AI website vs studio: the real cost breakdown
The upfront cost gap is 20-100x. The three-year cost gap is much smaller. Here is the honest maths.
An AI-built website costs £0 to £500 upfront and typically £500 to £2,000 in fixes over the first 12 months. A studio-built site costs £8,000 to £40,000 upfront and £2,000 to £5,000 per year in maintenance. Studios win when the site drives real revenue and lose when the site is a test-idea placeholder.
The naive comparison is upfront cost. AI wins that comparison and it is not close. The comparison that matters is total cost over 18 months against the outcome you actually need.
Upfront cost
- AI-only build: £0 to £500. Framer AI, Lovable, v0, Bolt, Wix ADI all work in this range.
- Studio build: £8,000 to £40,000 depending on scope, brand work, integrations, and platform.
The gap is 20-100x. It is real, and for most people who ask, AI is genuinely the right answer at this stage.
Year one hidden cost
- AI-built site: £500 to £2,000 in fixes. Someone spends four to twenty hours cleaning up typography, replacing stock photos, rewriting the hero, fixing mobile. Add £200 to £500 for a professional to audit and give notes.
- Studio-built site: £2,000 to £5,000 in retainer or ad-hoc support. Copy updates, new pages, small feature additions.
Year two cost
- AI-built site: either you keep patching (another £1,000 to £3,000) or you rebuild (another £8,000 to £25,000).
- Studio-built site: £3,000 to £6,000 in maintenance, small extensions. No rebuild needed for another 4-6 years.
When AI wins
- The site is a placeholder for an unproven idea
- You genuinely will iterate weekly and want to control it
- You spend the difference on customer acquisition instead
- The design does not need to differentiate you (early stage, informational)
When the studio wins
- Every visitor who leaves without buying costs you real money
- Your brand needs to look expensive to justify what you charge
- You will not have time to maintain it yourself
- The site is in the conversion path for enterprise buyers
The three-year picture
- AI path: £0 to £500 upfront plus £500 to £2K year one plus rebuild in year two at £8 to £25K = £8,500 to £27,500 total over three years, with a rougher site for most of that period.
- Studio path: £8 to £40K upfront plus £2 to £5K per year × 3 = £14K to £55K total over three years, with a strong site the whole time.
The studio path is not always more expensive. It is always more predictable.
See also: Full cost of building a website, Building a website yourself vs hiring a studio in 2026, The hidden cost of custom build.