Key Takeaways
AI builder sites cost R660-R6,000/year. Custom sites cost R100,000-R260,000 in year 1.
But a custom site converting at 3% vs an AI site at 0.5% generates R125,000 more revenue per month on the same traffic
The 'cheap' option is only cheap if your website doesn't need to make money
Hidden costs of AI builders include your time, vendor lock-in, and the conversion gap
The price tag everyone compares
R55/month vs R100,000+. When you frame it that way, the AI builder wins by a mile.
But that framing is wrong. It compares the sticker price, not the total cost of ownership. It ignores what each option actually delivers. And it completely skips the question that matters: what does each option cost you in missed revenue?
I'm going to do the comparison properly. Real numbers. Real scenarios. No cherry-picking.
Direct costs: what you actually pay
AI website builder
Using Hostinger (cheapest viable option) for a small business site:
| Item | Year 1 | Year 2+ |
|---|---|---|
| Platform subscription | R660 (R55/mo) | R660 |
| Domain registration | R200 | R200 |
| Premium template (optional) | R0-R500 | R0 |
| Stock images | R500-R2,000 | R0-R500 |
| Form service (Formspree/Typeform) | R0-R1,800 | R0-R1,800 |
| Total direct costs | R1,360-R5,160 | R860-R3,160 |
Using Wix (mid-range):
| Item | Year 1 | Year 2+ |
|---|---|---|
| Business plan | R3,720 (R310/mo) | R3,720 |
| Domain (included year 1) | R0 | R200 |
| Premium apps/integrations | R0-R2,400 | R0-R2,400 |
| Stock images | R500-R2,000 | R0-R500 |
| Total direct costs | R4,220-R8,120 | R3,920-R6,820 |
Custom website
For a 5-page business site with contact form, blog, and basic SEO:
| Item | Year 1 | Year 2+ |
|---|---|---|
| Design and development | R75,000-R150,000 | R0 |
| Hosting (Vercel/cloud) | R6,000-R42,000 | R6,000-R42,000 |
| Domain | R200 | R200 |
| SSL certificate | R0 (included) | R0 |
| Maintenance and updates | R24,000-R60,000 | R24,000-R60,000 |
| Total direct costs | R105,200-R252,200 | R30,200-R102,200 |
For ecommerce with custom checkout, product management, and integrations:
| Item | Year 1 | Year 2+ |
|---|---|---|
| Design and development | R150,000-R500,000 | R0 |
| Hosting | R12,000-R42,000 | R12,000-R42,000 |
| Maintenance and updates | R36,000-R60,000 | R36,000-R60,000 |
| Total direct costs | R198,000-R602,000 | R48,000-R102,000 |
On direct costs alone, AI builders win. That's not debatable. The question is whether direct costs tell the full story.
They don't.
Hidden costs of AI builders
Your time
AI builders aren't "set and forget." Here's what you'll spend:
Initial setup: 10-20 hours choosing a template, customizing the design, writing and editing copy, sourcing images, configuring forms, setting up basic SEO.
Monthly maintenance: 2-4 hours updating content, checking for issues, responding to platform updates.
Annual total: 35-70 hours of your time.
What's your time worth? If you're a business owner billing R1,000/hour for your actual skill, those 70 hours cost R70,000. You just closed the price gap significantly.
Vendor lock-in
Wix, Hostinger, and most AI builders don't let you export your website code. If you outgrow the platform, change your mind, or the platform raises prices, you start from zero.
This isn't hypothetical. Wix has raised prices multiple times. Platforms have shut down entirely. Every month you invest in an AI builder platform is a month of work you can't take with you.
With custom code, you own it. You can move it to any hosting provider. You can hand it to any developer. The switching cost is close to zero.
Limited integrations
Need to connect your website to your CRM? Your accounting software? Your booking system? A loyalty program?
AI builders offer pre-built integrations — if yours is on the list. If it's not, you're stuck. Custom code connects to anything with an API, which is everything worth connecting to.
The cost most people ignore: lost revenue
This is where the comparison stops being close.
