AI Website Builder vs Web Designer vs Done-for-You Service: Whose Hours Get Spent?

Most articles on this topic compare two options and quietly steer you to the one the writer sells. There are really three: an AI website builder, a web designer, or a done-for-you service. By the end of this post you'll know what each one costs, what each one leaves on your plate, and which fits your business.

We make an AI website builder, so read this with that in mind. We'll say where the other two options are the better call, and we'll link every price so you can check it.

The question behind the question: whose hours?

Price gets all the attention. The bigger difference is who does the work, before launch and every month after.

• AI builder: software drafts the site, you review and publish it, and you keep it current.
• Web designer: a person builds it, hands it to you, and then updates depend on your deal with them.
• Done-for-you service: a team builds it and makes changes when you ask, for a monthly fee.

None of these is free of work. Even the most hands-off option needs you to answer questions, send photos and approve changes. What changes is how many hours land on you, and when.

So before you compare prices, answer one thing honestly: how many hours a month will you give your website once it's live? Not what you hope. What you'll actually do after a long week of jobs.

AI builders: 30 seconds to launch, then it's your job

An AI website builder asks about your business and drafts a full site: pages, words, layout. You edit what's wrong and publish.

The speed is real. Durable's pricing page says you can "get online in 30 seconds", with a free plan and paid plans at $22 and $41 a month billed yearly. Wix and Squarespace have added AI site drafting to their builders too. Prices in this group start at $0 and mostly stay under $100 a month.

Where AI builders win:

• Cost. Cheapest way to a real, working site.
• Speed. A draft in minutes instead of weeks of back-and-forth.
• Control. You change your hours or prices the minute they change, without waiting on anyone.

Where they fall short:

• The draft is only as good as what you give it. Generic input gets you generic pages. You need to check every service, price and claim.
• Upkeep is yours. Nobody else will notice your holiday hours are wrong.
• Many stop at the page. A contact form sends an email, and that's where the help ends. Following up is up to you.

That last point is where builders differ most, and it's where we built Tilazo to be different. Our AI drafts pages from your own business information, and nothing publishes until you've reviewed it. The Free plan publishes a live site. Build ($49 a month) adds scheduling and a CRM, so a visitor can book and you keep a record of every customer. Growth ($99 a month) adds an AI concierge: a chat on your site that answers questions, books appointments and captures leads when you're on a job. One flat price, no setup fee, no contract. See pricing for the full list.

How to check an AI draft before it goes live

Whichever builder you use, read the draft like a customer would. Five checks catch most problems:

1. Services and prices. Is every service one you actually offer, at a price you'd honor?
2. Your area. Does it name the towns you really serve, and not ones you don't?
3. Contact details. Is the phone number right, and is it easy to tap on a phone?
4. Claims. Delete anything you can't back up, like "award-winning" or "24/7" if you don't answer at 2 a.m.
5. Photos. Swap stock images for real ones of your work as soon as you can.

If a builder won't let you fix these easily, that tells you something about the next few years too.

The trade-off is the same as any builder: you run it. If you want someone else to run it, keep reading.

Web designers: a beautiful handoff, then it's still your job

A good web designer gives you something no template can: a site built around your brand, by someone who listened to you.

Costs vary a lot. The median web designer on Upwork charges $21 an hour, and Upwork says a small project can take around 10 hours while a large custom one runs several dozen. Agencies on Clutch charge about $100 to $149 an hour, and most projects reviewed there come in under $10,000.

Where designers win:

• Look and feel. If your brand is what customers are buying, a designer earns the money.
• Unusual needs. Anything a template can't do.
• A person. Someone who knows your business and picks up the phone.

Where they fall short is after launch. The designer finishes, sends the invoice, and moves to the next client. Then:

• Changes cost money or wait in a queue, unless you have a care plan.
• SEO is usually extra. An Ahrefs survey of 439 SEO providers found the most common monthly retainer is $501 to $1,000.
• Where the site lives matters. If the designer built it on a platform in their own account, ask who owns it. Some platforms don't let you move it at all. Wix, for example, says you can't export a Wix site to another host.

