Opinions and Ideas by WPBeginner https://www.wpbeginner.com Beginner's Guide for WordPress Wed, 25 Dec 2024 11:00:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 All in One WP Migration vs. Duplicator – Which One Is Better? https://www.wpbeginner.com/opinion/all-in-one-wp-migration-vs-duplicator/ https://www.wpbeginner.com/opinion/all-in-one-wp-migration-vs-duplicator/#respond Wed, 25 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000 https://www.wpbeginner.com/?p=320184 We’ve worked with WordPress for many years, so we know how important a reliable backup and migration system is. We’ve been using Duplicator in our own projects and for our partner websites. But we also know that what works for us might not be the… Read More »

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We’ve worked with WordPress for many years, so we know how important a reliable backup and migration system is. We’ve been using Duplicator in our own projects and for our partner websites. But we also know that what works for us might not be the best choice for everyone.

That’s why we decided to take a closer look at Duplicator and All in One WP Migration. We wanted to see how these two popular plugins compare when it comes to making backups, moving websites, and handling different WordPress setups.

Having the right backup and migration tool can make a big difference. It’s not just about copying files – it’s about finding a plugin that fits well with how you work and gives you peace of mind that your site is safe and easy to move if needed.

In this All in One WP Migration vs. Duplicator comparison, we will share what we learned from testing both plugins thoroughly. We will look at what each one does well, where they might fall short, and what makes them unique.

All in One WP Migration vs Duplicator

All in One WP Migration vs. Duplicator: An Overview

All in One WP Migration and Duplicator are both popular WordPress backup and migration plugins, each with its own unique features. If you’re short on time, we’ve created a comparison table to give you a quick overview of their key features:

PluginNumber of UsersKey FeaturesFree Version?Starting Price (Paid)
All in One WP Migration5 million+• Simple drag-and-drop import
• Built-in search and replace
• Selective content backup
$69/year
Duplicator1.5 million+• Smart migration with an installer
• Scheduled backups
• Disaster recovery points
$49.50/year

With that said, we highly recommend you keep reading to get our in-depth analysis of each tool. That way, you’ll be better equipped to make the right choice for your WordPress website’s backup and migration needs.

How We’re Comparing All in One WP Migration vs. Duplicator

To give you a thorough and fair comparison of these WordPress backup plugins, we set up multiple demo websites to install and test both tools. This allowed us to dive deep into their features, user interfaces, and overall performance in different scenarios.

We extensively tested each plugin’s backup feature, paying close attention to the available options and ease of use. We then imported these backup files into different demo websites to see the restore process.

This helped us understand how each plugin performs in real-world migration scenarios. Throughout our testing, we carefully documented our findings, noting what worked well and what didn’t.

It’s worth mentioning that we’ve used Duplicator for years in our projects and tutorials. This long-term experience has given us deep familiarity with its capabilities and quirks. If you want to learn more about our experience, you can read our Duplicator review.

We’ve also used All in One WP Migration for our own research, providing us with practical insights into both tools.

In our evaluation, we considered not just the plugins themselves but also how different users might benefit from them. While all backup plugins fundamentally work the same way, we recognized that some features might be better suited for certain users. 

For example, beginners may need a WordPress backup all-in-one solution that’s easy to use. On the other hand, advanced users may need more control and customization options for their backups or specific features like multisite support.

Why Trust WPBeginner?

Since 2009, WPBeginner has been the go-to resource for WordPress users. We’ve also handled countless site migrations and backups, both for our own projects and through our free WordPress blog setup service.

This hands-on experience, combined with our extensive testing of backup and migration tools, gives us unique insights into what works best in real-world scenarios. We don’t recommend anything we haven’t thoroughly vetted ourselves.

For more on our evaluation process, check out our editorial guidelines.

With all this in mind, let’s compare All in One WP Migration vs. Duplicator. You can use the quick links below to skip to the topic you’re most interested in:

Export/Backup Features

A good export/backup feature is a key feature in a migration plugin. It’s not just about speed but also about flexibility and reliability. 

We have grouped export and backup together because, in a migration plugin, they’re often the same process: creating a portable version of your site. Let’s see how All in One WP Migration and Duplicator handle this crucial task.

All in One WP Migration: Simple Yet Powerful

All in One WP Migration offers powerful export features, even in its free core version.

When you open the export page, you’ll find more than just a backup button. There’s also a handy search and replace function for the database. You can add multiple search and replace operations, which helps when updating URLs or other site-specific info during migration.

All in One WP Migration's search and replace feature

We also like that you can password-protect your complete WordPress backup file. This adds an extra layer of security, which is especially useful when storing backups in shared spaces or sending them over unsecured networks.

Other than that, the plugin lets you customize your export with several options. You can choose not to export things like spam comments, post revisions, or the media library.

These settings give you fine control over your backup, which can be helpful in different situations. For example, leaving out the media library can really shrink the file size if your site has lots of images.

