How hard is it to make a website? Honestly, easier than it’s ever been. And much of this is down to the evolution of website builders like Wix, who have dramatically transformed how easy and accessible making a website is.
The rise of website builders has essentially democratized website creation, allowing anyone, regardless of technical knowledge or skill, to create a website easily and quickly. The global website builder market is valued at around USD 2.2 billion, with forecasts putting it at USD 4.6 billion over the next decade. Alongside this, intuitive drag-and-drop website builders, AI website builders are all part of the transition of website building from hard, to easier, to easy.
How hard your site is to build will depend on a few factors. How you choose to create your site, with a website builder or not, what type of site you want to build and its design and functionality.
TL;DR: how hard is it to make a website?
Building a website today is easier than ever thanks to website builders, drag and drop editors and AI tools that remove the need for coding. It is now possible for almost anyone to create a professional site without technical skills.
Beginner: Building a website is straightforward with templates or AI tools. A simple professional site can be created in about a day or less. Hosting, mobile design, domain setup and SEO settings are handled by the website builder you choose. For example you can use Wix Harmony to build a complete website from a single prompt.
Intermediate: Users can customize templates, add apps and build features like eCommerce or bookings. The learning curve is still manageable and usually takes a few days to weeks.
Advanced: Highly customized websites are possible using advanced tools like no code platforms or advanced editors. These offer more design control, responsiveness and functionality without traditional coding complexity.
Building a website for your business, passion project or side hustle should feel simple and exciting. Wix generates a personalized starting point with AI. You can customize every detail with intuitive drag-and-drop tools, while Wix handles the tricky parts to make building your site simple. That way, you can focus on what matters most: bringing your ideas to life. Ready to get started? Create your website today.
How hard is it to build a website as a beginner?
If you're an absolute beginner, building a website has become increasingly straightforward. Wix's AI website builder, for example, generates a complete website from just a few simple prompts about your business and design preferences.
Wix also has a native app inside ChatGPT. Tag @wix in a conversation, describe the business you have in mind and the app generates a live Wix Harmony site in your Wix account. Wix Harmony combines vibe coding with drag and drop creation in one hybrid editor.
Pro tip from Marine Levy Belder, Product Marketing Team Lead at Wix
"When it comes to website building, one of the biggest challenges for business owners is the amount of time needed to create one. With AI, everything is much faster and easier. Business owners can now build their own websites, update their content and create or enhance images with minimal effort. AI is revolutionizing the world, and the technology is expanding into everything we do."
See simple website design examples that are easy and effective.
Want to create a website easily but with a little more control? You can use a website template to get started. Wix has over 2,000 to choose from, organized by industry and type. Here are just a few examples:
A beginner can realistically have a simple but professional website up and running within a day using Wix's website builder. This is because Wix also takes care of:
Your mobile-friendly design (all templates are mobile-friendly)
Secure web hosting (included with your website, free or premium)
Choosing and registering a domain (yearly and multi-year plans include a voucher for one free year on a new domain)
Your SEO settings (controlled from your editor)
Creating and publishing a website used to be hard because it had to be built in one place, then connected to a hosting provider, then to a domain registrar. Website builders, like Wix, include all of your site infrastructure as standard, you don't have to do anything to connect or use them. This alone makes creating a website much easier.
“I'd never built a website before and I'm not a naturally digital person. My first version, built by someone I hired, was pretty bad. In fact, I hated it. Within a few months, I scrapped it and started again, this time doing it myself on Wix.” - Gergei Erdei, Founder, Gergei Erdei Studio
Erdei went on to land Matches Fashion as his first client off the back of the site he built himself.
Learn more:
How hard is it to build a website as an intermediate website creator?
If you're comfortable with using a website builder, you can take your website creation to the next level by being more involved in its design and functionality.
Customizing templates beyond their initial design
Adding and configuring apps from the Wix App Market
Implementing more sophisticated design elements
Setting up eCommerce functionality to sell online
At this stage, the learning curve to build a website becomes steeper but is still manageable and not necessarily hard. You might spend a few days to a few weeks mastering these more complex features but you're still working with an easy to use website builder.
“Building a website isn't just about picking a nice template. It's about making sure every section works for your goals. With Wix you can drag and drop elements exactly where you want and still get a site that's mobile-ready and fast.” - Adi Avraham, Senior SEO Growth at Wix
How hard is it to create a website at a more advanced level?