A designer is a great choice when the design is the point. Just price in the years after the launch, not only the launch.

The third option: done-for-you services

A done-for-you service (sometimes called "managed" or "do it for you") is a company whose team builds your site and keeps it updated when you ask. You pay monthly, often with a setup fee.

What "managed" usually includes:

• A team that designs and writes the first version with you.
• Change requests, like new photos, prices or services.
• Hosting and security handled.
• On higher plans, some SEO work or blog posts.

What it costs: B12 is one of the few that publishes prices. Its do-it-for-you plans are $199 or $399 a month, plus a one-time $1,999 setup fee, and they're only offered to US service businesses. Others, like Townsquare Interactive, quote by request instead of publishing a price.

Where done-for-you wins: you truly don't want to touch the site, and you'd rather pay monthly than spend evenings on it.

Where it falls short:

• You still wait. Every change is a request and a turnaround time.
• It costs more every month, forever. That's the deal: you're paying for people's time.
• Leaving can be hard. Ask what happens to your site and domain if you cancel, and get it in writing.

For clarity: Tilazo is not a done-for-you service. Our plans are software you run yourself. If you want hands-on setup help, we do offer a Custom plan that starts with a call, but the product is built to be run by you.

The decision matrix: hours × budget × stakes

Three questions sort out most decisions:

1. Hours: how many hours a month will you really spend on the website?
2. Budget: what can you spend up front, and what can you spend every month?
3. Stakes: what does one missed lead cost you? A missed haircut booking and a missed roof replacement are different problems.

Your situation	Best fit	Why
1–2 hours a month, small budget	AI builder	Lowest cost, and you can keep it current yourself
1–2 hours a month, leads are worth a lot	AI builder with booking and follow-up built in	Your time goes to jobs, and the site catches leads while you work
Almost no hours, steady monthly budget	Done-for-you service	You pay for someone else's hours
Brand-heavy business, money up front	Web designer, plus a care plan	Design is what sells, and the care plan covers updates
Testing an idea, no customers yet	Free plan on any builder	Don't spend money before you know it works
You love tinkering and have weekends free	DIY or AI builder	Most control for the least money

Two checks apply to every row.

Can you leave with it? Platforms close. Hocoos, an AI website builder, shut down on April 23, 2026. Customers had 30 days to download a static copy, and forms and booking did not come with it. Whatever you choose, make sure you own your domain and know how you'd move. More on this in Do you actually own your website?

What happens to a lead? A visitor who fills out a form at 9 p.m. should get an answer, a booking link or at least a record you'll see in the morning. If your setup can't do that, add the cost of the tool that will.

For the full price breakdown of each path, including domain, email and SEO retainers, see How much does a small business website cost?

What we'd tell a friend in each situation

If you're just starting out or testing an idea: use a free AI builder plan. Get a real site up this week, put your phone number at the top, and see if people call. Don't pay a designer or a service until you know what customers ask for. If you later outgrow the builder, make sure you picked one that lets you take your site and domain with you.

If your look is the whole pitch: hire a designer. A wedding photographer, a tattoo studio or a salon with a strong identity will get more from a custom design than from any template. Ask up front who owns the site, what updates cost and who handles SEO. Budget for the second year, not just the build.

If you're busy running a service business and want it off your plate entirely: a done-for-you service is a fair trade of money for time. Read the contract, know the full first-year cost with setup, and confirm you keep the site and domain if you leave.

And if you're somewhere in between, busy but willing to spend an hour or two a month, an AI builder that also books appointments and follows up on leads is the middle path. That's the one we built. It won't design your brand from scratch or do your updates for you. It will get you a site you own, drafted from your own information, that works for you after hours.

Skip the matrix if you like: get the free graded demo. Enter your website and you'll see how it scores, plus a demo site drafted from your own business information, in about a minute.