All in One WP Migration's advanced backup settings

One thing to note is that for beginners, some features might not be immediately clear. For instance, they may not understand the benefits of the search and replace feature for the database right away.

It would be great if the plugin provided more context or explanations for these advanced features. This could help newcomers make informed decisions about which options to use and how they might benefit from it when backing up their WordPress website.

Once you’ve set things up, you can export your site to a .wpress file, which the plugin uses for both export and import.

If you want to export to FTP or cloud storage or enable automatic backups, you’ll need to pay for an extension.

Duplicator: Comprehensive Backup Solution

Duplicator is as powerful as All in One WP Migration when it comes to export and backup features.

Like its competitor, you can back up your site and store it on your WordPress hosting for free, then download the files to your computer.

Quickly and easily creating a full site backup

With Duplicator, you can choose to back up your whole website—database, plugins, themes, and all—or just the database. The database-only option comes in handy if you’re mainly worried about content changes and don’t need to back up static files often.

For database-only backups, you can use filters to leave out certain tables. We find this to be useful for making your backup smaller or excluding data you don’t need.

We also liked that Duplicator lets you exclude specific WordPress files, folders, or file types from the backup. This is great for leaving out large files you don’t need or sensitive information you’d rather not include in your backup.

Exclude files, folders, and tables from the backup

Like All in One WP Migration, Duplicator offers password protection for your backups, boosting WordPress security.

All these features may seem intimidating for complete beginners. But thankfully, Duplicator has addressed this potential issue. There are helpful information buttons next to certain features that you can hover over, and they will show you detailed explanations.

Duplicator's information snippet

This user-friendly approach makes it easier for newcomers to understand and use the plugin’s more advanced features.

One feature we really appreciate is Duplicator’s pre-backup scan. It checks your entire WordPress website before backing up to make sure everything’s good to go. This helps prevent incomplete or broken backups, saving you time and potential problems later.

Creating a WordPress backup

After the backup, you’ll get a zip file of your archive and an installer file.

For bigger sites, Duplicator suggests using their special DupArchive format. This format is designed to work around limits often set by cheaper hosting providers, letting you create larger backups without running into server issues.

Duplicator's DupArchive file format

Just like All in One WP Migration, Duplicator’s paid version lets you export to FTP or cloud storage and includes automatic backups.

But Duplicator goes a step further by letting you mark a backup as a disaster recovery point. This is great for quickly getting your site back to a known good state if something goes wrong and you’re locked out of your WordPress admin area.

Duplicator's disaster recovery feature

Winner: Duplicator

After closely looking at both plugins, we think Duplicator has a slight edge over All in One WP Migration for exports and backups.

While both offer strong features, Duplicator’s pre-backup scan, flexible backup options, and special DupArchive format for larger sites give it an advantage. The disaster recovery point feature in the pro version also stands out for site owners who need quick recovery options.

Import/Restore Features

Once you’ve backed up or exported your WordPress site, you’ll need to import it. Let’s see how these WordPress migration plugins handle this process.

All in One WP Migration: Simple Drag and Drop

If you’re using All in One WP Migration, you’ll need to install the plugin in your WordPress admin dashboard first.

After that, importing is as easy as dragging and dropping your backup file. It’s a straightforward process that makes it simple to restore WordPress or migrate a WordPress site.

All in One WP Migration's drag-and-drop import feature

The plugin also offers import options from FTP, server transfer, URL, or cloud storage and a one-click restore via the plugin’s backup page.

However, these features require separate paid extensions.

All in One WP Migration's one-click restore

One thing we’re not a fan of is that the core plugin has an upload limit of 256 MB. This might be enough for smaller WordPress websites, but if you have a larger site with lots of media, you might hit this limit.

The unlimited license removes this restriction, which is worth considering if you frequently move your site or manage larger WordPress sites.

Also, in our testing, we successfully moved our WordPress site to a new host but ran into issues when moving it to a local WordPress environment. This is an important consideration if you’re looking to migrate a live website to a local setup for staging purposes.

Duplicator: Flexible Restoration Options

Duplicator takes a slightly different approach to importing and restoring.

With the free version, you use the installer file you downloaded during the backup process. You add this file to your WordPress files using the file manager or an FTP client, then navigate to https://yourdomain.com/installer.php.

This opens an easy-to-use restoration wizard that guides you through the process.

Click admin login when backup is restored

This method works whether you’re restoring a backup on the same site or migrating to a different hosting provider with a new domain.

It’s admittedly a bit more hands-on than All in One WP Migration’s approach. Also, for the process to work, you will need to create your own database first.

However, it has the advantage of no size limit. Plus, you don’t need to install WordPress or the Duplicator plugin first, which can be helpful for local WordPress development or when setting up a new site.

