AI Website Builder vs Claude Code: Why I Switched

Should you use an AI website builder or Claude Code? It depends on what you want. If you need one simple site and you’re happy with your platform, there’s nothing wrong with a builder. I stopped relying on them because with Claude Code I own the website files, changes are easier and I control the SEO.

Why people use AI website builders

I understand why people use them. They’re convenient and relatively easy to use, and you can get a pretty decent-looking website up in a short amount of time. You answer a few questions about your business, pick a design, maybe change some colors and your logo, and you’ve got a website.

There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. But here’s what I started running into. Getting a website built is one thing. Having control over it, getting it ranked in Google and generating business from it is something completely different. That’s why I went looking for another way.

Ownership: you keep the website files

Ownership was one of the biggest things for me. With a lot of hosted website builders, you’re basically paying a monthly subscription to keep your website on their platform. Depending on the platform, you might have limits on what you can export or move somewhere else.

Say you’ve been building your website for a couple of years and now you want to move it to another hosting company. Easy? Not always. In some cases you might have to rebuild the whole thing.

With Claude Code, I’m creating the actual website files. I typically use Astro, a framework I like because it’s lightweight and fast, and it works well for the kinds of sites I build. The project files sit on my computer, or wherever I set up the development environment, and I can:

• Back them up
• Put them in GitHub or another repository
• Move them to a different hosting provider

I’m not tied to one platform. When I’m building websites for clients, that’s a big deal.

Making changes without fighting a template

Ever tried to move one thing in a drag-and-drop builder? You go through menus looking for the right setting and adjusting the spacing. Sometimes you’re fighting the template just to make something look the way you want. Then you switch to the mobile version and something else doesn’t look right.

You can make those changes. I just find it a whole lot easier with Claude Code.

Say I’m building a website for an electrician. I want the phone number displayed prominently at the top of the page, a section explaining the services, and a contact form that actually sends inquiries to the business. I explain all of that to Claude Code. It makes the changes, and I preview everything in my browser. If I don’t like something, I tell it what to change.

Does Claude Code always get it right the first time? Of course not. Sometimes I have to explain what I want a little differently. Sometimes it makes a change I don’t like and I have to correct it. Once you get comfortable working this way, you’d be surprised how quickly you can build and change these websites.

SEO: a website has to do something

This is the part that matters most to me. I don’t build websites just to have something that looks nice. If I’m building a site for a plumber, an electrician or a tree service company, the whole purpose is to get the business found in Google and turn those visitors into phone calls and leads.

Will a nice-looking website get traffic from Google on its own? No. You have to think about:

• How the website is structured
• Which keywords you’re targeting
• What pages you need, and how those pages link together
• Whether the content answers what someone is searching for

That’s before you get to Google Business Profiles, backlinks and everything else that goes into SEO.

You can rank with any builder, but I want full control

To be fair, you can absolutely rank websites built with Wix, WordPress or any other website builder. I’m not saying you can’t. I prefer complete control over how my websites are built.

With Claude Code, I tell it exactly how I want the site structured. Need a separate page targeting a particular service? I can create one. Want to change the internal linking between pages? I can do that. If I need to add structured data, optimize page titles, adjust the mobile layout or improve how quickly the site loads, I work through it with Claude.

A process you can reuse on every site

If you’re building for clients or your own projects, you can build as many websites as you want using the same basic process. I’m not starting from scratch every time.

I’ve developed my own workflow. A lot of the structure, the SEO considerations and the way I organize everything is already figured out before I start a new project. You can develop that over time too. Once you figure out what works, you reuse it on the next website and the one after that.

Claude Code isn’t free

Is Claude Code free? No. You still need somewhere to host your website too, so there are still costs involved. What I’m not paying is a separate website builder subscription for every project just to keep those sites running. I like having that flexibility.

Should everyone switch to Claude Code?

No, not necessarily. If you just want a simple website for your business and you’re happy with what you’re getting from your platform, there’s nothing wrong with that.

If you want to build multiple websites, especially for clients, or you want to create your own websites and get them ranked in Google, I think Claude Code is worth learning.

You don’t need a programming background to get started. You do need to understand what you need to build, the process behind it and what Claude creates. Claude Code can write the code, but you still have to make the decisions about what makes a good website.

Common questions

Can you rank a website built with Wix or WordPress?

Yes. You can absolutely rank websites built with Wix, WordPress or any other website builder. I prefer complete control over how my sites are built, so I’m not depending on whether a builder supports what I’m trying to do.

Is Claude Code free?

No. Claude Code isn’t free, and you still need somewhere to host your website. What you don’t pay is a separate website builder subscription for every project.

Do I need a programming background to use Claude Code?

No. You do need to understand what you need to build, the process behind it and what Claude creates. Claude Code can write the code, but you still have to make the decisions about what makes a good website.

My process combines the build with the SEO work from the beginning. New to this? Start with how I build a website with Claude Code, or browse my Claude Code tutorials. If you want the step-by-step version, get the free video and the Claude Code Microsite Blueprint.