Will AI replace web developers — and what it means if you are buying a website
- AI speeds up routine work and barely touches the expensive part — decisions and sign-off.
- Website prices have not fallen because of it, and will not fall soon.
- A fully generated site is cheap right up until the first change request.
- Ask a contractor not “do you use AI” but “who answers when it breaks”.
The question usually arrives like this: “AI writes code now, so why does a website cost the same as two years ago?” It is a fair question, so here is a straight answer.
What AI genuinely makes faster
Routine markup, repetitive cards, translating an interface into three languages, first drafts of copy, finding a bug in a stack trace — the gain here is real and measured in hours. We use it ourselves, and that is normal: a contractor who refuses a tool on principle works slower and bills you for the difference.
What has not changed at all
Look at how a typical project budget breaks down: code is less than half of it. The rest is analysis, design, sign-off, testing and migration. AI will not go to your accountant for the product list, will not resolve three contradictory opinions from the founders, and will not take responsibility when the enquiry form stops working on a Saturday.
Those stages are what take the time. So project timelines have shortened by ten or fifteen per cent, not by half.
Why a “$200 AI website” ends up costing more
Generating a page that looks decent is genuinely easy today. The trouble starts afterwards:
- generated code often has no structure — editing it costs more than writing it again;
- there is no admin panel, or it is decorative: changing a price needs a developer;
- no tool carries a warranty — when something breaks, there is nobody to call.
We have rebuilt projects like that. The final bill was higher than doing it properly from the start, because the cost of untangling someone else’s code got added to the development.
What this means for you
Do not ask a contractor whether they use AI — everyone sane does. Ask three other things:
- Who maintains the project after launch, and on what terms?
- Could another developer find their way around this code in a day?
- Do you hand over every credential and the repository?
Those answers tell you more about the cost of owning the site than any conversation about technology.
We build on a standard stack with no home-grown frameworks: whoever comes after us will understand the project in a day.