If you get one of Duplicator’s pro plans, you get access to more user-friendly options. These include one-click restoration from the database or complete backups, drag-and-drop file import via the plugin interface, and import via URL or cloud storage.

How to restore a backup to your WordPress blog, website, or online store

One standout feature of Duplicator Pro is the disaster recovery restoration.

You can either copy a recovery link and save it separately from your WordPress site or download a launcher file. This launcher is an HTML file that starts the recovery wizard, helping you get your site back online quickly if you can’t access your WordPress admin.

Set a recovery point for backup

When it comes to moving a live website to a local environment, Duplicator performed really well. In fact, we were able to create a tutorial on how to migrate a live WordPress site to a local server, thanks to its reliable functionality in this area.

Winner: Duplicator

We believe Duplicator takes the lead in the import/restore category.

All in One WP Migration offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface. However, Duplicator’s unlimited file size in the free version and more flexible restoration process give it an edge.

The pro version’s one-click restore and unique disaster recovery features further strengthen its position. For users managing larger sites or requiring advanced restore options, Duplicator is a more comprehensive solution.

Remote Storage Integrations

Both All in One WP Migration and Duplicator offer cloud storage integrations in their paid licenses. This allows you to connect these WordPress backup plugins to various providers for storing your website files.

This feature is particularly useful when you need to migrate a WordPress site or create off-site backups for your WordPress website. Let’s look at how these WordPress migration plugins compare in terms of remote storage options.

All in One WP Migration: Extensive Options with Individual Paid Extensions

All in One WP Migration offers an impressive range of remote storage integrations. It supports 15 different providers, including popular options like FTP, Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, and OneDrive, as well as less common choices like pCloud and WebDAV.

All in One WP Migration's export options

The connection process for most of these extensions is straightforward. For example, to back up your WordPress site to Google Drive, you only need to link to your Google Drive account, and the plugin will create a folder for your backups in your Drive automatically.

However, one downside is that all these integrations come as separate extensions. This approach is fine if you only use one storage provider. But if you need multiple options, you’ll have to purchase more than one extension.

Duplicator: Fewer Options but All-Inclusive Approach

Duplicator supports fewer storage providers compared to All in One WP Migration. That said, it still covers major options like Amazon S3, Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, and FTP/SFTP.

It also works with any S3 Compatible Cloud Storage, which expands its compatibility.

The connection process with Duplicator is slightly more involved. For example, to back up your site to Dropbox, you need to link your plugin to Dropbox and paste a code snippet into your plugin, adding an extra step to the process.

Enter code and finalize setup

The key difference is that all Duplicator plans include all these integrations, so you don’t need to purchase different extensions for each storage provider you want to use.

Winner: Tie

We find it hard to choose a winner because each has its own strengths. All in One WP Migration offers a wider range of storage options, giving users more flexibility in choosing where to store their WordPress backups.

On the other hand, Duplicator’s all-inclusive approach means you get access to all supported integrations with any paid plan. This could be more cost-effective than purchasing All in One WP Migration’s cloud storage extensions.

Ultimately, the best choice between these WordPress backup plugins depends on your specific storage needs and budget. 

Feature Richness

Both All in One WP Migration and Duplicator offer a range of features beyond basic backup and migration, which adds to their value as comprehensive WordPress migration services. Let’s explore what each plugin brings to the table.

All in One WP Migration: Modular Approach with Paid Extensions

Here’s the full list of features available in All in One WP Migration when you upgrade from the free version and use paid extensions:

  • One-click backup restoration
  • Unlimited usage on websites you own
  • Removal of the 256 MB upload limit
  • Built-in search and replace function
  • Backup scheduler with hourly, daily, and weekly options
  • Cloud storage integration with 15+ providers
  • Reset tools to restart your WordPress website
  • Multisite support
  • WP CLI commands for advanced users
  • Premium support

Here’s the catch: Some of these features, like cloud storage integration, multisite support, and scheduled backups, are only available as paid extensions. You’ll need to purchase these separately to access the full functionality.

Duplicator: Comprehensive Feature Set in All Paid Plans

Here’s a list of the features available in Duplicator’s paid plans:

  • Automatic backup scheduling with hourly, daily, and weekly options
  • 5+ cloud backup storage options
  • Drag and drop import
  • Migration wizard for easy website transfers
  • Email alerts for backup issues
  • Disaster recovery points for quick rollbacks
  • Backup limits to manage storage
  • Server-to-server imports
  • Managed hosting support
  • Shared database support
  • Multisite support
  • Advanced user permissions for backup files
  • Installer branding

One consideration is that some of these features, like multisite support, advanced user permissions, and installer branding, are only available in higher-tier plans. However, these features are mainly geared towards professionals working with multiple clients and sites.

Winner: Duplicator

We believe Duplicator edges out All in One WP Migration in this category. 

Based on the feature comparison, Duplicator offers a more comprehensive set of tools in its paid tiers. The inclusion of large site support, disaster recovery points, and advanced migration tools across all paid plans makes Duplicator a much more versatile solution.

