THE FIELD · NAMED
Every option you have heard of. One question none of them answer.
66 tools and people, in four groups: the builders, the AI builders, the assistants, and the humans. What each one is good at, what is still left on your desk afterwards, and then the only column that decides anything — who does the work.
Every entry is a plain description of what the product is for. Check any of them against the vendor’s own page. Nothing here is a score we invented. Each name opens its own page with the full answer.
Website builders
22 NAMED
You choose a template and build it yourself. The subscription buys the tool, not the work.
- Wix
Drag-and-drop site builder.
GOOD ATThe fastest route from nothing to a live page.
STILL ON YOUThe design, the words, and every update after.
- Squarespace
Template-led site builder.
GOOD ATBeautiful templates with very little setup.
STILL ON YOUThe content, the structure, and the fixes.
- Webflow
Visual development tool that exports clean code.
GOOD ATReal design control without writing code.
STILL ON YOUThe build, the CMS, and the maintenance.
- Shopify
Commerce platform for physical and digital stores.
GOOD ATSelling, checkout, stock, and payments.
STILL ON YOUThe store, the products, the apps, the marketing.
- WordPress
Open-source CMS, self-hosted or managed.
GOOD ATTotal control and a plugin for everything.
STILL ON YOUUpdates, security, plugins, and hosting.
- Framer
Design tool that publishes a site.
GOOD ATMotion-rich marketing pages, quickly.
STILL ON YOUThe design, the CMS, and the upkeep.
- Carrd
Single-page site builder.
GOOD ATOne page, cheap, live in an hour.
STILL ON YOUEverything that comes after the first page.
- GoDaddy Website Builder
Builder bundled with domain and hosting.
GOOD ATDomain and site on one bill.
STILL ON YOUThe design, the words, and the changes.
- Weebly
Drag-and-drop builder, part of Square.
GOOD ATSimple sites and small storefronts.
STILL ON YOUThe build and the upkeep.
- Duda
Builder sold to agencies and resellers.
GOOD ATManaging many small sites at once.
STILL ON YOUThe design and the content, still.
- Elementor
Page builder plugin for WordPress.
GOOD ATLayout control without touching code.
STILL ON YOUWordPress itself.
- Jimdo
Hosted builder with an AI assistant.
GOOD ATVery small businesses, very quickly.
STILL ON YOUAnything beyond the template.
- Site123
Hosted builder for simple sites.
GOOD ATThe simplest possible start.
STILL ON YOUGrowth past a few pages.
- Weblium
Hosted builder with template blocks.
GOOD ATTidy small sites in an afternoon.
STILL ON YOUThe content and the changes.
- HubSpot CMS Hub
CMS tied to a CRM and marketing suite.
GOOD ATSite, CRM and campaigns in one place.
STILL ON YOUThe build, the content, and the subscription.
- Ghost
Publishing platform for newsletters and memberships.
GOOD ATWriting, email, and subscriptions.
STILL ON YOUThe theme, the setup, and the growth.
- Bubble
No-code app builder.
GOOD ATReal web apps without code.
STILL ON YOUThe logic, the data model, and the upkeep.
- Softr
No-code portals and directories on Airtable.
GOOD ATA client portal in a day.
STILL ON YOUThe data, the permissions, and the design.
- Glide
Apps built from spreadsheets.
GOOD ATInternal tools in an afternoon.
STILL ON YOUThe data model and the polish.
- Unbounce
Landing page builder with testing.
GOOD ATConversion testing at volume.
STILL ON YOUThe traffic and the offer.
- Instapage
Landing page builder for paid traffic.
GOOD ATCampaign pages at speed.
STILL ON YOUThe campaign and the copy.
- Leadpages
Landing pages and pop-ups.
GOOD ATSimple lead capture.
STILL ON YOUThe funnel behind it.
AI builders
22 NAMED
You describe what you want. The tool generates a first version. The first version is the beginning, not the delivery.
- Base44
AI app builder — describe an app, get a working one.
GOOD ATInternal tools and small apps, fast.
STILL ON YOUThe scope, the data, the hosting, the upkeep.
- Lovable
AI full-stack app builder.
GOOD ATA working app from a conversation.
STILL ON YOUThe architecture, the edge cases, the launch.
- Bolt.new
AI app builder in the browser.
GOOD ATPrototypes in minutes.
STILL ON YOUMaking it survive real users.
- v0
Vercel's AI interface generator.
GOOD ATReact screens from a prompt.
STILL ON YOUThe rest of the product.
- Replit
Browser IDE with an AI agent.
GOOD ATCode, run, and host in one place.
STILL ON YOUThe decisions and the debugging.
- Durable
AI site builder for service businesses.
GOOD ATA service site in minutes.
STILL ON YOUThe words, the proof, the follow-up.
- Mixo
AI site builder from a prompt.
GOOD ATA launch page in a minute.
STILL ON YOUAnything past the launch page.
- Dorik
No-code and AI site builder.
GOOD ATCheap, quick marketing sites.
