Are AI website builders becoming the next standard feature, or are we still in the hype phase?

[Artashes]

I recently had a chance to sit down with Narek Torosyan, CEO of 10Web, and we ended up talking about something that's been on my mind for a while: where AI website builders are taking the hosting industry. It's a conversation worth sharing because there is so much at stake for decision makers.

There's obviously a lot of hype around AI, and things are evolving rapidly when it comes to website building in particular (Claude Code, closed ecosystems, third-party tools and add-ons, etc), but I wanted to have a discussion about what this means for hosting providers, with an insider, someone who is driving this change.

We talked about why 10Web rebuilt its platform around agentic AI, why they stayed with WordPress instead of creating another closed ecosystem like Wix, V0 or GoDaddy Airo), whether hosts should build their own AI tools or partner with someone who's already done the heavy lifting. And, most importantly, where all of this is heading over the next couple of years.

One thing I kept coming back to during the chat was whether we are getting to the point where customers don't really want "hosting" anymore. If anyone with basic tech knowledge can just describe the website and get what they want, what would make them want to deal with traditional hurdles of getting the site up?

Then there is implementation, with incredibly "pushy" cases like Conor just posted about, half-baked add-ons that break things the moment you switch them off, or nice and native-looking solutions but with poor unit economics.

Maybe that's where the industry is headed. Maybe it isn't. I'm not sure, but things are sure changing fast.

I'd love to hear what everyone here thinks, especially those of you that focus on WordPress hosting specifically.

Here's the interview if you'd like to watch it:

Curious to hear your thoughts. 🙂

 

[SenseiSteve]

I think AI changes how people consume hosting more than it eliminates the need for hosting itself.

Most customers don't wake up wanting to buy hosting. They want a website, an application, an online store, or a business outcome. AI is making that first step dramatically easier by removing a lot of the technical friction.

That said, once a project grows beyond a simple brochure site, the traditional hosting concerns don't disappear. Performance, security, backups, compliance, scalability, networking, uptime, and knowledgeable support still matter just as much, if not more.

I also think open ecosystems like WordPress have a significant advantage. Businesses generally don't like feeling locked into a single vendor, so AI that enhances WordPress rather than replacing it seems like a smart direction.

For hosting providers, the question may not be "How do we compete with AI?" but rather "How do we use AI to improve the customer experience?" AI-assisted migrations, automated troubleshooting, smarter support, performance recommendations, security monitoring, and site optimization all seem like areas where hosts can add real value.

Hosting may become less about selling server space and more about delivering a complete managed platform. The infrastructure is still there, it's just becoming increasingly invisible to the customer.

 

[bigredseo]

I watched the video, and the demo looked pretty slick too. I like that you can change either via text or using the wysiwyg interface by just clicking on the word and changing. That's very "WIX" like, but still clean and easy to use. Swapping out colors, etc, is all pretty easy to do. Overall, I like the direction.

As a user, if I purchased hosting via "X" and they use the 10web AI system, if I later cancel with "X," that design is still mine, essentially. I'm not sure how it handles major tweaks like custom functions, shortcodes, and adding other plugins - I'm guessing that would all depend on whether there are any conflicts in 10web's builder with adding other plugins. Similarly, adding Yoast, Rank Math, and other SEO tools or plugins. But I like the premise of it all.

Like you mentioned in the video, you could talk for a couple of hours on what impact this has, but time was limited in the video 🙂 I know how those conversations can go. Covering EVERYTHING is just not possible.

As Steve said, people don't set out wanting to buy web hosting; they set out wanting a website, and purchasing web hosting is very much an afterthought. It's only after they've been established and now need to dramatically edit what they want to do on the site that the conversation of web hosting comes up again.

 

[NiceNIC]

AI builders will probably become a normal hosting feature. But the WordPress angle matters. Customers want a fast start, but they also need a site they can edit, move, and maintain later.

The AI prompt helps with the first version. Hosting still has to handle the boring parts: domain, SSL, email, backups, forms and support.

 

[Mivocloud]

Let's wait 2-3 years and then everything will be clear. Now, of course, everyone is trying to implement AI in their work, and every day there are more and more sites that generate photos/videos/texts or God knows what else. I think we should wait a couple of years and when all the dust settles, it will be clear whether AI is really that good.

 

[Patryk_Tier.net]

I have a feeling that AI may become much more monotonous over time than we expect. Models will become increasingly powerful at processing information, but at the same time, they will rely more and more on content that was already generated by other AI systems.