Plugin Support

Reliable support can significantly improve your experience with WordPress migration plugins, especially when you’re trying to move your site safely.

This section compares the support options offered by All in One WP Migration and Duplicator.

All in One WP Migration: All-Around Support with Extended Hours

All in One WP Migration offers a range of support options to help users with their WordPress backup and migration needs. You can contact them through their WordPress.org support page, where users can ask questions and get community assistance.

For more in-depth information, they maintain a knowledge base filled with helpful articles and guides. We found many of the articles helpful when we needed to test out the plugin’s features.

ServMask's help desk

For users with a paid license, All in One WP Migration allows you to submit a support ticket. Their support team is available during extended hours, operating on weekdays from 8 am to 10 pm (UTC+7) and on weekends from 9 pm to 6 am (UTC+7).

Duplicator: Multiple Support Options with Weekday Availability

Duplicator provides a detailed knowledge base that covers various aspects of using the plugin for WordPress backups and migrations.

Users can also seek help through the WordPress.org support page, where they can interact with the community and the plugin’s support team.

The Duplicator customer support portal

For those considering purchasing Duplicator, there’s a pre-sales form available to answer any questions before making a decision.

Paid users can submit support tickets directly to the Duplicator team. The team aims to respond to all requests within 24 hours during weekdays, with support hours running Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm (UTC-5).

Winner: All in One WP Migration

The extended support hours, including weekend availability, make All in One WP Migration more accessible for users across different time zones and work schedules. This can be essential when you’re in the middle of migrating a WordPress site or dealing with urgent backup issues.

Value for Money

One of the most important considerations when choosing the best WordPress migration plugin is the price tag. We generally recommend against overpaying for a plugin that doesn’t meet all your needs or using a cheap option that doesn’t have important functionality.

Let’s see which plugin gives you more bang for your buck.

All in One WP Migration: Flexible but Potentially Costly

All in One WP Migration offers a free core plugin with basic export and import functionality.

However, for more advanced features like one-click restoration, you’ll need the Unlimited extension at $5.75 per month, billed annually or $69 per year.

All in One WP Migration's Unlimited extension

Also, each cloud storage provider extension costs $99 per year, while the Multisite extension is priced at $319 per year.

One advantage is that storage provider and Multisite extensions include the Unlimited extension, potentially saving money.

All in One WP Migration's extensions

However, costs can add up quickly. For instance, if you need Multisite support and a cloud storage option, you’re looking at $418 per year.

All extensions allow usage on unlimited websites and include premium support, which can be valuable for managing multiple WordPress sites.

Duplicator: All-Inclusive Features at Tiered Price Points

Duplicator’s free version offers basic export and import functionality using an installer file.

Their paid plans, however, provide a comprehensive set of features at different price points.

Duplicator's pricing plans

Duplicator Pro has four tiers: Basic ($49.50 per year), Plus ($99.50 per year), Pro ($199.50 per year), and Elite ($299.50 per year). All paid plans include unlimited backups, migrations, multiple website usage, all cloud storage providers, disaster recovery points, and scheduled backups.

Plus, the Pro and Elite tiers include Multisite support. So, for Multisite functionality and cloud storage, you’d pay $199.50 or $299.50 per year, which is significantly less than All in One WP Migration.

Winner: Duplicator

We believe Duplicator offers better value for money, especially for users needing multiple features. Its WordPress backup all-in-one solution is more cost-effective for most scenarios.

Although All in One WP Migration’s a la carte model allows for customization, it can become expensive quickly when you need multiple features.

All in One WP Migration vs Duplicator: Who’s the Winner?

After thoroughly testing All in One WP Migration and Duplicator, our top pick is Duplicator. It’s the best WordPress backup all-in-one solution, offering a great combination of features, user-friendliness, and value for money.

That said, All in One WP Migration can be excellent for people who need a simple, straightforward tool for basic backups and migrations. Its free version is particularly useful for small websites or occasional migrations.

Here’s a table summarizing the winners for each factor we discussed:

FeatureAll in One WP MigrationDuplicator
Export/Backup Features
Import/Restore Features
Remote Storage Integrations
Feature Richness
Plugin Support
Value for Money

As you can see, Duplicator is the winner in most categories, making it our overall top choice.

We hope this article has helped you compare All in One WP Migration and Duplicator. You may also want to check out our guide on how to connect Google Drive to your WordPress media library and our expert picks of the best Dropbox plugins for WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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Are AI Website Builders Worth The Hype? (Honest Review) https://www.wpbeginner.com/opinion/are-ai-website-builders-worth-the-hype/ https://www.wpbeginner.com/opinion/are-ai-website-builders-worth-the-hype/#respond Thu, 12 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000 https://www.wpbeginner.com/?p=302476 Over the past few years, we’ve seen countless trends come and go in the WordPress and website-building industry. But few have sparked as much interest and debate as the rise of AI website builders. To stay on top of this trend, we’ve tried and tested… Read More »

The post Are AI Website Builders Worth The Hype? (Honest Review) first appeared on WPBeginner.