STILL ON YOUThe content and the changes.
- Typedream
Notion-style site builder.
GOOD ATWriting-first pages.
STILL ON YOUThe design and the logic.
- 10Web
AI builder for WordPress.
GOOD ATA WordPress site fast.
STILL ON YOUWordPress.
- Bookmark
AI website builder.
GOOD ATA generated site in minutes.
STILL ON YOUThe editing, the strategy, the upkeep.
- Hostinger AI Builder
Hosting plus an AI site generator.
GOOD ATCheap hosting with a starting point.
STILL ON YOUEverything after generation.
- GoDaddy Airo
AI site and brand generator.
GOOD ATDomain, brand and site in one flow.
STILL ON YOUThe refinement.
- Wix ADI
Wix's AI site generator.
GOOD ATA Wix site from a few answers.
STILL ON YOUThe same as Wix.
- Squarespace Blueprint AI
Guided AI layout tool inside Squarespace.
GOOD ATA structured start in Squarespace.
STILL ON YOUThe same as Squarespace.
- Webflow AI
AI site generation inside Webflow.
GOOD ATA Webflow starting point.
STILL ON YOUThe same as Webflow.
- Shopify Magic
AI writing and store tools inside Shopify.
GOOD ATFaster product copy and setup.
STILL ON YOUThe same as Shopify.
- Relume
AI sitemaps and wireframes.
GOOD ATStructure before design.
STILL ON YOUThe design and the build.
- Uizard
AI wireframes from text or sketches.
GOOD ATEarly mockups, fast.
STILL ON YOUThe real interface.
- Galileo AI
AI UI design generation.
GOOD ATPolished screen concepts.
STILL ON YOUThe production build.
- Emergent
AI builder for full products.
GOOD ATMulti-agent app generation.
STILL ON YOUThe review and the launch.
- Framer AI
AI page generation inside Framer.
GOOD ATA Framer page from a prompt.
STILL ON YOUThe same as Framer.
AI assistants and coding agents
16 NAMED
Excellent at thinking, writing and code. None of them answer the phone, carry the outcome, or notice the site broke on a Sunday.
- ChatGPT
General AI assistant.
GOOD ATThinking, writing, code, research.
STILL ON YOUKnowing what is true, and shipping it.
- Claude
General AI assistant, strong on long documents and code.
GOOD ATWriting and code review.
STILL ON YOUThe same.
- Gemini
Google's AI assistant.
GOOD ATWorkspace and search-grounded answers.
STILL ON YOUThe same.
- Microsoft Copilot
AI inside Microsoft 365.
GOOD ATDocuments, meetings, and mail.
STILL ON YOUThe same.
- Perplexity
AI answer engine with sources.
GOOD ATResearch with citations.
STILL ON YOUChecking the citations.
- Grok
xAI's assistant inside X.
GOOD ATReal-time social context.
STILL ON YOUThe same.
- DeepSeek
Open-weight model family.
GOOD ATCheap reasoning and code.
STILL ON YOUThe same.
- Le Chat
Mistral's assistant.
GOOD ATFast, European-hosted chat.
STILL ON YOUThe same.
- Meta AI
Assistant inside Meta's apps.
GOOD ATQuick answers in place.
STILL ON YOUThe same.
- Cursor
Code editor with AI built in.
GOOD ATWriting and refactoring code.
STILL ON YOUThe architecture and the review.
- Windsurf
AI code editor.
GOOD ATAgentic edits across a repository.
STILL ON YOUThe same.
- Claude Code
Anthropic's terminal coding agent.
GOOD ATLarge changes across a codebase.
STILL ON YOUThe same.
- OpenAI Codex
OpenAI's coding agent.
GOOD ATDelegated coding tasks.
STILL ON YOUThe same.
- OpenCode
Open-source terminal coding agent.
GOOD ATModel-agnostic coding work.
STILL ON YOUThe same.
- Manus
General autonomous agent.
GOOD ATMulti-step tasks across tools.
STILL ON YOUChecking the work.
- Devin
AI software engineer.
GOOD ATScoped engineering tickets.
STILL ON YOUThe same.
People you can hire
6 NAMED
The genuine alternative to any tool. The work moves to a person. The management does not.
- Fiverr
Marketplace of freelancers.
GOOD ATCheap, fast, narrow tasks.
STILL ON YOUBriefing, reviewing, and joining it up.
- Upwork
Freelance marketplace.
GOOD ATSpecialists by the hour.
STILL ON YOUHiring and managing them.
- 99designs
Design contest marketplace.
GOOD ATMany options for a logo or a page.
STILL ON YOUChoosing one and applying it.
- A local agency
A team that builds and retains.
GOOD ATBreadth and a name to hold accountable.
STILL ON YOUThe retainer and the queue.
- A freelancer
One person who builds.
GOOD ATDirect, personal, often excellent.
STILL ON YOUTheir bandwidth, and the gaps when they are busy.
- An in-house hire
An employee who does it.