If you're an advanced website creator who wants highly customized functionality you might want to consider a solution such as Wix Studio. This makes it easy to create a website with more customization options, custom CSS for example and fully responsive website templates but still comes with in-built hosting and security.
Method to create a website | Difficulty level | Time to build | Best for |
AI Website Builder like Wix AI | Very Low | 15–60 minutes | Getting a professional site live today. |
Drag-and-Drop, Wix editor | Low | 1–3 days | Creative control without touching code. |
Managed CMS | Medium | 1–2 weeks | Long-term growth and custom features. |
No-code design, Wix Studio | High | 2–4 weeks | High-end, pixel-perfect custom designs. |
How hard is it to build a website based on type of website
Often how hard it is to make a website is determined by the type of website you want to make. If you're expecting a highly designed, customizable, highly functional site, it's going to be harder to build than something less complex.
A small business website
Let's say you're a local bakery owner with no technical experience when it comes to website building. It doesn't have to be hard to build a website, using a website builder such as Wix. Here's how:
Select a restaurant/food template
Customize your site's colors and fonts to match your branding
Upload your product photos
Add your location and contact information
Include an online ordering system through Wix Restaurants
Connect your social media accounts
Be inspired: Small business website examples
Total time required: Approximately 2-3 days for a complete, professional site including reviewing and testing.
Difficulty level: Easy-moderate
Learn more: Best small business website builders
An eCommerce website or online store
Looking to sell online? Take the example of a boutique clothing retailer who can easily create a full online store using Wix by:
Choosing an eCommerce template
Uploading product images and descriptions
Setting up payment processing via Wix Payments
Configuring shipping options
Creating product categories and collections
Setting up inventory management
Be inspired: eCommerce website examples
Total time required: Approximately 1-2 weeks for a complete online store.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Learn more: Best ecommerce website builders
An online portfolio
Imagine you're a professional photographer looking to create a portfolio to showcase your work and attract new clients. Here's how you can build your portfolio easily with Wix:
Use a specific photography website template
Include gallery pages with high-resolution images
Add client testimonials
Add booking forms for sessions
Start a blog for sharing your recent projects and expertise
Create contact forms for inquiries about our services
Be inspired: Portfolio website examples
Total time required: Approximately 3-5 days for a complete portfolio
Difficulty level: Easy
Learn more: Best portfolio website builders
Difficulty shows up in cost too. Web design agencies in the US charge $100 to $149 an hour, but agencies that build on a website builder rather than coding from scratch charge closer to $25 to $49. Building it yourself takes that hourly rate out of the equation.
What are some of the challenges that can make website building hard?
Despite how much easier website builders have made creating a website, there are still some challenges involved that shouldn't be ignored. Understanding these will help you design a better site.
Getting your website design right
While templates provide a starting point, creating a truly effective and professional-looking website still requires testing and reviewing your website design, understanding some user experience principles and being consistent with your branding.
Anna Suntsov, Blog and Social Design Team Lead at Wix
“The most important thing before building a website is good research. Know what you want to do and collect good inspirations that will contribute to your design.”
Content creation
Perhaps the most underestimated challenge is creating quality content for your website. A beautiful website with poor content will fail to engage your visitors. Writing compelling copy, creating or sourcing professional images and structuring information effectively can be time consuming. All of these challenges are made easier by Wix, for example, with its extensive image galleries and databases for users to choose from and with the help of new AI writing assistants within the Wix editor.
Ongoing maintenance and website management
Websites are never truly finished. They always require regular updates and content refreshes. Even with website builders like Wix handling much of the backend, site owners need to commit to ongoing management of their design, content and website promotion, such as SEO.
What the future holds for website builder and how hard or easy it is
The future of website creation is clearly AI-powered, with AI-powered assistance and tools becoming increasingly sophisticated and making it easier than ever to build a website from scratch. Wix, for example, has already implemented AI tools that can:
Generate layout suggestions based on content
Create SEO-friendly content
Optimize designs for various devices
Suggest improvements for improved user experience
How hard is it to make a website FAQ
Do I need to learn coding to make a website?
No, that's exactly why website builders make it so easy to build a website because you don't need coding skills or technical knowledge.
What's the hardest part of building a website?
It's actually the website content. Most beginners get stuck deciding what to write on their About page or finding the right high-quality images. The actual building a website part is now the easiest step in the process because of website builders like Wix.