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Over the past few years, we’ve seen countless trends come and go in the WordPress and website-building industry. But few have sparked as much interest and debate as the rise of AI website builders.

To stay on top of this trend, we’ve tried and tested tons of AI website builders as they’ve hit the market. In doing so, we’ve noticed that more and more beginners are asking questions like: Should I use an AI website builder? What about AI page builders for WordPress? Or is hiring a professional still a better option?

This article will break down everything you need to know about AI website builders, from what they are to how they compare to traditional website-building methods.

So, are AI website builders worth the hype? Let’s find out together.

Are AI Website Builders Worth the Hype?

What Counts as an AI Website Builder?

People use AI (artificial intelligence) to build websites in different ways. So before we explain the popularity behind AI website builders, let’s discuss what even counts as an AI website builder in the first place.

One example is an all-in-one platform like Hostinger Website Builder or Wix‘s AI Website Builder. This type of tool can generate an entire website from your prompts. It typically handles hosting and domain registration, too. This means you don’t need to purchase them separately.

It also includes advanced AI features, such as content generators for blog writing and SEO assistance for optimizing your website.

Hostinger Website Builder's landing page

For those using WordPress, the world’s most popular content management system, AI is also making its way into page builders.

SeedProd, for instance, allows you to create an AI-generated custom theme from scratch while offering AI-powered content and image generation. Another good example is Divi AI from Elegant Themes.

For more examples, see our expert pick of the best WordPress AI website builders.

These tools are technically page or theme builders because they work within the WordPress ecosystem rather than as standalone platforms. And unlike all-in-one website builders, you need to get your own hosting and domain name.

However, considering how widely used WordPress is, we think it’s fair to include it in the AI website builder category. After all, it uses AI to optimize website creation, which is the core purpose of an AI website builder.

SeedProd AI website builder landing page

With that out of the way, let’s explore why AI has become such a common feature in website builders and why they’ve gained such popularity.

You can use the quick links below to navigate through this article:

Why Trust WPBeginner?

At WPBeginner, we’re a team of experts with more than 16 years of experience in WordPress, web design, web development, online marketing, and more.

Our goal is always to educate our readers, providing them with the most up-to-date and accurate information. Our advice and careful opinions come from a deep understanding of the broader industry as well as our hands-on experience with the tools and tech we review.

Want to know more? Check out our detailed editorial process.

The Hype Behind AI Website Builders: From Idea to Live Site in Minutes

At first, website builders were just tools to help design sites. But with AI getting better fast, many tools now offer AI-powered features. This change has been so big that the AI website builder market is growing 32.9% per year.

Let’s look at why AI website builders have become so popular:

Speedy Setup

Most of the time, you only need to type a prompt into an AI website builder, and the tool will start creating a website for you.

Think about it – with this technology at your fingertips, you don’t have to spend hours figuring out how the tool works or adding elements one by one. The AI does most of the heavy lifting for you. Even if you need to make some tweaks afterward, you’d still save a lot of time on the initial setup.

When we used SeedProd’s AI, it only took 17 seconds for the page builder to create a custom theme for us. But you can also use it to make landing pages, whether for a Google ad or a viral waitlist.

SeedProd's AI website builder

This speed has real benefits for your business. The faster you can get your website up and running, the sooner you can start reaching customers online.

For many businesses, this means you can start making money quicker. Instead of spending weeks or even months building a website, you could be open for business in just a few days or less.

Beginner-Friendly

Even without AI, website builders are pretty easy to use to begin with. There’s little to no coding involved, and you often just drag and drop elements to create your site. This already makes them accessible to many people who aren’t tech experts.

However, based on our testing, not all website builders are created equal. Some can be trickier to use than others, and sometimes, the drag-and-drop feature isn’t as flexible as you’d like. Wouldn’t it be great to have something ready-made that you just need to tweak a bit?

This is where AI aims to make website builders even easier. It takes care of the initial setup, giving you a foundation to work with. You can then adjust things to your liking without starting from scratch.

What’s more, AI brings additional tools that help with other aspects of website creation.

SeedProd's AI content generator

For example, AI content generation helps people who aren’t skilled writers to create compelling copy. Meanwhile, AI image generation assists those who don’t have the illustration skills to create unique visuals.

Some AI builders even include features like AI heatmaps. These can help users without much analytics experience to optimize their website design and user experience.

Hostinger Website Builder's AI heatmap

All-in-One Pricing

Many AI website builders offer all-in-one pricing, which is a huge advantage, especially if you use platforms like Wix or Hostinger Website Builder. But what exactly does all-in-one pricing mean?