Conversion rates
Based on our client data and industry benchmarks:
| Site type | Typical conversion rate |
|---|---|
| AI builder (template) | 0.3-0.8% |
| Semi-custom (premium theme + customization) | 1.0-1.5% |
| Custom-built (conversion-optimized) | 2.0-4.0% |
Why the difference? Custom sites are designed around your specific customer journey. The hero section addresses their specific objections. The CTA is positioned based on scroll depth data. The checkout is optimized for your specific product type. AI builders use generic layouts that work for nobody in particular.
Revenue impact: worked example
Assumptions:
- 5,000 monthly visitors
- Average order value: R1,000
- 12-month comparison
AI builder at 0.5% conversion:
- Monthly conversions: 25
- Monthly revenue: R25,000
- Annual revenue: R300,000
Custom site at 3% conversion:
- Monthly conversions: 150
- Monthly revenue: R150,000
- Annual revenue: R1,800,000
Annual revenue difference: R1,500,000
The custom site costs R150,000-R250,000 to build. It pays for itself in under two months. By month 12, the AI builder has cost you R1.5 million in missed revenue.
Even if my conversion assumptions are aggressive — cut the custom rate in half to 1.5% — the custom site still generates R600,000 more per year. The build cost is recovered by month 4.
The math breaks for low-traffic sites
Full transparency: if your site gets 200 visitors per month, the conversion rate difference doesn't produce enough revenue to justify the custom build cost. At low traffic:
- AI builder at 0.5%: 1 sale/month = R1,000
- Custom at 3%: 6 sales/month = R6,000
- Annual difference: R60,000
That's still a positive return on a R75,000 build, but the payback period stretches to 15 months. For very low traffic sites, the AI builder makes financial sense until you've built enough traffic to justify the upgrade.
Page speed and its revenue impact
Google research shows that mobile sites loading in 1-3 seconds have significantly higher conversion rates than those loading in 5+ seconds. Each additional second of load time reduces conversions.
From our AI builders comparison, here's what we measured:
| Platform | Mobile PageSpeed | Estimated load time |
|---|---|---|
| Wix AI | 52 | 4.1s |
| Hostinger AI | 58 | 3.6s |
| Custom (Next.js) | 95+ | under 1.5s |
The page speed gap alone accounts for a measurable chunk of the conversion difference. This isn't aesthetic preference — it's measurable revenue loss documented by Google.
When the AI builder is the right choice
I'm not going to pretend custom is always better. Here are the scenarios where an AI builder wins:
Validating a business idea. You want to test whether anyone will buy your product before investing in proper infrastructure. Spend R1,000. Get a site up. Run some ads. If it works, invest in custom.
Personal or hobby sites. Portfolio. Blog. Event page. No revenue goal. Low traffic. The AI builder does the job.
Placeholder while custom is being built. We've had clients launch a Wix site as a temporary presence while their custom site is in development. Pragmatic.
Budget under R10,000 total. If that's the ceiling, a custom site isn't an option. An AI builder gets you online.
When custom is the only sensible option
Ecommerce stores. The conversion rate difference on direct-sales sites makes the ROI calculation undeniable.
Lead generation businesses. If a lead is worth R5,000+, the difference between 0.5% and 3% conversion is the difference between surviving and thriving.
Competitive markets. If your competitors have professionally built sites and you show up with a template, you're competing on price alone. That's a losing position.
Businesses handling sensitive data. Payment data, personal information, health records. AI builders weren't built for security. Security vulnerabilities in AI code are well-documented.
The decision framework
Ask two questions:
-
Does my website need to make money? If yes, calculate the revenue difference at your traffic level. If the custom build pays for itself within 6 months, do it.
-
Am I willing to trade time for money? AI builders are cheaper in Rands but expensive in hours. If your time is worth more than R500/hour, the time investment changes the calculation.
The answer isn't always "go custom." It's "understand the real cost of each option, including the revenue you'll never see."
Related reading
- AI and web development in 2026: what business owners actually need to know — The full picture of AI in web development, with this cost analysis in context.
- AI website builders compared: Wix AI vs Framer vs Hostinger vs a developer — Side-by-side performance and feature comparison.
- Core Web Vitals for non-developers — The speed metrics that directly affect your conversion rate and revenue.
- From template site to high-performing asset: our website redesign playbook — Ready to upgrade from an AI builder? Here's the process.
Written by
Barry van Biljon
Full-stack developer specializing in high-performance web applications with React, Next.js, and WordPress.
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