

Learning Curve: Who Can Actually Use Each Approach?

Traditional coding has a steep and sustained learning curve. HTML and CSS alone take months to learn well enough to build something presentable. Add JavaScript for interactivity, a framework like React for modern functionality, a backend language for databases — and you are looking at years of study before you can build a full-stack web application.

Vibe coding, by contrast, requires essentially no technical knowledge to get started. If you can write an email describing your business, you can use a vibe coding tool. The learning curve is learning to describe what you want clearly — and most people can do that on their first attempt.

This is not a shortcut for people who are too lazy to learn. It is a fundamentally different interface for interacting with software — one that happens to be accessible to people who were previously locked out of building digital things.

Quality of Output: Honest Assessment

Vibe coding tools have improved dramatically. The websites produced by modern AI builders are clean, mobile-responsive, and professional-looking. They handle the technical details — proper HTML structure, accessible markup, fast loading — that a non-expert would likely get wrong if they tried to hand-code something themselves.

That said, there is a ceiling. Traditional coding, done by a skilled developer who deeply understands your business and your users, can produce something more precisely tailored, more performant at scale, and more deeply integrated with other systems than a vibe coding tool currently can.

A custom e-commerce platform processing thousands of orders per day, with complex inventory logic and bespoke customer account features, needs a developer. A ten-page website for a physiotherapy clinic in Bristol does not.

What You Can and Cannot Do with Vibe Coding

What vibe coding handles well

• Professional brochure and portfolio websites
• Landing pages for products, events, or campaigns
• Service listings, pricing pages, and about pages
• Contact forms and basic lead capture
• Blog or news sections
• Simple booking or enquiry flows
• Mobile-responsive layouts without additional effort

What still needs traditional coding

• Complex e-commerce with custom checkout logic
• Bespoke web applications (SaaS products, dashboards, marketplaces)
• Deep integration with legacy enterprise systems
• Real-time features at scale (live chat, collaborative tools)
• Performance-critical systems with very high traffic demands

Side-by-Side Comparison

Criterion	Vibe Coding	Traditional Coding
Time to first result	Seconds to minutes	Days to weeks
Cost (basic website)	£29–£49 per year	£800–£5,000+ one-off
Technical knowledge needed	None	Years of learning
Customisation ceiling	High for standard sites	Unlimited (given budget)
Making changes	Describe it, done instantly	Write code or hire developer
Best for	Websites, landing pages, portfolios	Custom applications, complex platforms

Who Is This Right For?

Try It for Yourself

The easiest way to understand what vibe coding actually feels like is to use it. ChilledSites lets you describe your business, pick a style, and have a complete website generated in about 60 seconds. Plans begin at £29 per year — less than most people spend on a single business lunch.

If you have been putting off getting a proper website because it felt too expensive, too technical, or too time-consuming, that barrier no longer needs to exist.

Related Reading

• Vibe Coding for Non-Developers
• How to Get Started with Vibe Coding
• Best Vibe Coding Tools in 2026