All-in-one pricing means you get everything you need to run your website under a single subscription. This typically includes web hosting, a domain name, an SSL certificate, and the website builder itself – along with its marketing, analytics, and online selling features.

Here’s what Wix’s tiered subscription plans look like:

Wix's plans

Meanwhile, if you use Bluehost, you get a WordPress AI website builder that allows you to create multiple websites. That can also come with storage, a free domain for the first year, an SSL certificate, professional email, a web application firewall, DDoS protection, and more.

The pricing starts from $1.99 per month.

Bluehost's plans that include the AI site creator

Bluehost has also given WPBeginner readers a special 75% discount for their first purchase. Click below to claim it:

This pricing approach has several benefits. First, it’s convenient. You don’t have to shop around for different services or worry about integrating them. Everything works together seamlessly because it’s all from the same provider.

Second, it’s often more cost-effective. Buying these services separately can add up quickly, but bundled together, you often get a better deal. This is especially helpful for small businesses or individuals on a tight budget.

Professional-Looking Design

More than 54% of people can’t tell if a website was made by AI or a human designer. This shows how good AI has become at creating websites that look professional.

This means you don’t need to be a design expert to have a great-looking site. AI website builders use smart technology to understand what makes a website look good and work well. They can create layouts that not only look nice but are also easy for people to use.

Example of an AI-generated theme made with SeedProd

Even if you don’t like the design that the AI has created, a lot of website builders already come with plenty of ready-to-use template kits that you can customize.

These designs look modern and professional from the start. But they’re not one-size-fits-all – you can easily change colors, fonts, and layouts to match your style or brand.

Wix's templates

Also, by default, website builders usually come with a responsive design feature to make sure your site looks good on all devices, like computers, tablets, and phones. This is really important today when so many people use their phones to browse the internet. 

Ongoing Support and Maintenance

When you build a website without using a website builder or a hosting platform, you often need to handle the technical backend aspects yourself. This can include tasks like updating software, managing security, and fixing any coding issues that arise.

For complete beginners, these maintenance tasks can be challenging and time-consuming.

With an AI website builder, much of this technical maintenance is taken care of for you. These platforms often include automatic updates, security patches, and performance optimizations.

This means you can focus on your content and business rather than worrying about the technical details.

SeedProd's documentation

Many AI website builders also offer ongoing support through AI-powered chatbots or knowledge bases.

These assistant tools can help you troubleshoot issues quickly, often without needing to contact human support. They can walk you through using key features and provide you with an ultimate guide to managing your website.

Some platforms even use AI to suggest improvements to your website. This could include recommendations for better SEO, faster loading times, or improved user experience. It’s like having a team of experts constantly working to improve your site.

Hostinger Website Builder's AI chatbot

Okay, so there are a lot of benefits to using an AI website builder. But what about the potential drawbacks? While these tools offer impressive features, they’re not perfect for every situation.

Let’s explore some important things to keep in mind before using an AI website builder.

Before Using an AI Website Builder, Read This

Whether you’re starting from scratch or redesigning an existing site, here are some key points to consider before choosing an AI website builder:

Not All AI Website Builders Are Equal

While site builders generally aim to simplify the web development process, not all have the same level of beginner-friendliness or design quality.

That’s why we recommend testing out the website builder first and looking at the user interface. Is it easy to use and navigate? A good AI website builder should have a clean, well-organized dashboard that doesn’t overwhelm you with options.

For example, we love interfaces like the one SeedProd offers because it has a straightforward layout. The left side of the screen is a sidebar where you can add blocks and customize colors, while the right side shows a real-time preview of your page.

The SeedProd interface

On the other hand, when we compared SeedProd to Elementor, we found that while Elementor has a similar layout, it can feel overwhelming for beginners.

It’s a bit like the difference between using a simple photo editor and diving into Photoshop – more features aren’t always better if they make the tool harder to use.

Second, you’ll want to check the quality of the AI-generated designs. If you can, try to generate multiple designs to see how consistent the quality is across different styles and layouts. This will give you a better idea of the AI’s capabilities and versatility in creating designs that match your vision.

Lack of Customization and Extensibility

One potential drawback of AI website builders, especially all-in-one platforms like Wix or Hostinger Website Builder, is the limited customization and extensibility options.

Sure, the AI features can be incredibly useful for many aspects of website creation and management. But, they may not cover all the specific needs of your project.

Some AI website builders do offer integrations with third-party tools. However, you’re still limited to the integrations that the platform has chosen to make available. This can be frustrating if you need a specific tool that’s not on their list.

The Wix app market

On the other hand, if you use WordPress with an AI page builder, you generally have more freedom to customize and extend your website.

WordPress’s vast ecosystem of plugins allows you to add almost any functionality you might need. You can find plugins to create a sticky floating footer bar, add a font resizer, or even insert rotating testimonials for social proof.

