The AI Website Builder Reality Check: Our 8-Page Agency Site Experiment
The promise is irresistible: “Build a professional website in minutes with AI!” As agencies and businesses race to establish digital presence, AI website builders have exploded onto the scene, claiming to revolutionize web development. But when the rubber meets the road, can these tools actually deliver production-ready sites for real businesses?
We put five leading AI website builders through their paces, challenging them to create a complete 8-page agency website with specific requirements: custom branding, interactive elements, editable calculators, and most importantly, the ability to actually ship a functional site. The results were eye-opening—and not always in a good way.
The Contenders: Five AI Builders Enter the Ring
Our testing lineup represented the cream of the AI website builder crop:
- Wix ADI – The established player with AI-assisted design
- Jimdo Dolphin – Germany’s AI-powered builder
- Bookmark AiDA – The new generation AI designer
- Zyro – The AI-first approach from Hostinger
- 10Web AI Builder – WordPress meets artificial intelligence
Testing Methodology: Beyond the Marketing Hype
We didn’t just play with templates. We created a realistic scenario: a digital marketing agency needing an 8-page site including Home, About, Services (3 sub-pages), Portfolio, Blog, and Contact pages. Each builder had to handle:
- Custom color schemes and typography
- Interactive pricing calculators
- Dynamic content sections
- Mobile responsiveness
- Actual deployment to a live domain
The Speed Test: From Zero to Website
Speed claims vary wildly—from “30 seconds” to “under an hour.” Here’s what we actually experienced:
The Fast Lane Winners
Jimdo Dolphin lived up to its speedy reputation, generating a basic 8-page structure in 4 minutes. The AI asked intelligent questions about our agency, competitors, and target audience. However, the resulting site was generic—think “business template #47” with our logo slapped on.
Zyro impressed with its 6-minute generation time and surprisingly coherent initial design. The AI seemed to understand modern web aesthetics better than most, avoiding the dreaded “small business website circa 2015” look.
The Traffic Jams
Bookmark AiDA promised instant results but delivered frustration. After 20 minutes of AI “thinking” (with a progress bar stuck at 87%), we received a single-page site that completely ignored our multi-page requirements. When we tried to regenerate, the system crashed.
UX Reality: When AI Meets User Experience
Here’s where things got interesting—and where half our contenders fell apart.
The Good: Intuitive Meets Intelligent
Wix ADI struck an impressive balance between AI assistance and human control. The initial AI generation created a solid foundation, but crucially, we could dive into Wix’s powerful editor for granular control. The AI even suggested UX improvements based on our industry, like prominent CTA placement and trust-building elements.
10Web AI Builder took a different approach, using AI to recreate WordPress sites based on URLs we provided as inspiration. This “AI reverse engineering” was fascinating—it analyzed competitor sites and built similar structures while maintaining originality.
The Bad: Template Tyranny
Jimdo Dolphin might be fast, but it’s essentially choosing templates with extra steps. Once the AI generated our site, customization options were painfully limited. Want to move that testimonial section? Sorry, AI knows best. Need a different navigation structure? Not happening.
The real kicker came when we tried to add our editable pricing calculator. Jimdo’s response? “This feature is not supported in AI-generated sites.” Apparently, AI stands for “Artificially Inflexible.”
The Ugly: The Production Pipeline Problem
Bookmark AiDA and Zyro both suffered from a critical flaw: they couldn’t actually ship what they built. Bookmark’s sites looked decent in preview but failed during deployment, throwing cryptic errors. Zyro’s calculator feature worked beautifully in the editor but broke completely on the live site—turning our sophisticated pricing tool into a static text box.
The Calculator Challenge: Where AI Builders Break
Our editable pricing calculator wasn’t arbitrary—it represents the interactive, business-critical elements that separate amateur sites from professional ones. We needed a tool where visitors could input project requirements and receive instant quotes.
Only Wix ADI and 10Web passed this test, and even they required manual intervention. Wix’s AI pointed us toward their App Market for calculator solutions, while 10Web leveraged WordPress’s plugin ecosystem. The other three? Complete failures, with some not even offering calculator functionality.
The Production Reality Check
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: only two of our five AI builders could actually deliver a production-ready, 8-page agency site with the features we needed. The others either:
- Generated attractive but functionally limited sites
- Failed during deployment
- Couldn’t handle interactive elements
- Were essentially template selectors with AI marketing
Industry Implications: The AI Website Builder Landscape
This experiment reveals critical insights about the current state of AI web development:
The Maturity Gap
Most “AI website builders” are still using AI as a sophisticated template selector rather than true intelligent design. They’re AI-powered, not AI-driven. The difference matters—it’s the gap between a tool that assists and one that creates.
The Customization Conundrum
AI excels at generating initial designs but struggles with iterative refinement. Real web development isn’t just about pretty pages—it’s about business logic, user flows, and interactive features. Current AI builders treat websites as static brochures rather than dynamic business tools.
Future Possibilities: Where AI Web Building is Headed
Despite our disappointing results, the future looks promising. Here’s what’s coming:
True AI-Driven Development
Next-generation AI builders will understand business objectives, not just design preferences. Imagine telling an AI: “Build me a site that converts visitors to leads at 15%” and having it optimize layouts, content, and user flows accordingly.
Component-Based Intelligence
Future AI won’t just build pages—it’ll assemble sophisticated components. Need a pricing calculator? The AI will understand your pricing model and build an interactive tool. Want a booking system? It’ll integrate with your calendar and payment processing automatically.
Continuous Learning and Optimization
The real game-changer will be AI builders that learn from user behavior. Your website won’t be static—it’ll evolve based on analytics, A/B testing results, and conversion data, continuously optimizing itself for better performance.
The Bottom Line: Temper Expectations, But Stay Optimistic
Our test proves that AI website builders aren’t ready to replace human developers for sophisticated projects. If you need a simple brochure site, tools like Wix ADI or Jimdo Dolphin might suffice. But for production-ready business sites with custom functionality, you’ll still need human expertise—or at least platforms that combine AI assistance with robust development tools.
The revolution is coming, but it’s not here yet. For now, the best approach is hybrid: use AI for rapid prototyping and initial generation, then apply human intelligence for customization, testing, and deployment. The tools that understand this balance—like Wix ADI and 10Web—are the ones actually delivering value today.
As for the others? They need to stop hiding behind AI marketing and start building tools that can truly ship production-ready websites. Until then, they’re just expensive template selectors with delusions of intelligence.