GOOD ATFull context and full control.
STILL ON YOUThe salary, the hiring, and the management.
If something is missing from this list, it is a variation on one of these four groups — a different template, a different model, a different hourly rate. The question below applies to it unchanged.
“Why not just use…”
The question is fair, and most of these are genuinely good at the thing they are for. Here is the honest answer for the six people ask about most.
- Why not Wix or Squarespace?
- Because they hand you an editor. The editor is the work — the words, the structure, the pictures, the thing that happens when a form stops sending. They sell the tool and they are honest about it.
- Why not Webflow or Framer?
- Because they are better tools than most agencies deserve, and still tools. A beautiful page with nobody behind it is a page that ages in public.
- Why not Shopify?
- Because it is the best checkout in the world and it starts at the checkout. The pages that explain, the search traffic, the follow-up after the sale are a separate job, and it is the job we do.
- Why not Base44 or Lovable?
- Because a prompt produces a first version in minutes. A first version still needs a scope, a domain, a funnel, a person to read every page, and someone to answer when it breaks on a Sunday.
- Why not ChatGPT or Claude?
- Because they write text. Text is one part of the job, and a model cannot check whether the certificate renewed or the booking reached the inbox.
- Why not an agency?
- Sometimes you should. A good agency is real expertise with a queue in front of it. We are smaller, priced in writing, and the person who scopes the work is the person who does it.
Where the work goes.
Every product above is judged on features. A business owner judges it on a Tuesday, when something needs changing and there is nobody to ask. This is the same six options, read down that column instead.
NIMOS
- Who does the work
- Us
- Who writes the words
- Us
- Who designs it
- Us
- Who builds it
- Us
- Who launches it
- Us
- Who fixes it on a Sunday
- Us
- What you have to learn
- Nothing
- What arrives
- The site, the funnel, the engines, the copy, the launch, and the running of it
- When the first version exists
- Weeks, against a written scope
- What the money buys
- One price, written down before work starts
AGENCY
- Who does the work
- A team
- Who writes the words
- Usually
- Who designs it
- Them
- Who builds it
- Them
- Who launches it
- Them
- Who fixes it on a Sunday
- The account manager
- What you have to learn
- Nothing
- What arrives
- A site and a retainer
- When the first version exists
- Months
- What the money buys
- Hours and a retainer
FREELANCER
- Who does the work
- One person
- Who writes the words
- Sometimes
- Who designs it
- Them
- Who builds it
- Them
- Who launches it
- Them
- Who fixes it on a Sunday
- Whoever answers
- What you have to learn
- Nothing
- What arrives
- A site
- When the first version exists
- Weeks
- What the money buys
- Hours
AI ASSISTANT
- Who does the work
- You, prompting
- Who writes the words
- You
- Who designs it
- You
- Who builds it
- You, pasting code
- Who launches it
- You
- Who fixes it on a Sunday
- You
- What you have to learn
- The tool
- What arrives
- Text
- When the first version exists
- Minutes
- What the money buys
- A subscription
AI BUILDER
- Who does the work
- You, prompting
- Who writes the words
- You, then editing
- Who designs it
- AI, from a prompt
- Who builds it
- AI, then you
- Who launches it
- You, if it runs
- Who fixes it on a Sunday
- You
- What you have to learn
- The prompt
- What arrives
- A first draft
- When the first version exists
- Minutes
- What the money buys
- A subscription
WEBSITE BUILDER
- Who does the work
- You
- Who writes the words
- You
- Who designs it
- You, from a template
- Who builds it
- You
- Who launches it
- You
- Who fixes it on a Sunday
- You
- What you have to learn
- The builder
- What arrives
- A site
- When the first version exists
- An afternoon
- What the money buys
- A subscription
The last column is the one we are claiming, and it is the only one that is a promise rather than a licence.
WHAT WE DO
- Read the business, the trade, and the customers before writing anything.
- Write the scope and the price on one page, before work starts.
- Write the words, design the pages, build the site, and test it.
- Build the funnel behind it — the form, the follow-up, the record of what came in.
- Launch it, point the domain, check the certificate from outside.
- Watch it, patch it, and make the changes after launch.
- Answer the phone when something is wrong.
WHAT WE ASK OF YOU
- One evening of answers about the business.
- Approval on the written scope.
- A domain transfer code, if the name has to move. Nobody can obtain that for you — it is issued to the account holder after an identity check.
That is the whole list. You are not expected to learn a builder, approve a design system, or manage a freelancer. The work is the thing you are paying for.
What we will not claim.
A page can be built so a search engine and an AI crawler can read it: real headings, structured data, a sitemap, text that says what the business does. That is engineering, and we do it. What no one can promise is where you appear, how many people arrive, or whether an assistant chooses to cite you. If a page tells you otherwise, it is selling, not building.
- No guaranteed rankings.
- No guaranteed traffic.
- No guaranteed revenue.
- No guaranteed AI citations.
- No certification we have not earned.
- No uptime number we do not measure.