WordPress plugin directory page

So you can use an AI page builder for the core design and layout, then extend your site’s capabilities with additional plugins as needed.

This flexibility can be crucial as your website grows and your needs evolve. You might start with basic features, but as your business expands, you may need more advanced tools for things like customer relationship management or advanced analytics.

Inflexible Pricing Plans and Upgrades

When using all-in-one AI website builders, you’ll often find subscription-based pricing models.

While this can be convenient, you might be forced to upgrade to a pricier plan just to access the single tool you need.

Take Wix, for instance. If you’ve built a business website using their platform and want to unlock advanced site analytics, you’re required to upgrade to their top-tier Business Elite plan.

This can be frustrating if you’re currently on the Core plan and generally satisfied with its offerings, except for the limited analytics tool.

You’re left with a tough choice: either stick with basic analytics or pay significantly more for a suite of features you may not need just to get that one tool you want.

However, this issue is less likely to happen if you use WordPress with an AI page builder like SeedProd or Bluehost. With WordPress, you have more control over which features you add and when.

You can often purchase individual plugins or tools as needed rather than being locked into a rigid pricing structure. This allows for more freedom in terms of both functionality and budget management.

Website Performance Concerns

Website builders, including AI-powered ones, sometimes create websites with extra code that isn’t really needed. This can make your website slower than it should be.

One reason for this is the website builder might add unnecessary elements to your site’s code. It’s like packing a suitcase with clothes you won’t wear – it just takes up space and makes things heavier.

The AI might also not organize the code as efficiently as a human developer would. Imagine sorting a deck of cards randomly instead of by suit – it works, but it’s not the best way to do it.

However, in our experience, the performance of AI website builders varies greatly. For example, a lot of users have complained about Wix being slow, but other WordPress AI page builders like SeedProd do not share that reputation.

In fact, we’ve consistently seen PageSpeed scores of 90+ when using SeedProd, which you can check out in our Elementor vs Divi vs SeedProd review.

SeedProd page performance test

Because of this, we recommend creating a demo site for testing purposes before fully committing to a platform. Pay attention to how the builder performs during the creation process and, more importantly, how the final published site performs.

The creators of many AI website builders are also aware of these concerns and have implemented features to address them.

For example, if you use Bluehost, you get access to a free Content Delivery Network (CDN) from Cloudflare. A CDN can significantly improve your site’s loading times by serving content from servers closer to your visitors’ geographic locations.

In fact, here at WPBeginner, we switched from Sucuri to Cloudflare and have since seen massive performance improvements on our blog.

Cloudflare

Are AI Website Builders the Best DIY Tools for Beginners and Small Business Owners?

The answer isn’t a simple yes or no. The best choice depends on your specific needs, technical skills, and long-term goals for your website.

All-in-one AI website builders like Wix and Hostinger Website Builder are great for getting a site up quickly with minimal technical know-how. But their limited customization options and inflexible pricing plans can be frustrating as your site grows.

In our opinion, a more flexible choice is using WordPress with an AI page builder like SeedProd or Bluehost.

This combination gives you the speed and ease of AI-powered design while enjoying WordPress’s flexibility. Basically, you get quick, AI-generated layouts, but you’re not locked into a closed system.

You can add more must-have WordPress plugins as your needs evolve, thanks to WordPress’s flexible nature.

To help you decide, here are some questions to consider:

  • How quickly do you need to launch your website?
  • What level of customization do you require?
  • Do you think you may need advanced features in the future?
  • How comfortable are you with basic technical tasks?
  • What’s your budget for website building and maintenance?
  • How much time can you dedicate to learning a new platform?

It’s okay if your answers to these questions are not super clear. Simply reflecting on them will help you get a better sense of whether an AI website builder is right for you.

WordPress + AI Page Builder + AI Coding Assistant = The Most Flexible DIY Option

If you want even more control and flexibility with the help of AI, then we suggest using WordPress with AI page builder and AI coding assistant plugins.

In this case, an AI page builder will work to speed up your design process. On the other hand, the AI code generator allows you to add custom functionality to your site without needing to be a coding expert.

Our go-to choice is WPCode. This code snippet plugin makes it easy to add custom code to your WordPress site without editing theme files. It’s like having a coding expert at your fingertips.

Asking WPCode AI to remove a specific WordPress dashboard widget

Using simple prompts, you can generate code snippets for specific features, tweak existing code, or get help troubleshooting issues.

Best of all, you won’t need as many plugins. You can make your own solutions that fit exactly what you need. This means your site will be faster and easier to take care of. With fewer plugins, your site is less likely to have problems or security issues.

Important Note: At WPBeginner, we have extensive experience using WordPress alongside AI page builders and AI coding assistants. For more information on the tools we’ve mentioned so far in this article, check out our full reviews of SeedProd, Divi, Bluehost, Hostinger, and WPCode.

Should I Use an AI Website Builder or Hire a Professional?

Another popular debate about using an AI website builder is whether it’s a better option than hiring a professional. Again, the answer to this depends on your specific situation.

AI website builders are a great (and fast) DIY solution. They let you create a good-looking website in a matter of minutes.

However, even if you use WordPress with an AI page builder, an AI coding assistant, and numerous plugins, they may not fully capture your brand identity or implement complex features as effectively as a human expert.

Because of that, we don’t recommend it if you:

  • Need a highly customized website with specific functionality
  • Are in a competitive industry where standing out is important
  • Lack the time to learn and manage these tools effectively
  • Need advanced eCommerce features or complex integrations with other business systems

On the other hand, hiring a professional WordPress developer can result in a truly unique website. They can create a site that not only looks great but also performs well in terms of user experience and WordPress SEO.

The downside is that professional services often come with a higher price tag. Plus, if you go this route, your project might take longer to complete.

With all that in mind, we would recommend this option if you:

  • Have some budget to spare
  • Run a larger business where the website is essential for operations and customer interactions
  • Require complex functionality or integrations
  • Simply have no time or interest to build and maintain the site yourself

If you want to work with a professional development team but don’t know who to hire, then check out WPBeginner’s WordPress Website Design Services.

WPBeginner Pro Services for designing a custom WordPress site

With WPBeginner’s pro service, you get a dedicated project manager who brings your ideas to life. We offer multiple revisions to ensure you love the final design. Our team can handle everything from simple blogs to complex eCommerce stores, all built with WordPress.

And don’t worry – we’ll give you a training session to manage your site like a pro. So you’ll be able to handle routine tasks, add new content, and make basic modifications on your own.

If you’re not sure, you can always book a free consultation and talk with our team today.

Frequently Asked Questions About AI Website Builders

Are you still unsure about using AI website builders? Let’s answer the most frequently asked questions about these tools:

Are AI website builders good?

AI website builders are generally good tools for making websites quickly and easily. They’re user-friendly, so even people without tech skills can use them. However, how good they are can depend on which AI builder you choose.

How fast can AI create a website?

AI can make websites really fast, but the speed depends on what tool you use. For example, when using SeedProd’s AI, it only took 17 seconds to make a website.

Are AI-generated websites good?

AI-generated website designs are generally comparable to ones made by a human web developer. In fact, more than 54% of people can’t tell if a website was made by AI or a human designer. This shows how good AI has become at making websites that look professional.

What are the pros and cons of AI website builders?

The pros of AI website builders are that they are beginner-friendly and provide a speedy setup, making them ideal for those who need a website quickly. They can also create professional-looking designs and offer ongoing support, which can be helpful for complete beginners.

The main con is that not all AI site builders are the same, so the quality can vary. And if you use hosted platforms like Wix, you might not be able to customize your site as much. These platforms might also have strict pricing plans that don’t give you much flexibility.

This is why we recommend using WordPress with an AI page builder, so you can get the flexibility of an open-source platform and the ease of use of AI.

Will AI replace web developers?

We don’t think AI will replace web developers. While AI can do a lot of web design tasks, humans are still better at being creative, solving problems, and understanding what clients need. Web developers will probably use AI as a tool to help them work better, not be replaced by it.

How much does it cost to build a website with AI?

The cost varies, but it typically starts from around $20 per month and can go up to hundreds of dollars. The pricing usually includes the website builder or page builder, web hosting, and a domain name. The cost can add up depending on what tools you choose and if you need any extra features.

We hope this article has helped you learn whether AI website builders are worth the hype. You may also want to check out our comparison guide on free vs. premium WordPress themes and our complete guide to essential WordPress design elements.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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How Ben Rojas Rose From a Developer to the President of AIOSEO https://www.wpbeginner.com/opinion/interview-ben-rojas-president-of-all-in-one-seo/ https://www.wpbeginner.com/opinion/interview-ben-rojas-president-of-all-in-one-seo/#comments Fri, 29 Nov 2024 11:00:00 +0000 https://www.wpbeginner.com/?p=317042 Ben Rojas is the President of All in One SEO (AIOSEO) and a self-taught WordPress and PHP developer with over 25+ years of experience. Although he started as a developer at Awesome Motive, he quickly rose through the ranks to lead the entire AIOSEO company.… Read More »

The post How Ben Rojas Rose From a Developer to the President of AIOSEO first appeared on WPBeginner.

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Ben Rojas is the President of All in One SEO (AIOSEO) and a self-taught WordPress and PHP developer with over 25+ years of experience. Although he started as a developer at Awesome Motive, he quickly rose through the ranks to lead the entire AIOSEO company.

In this interview, Ben Rojas explains how his background in WordPress development paved the way for becoming the president of AIOSEO. He also shares his thoughts on how he would start his career if he were to start today.

“My number one piece of advice is be teachable, be adaptable … so that you can always keep learning, and then you will grow better through that.”

benjamin rojasBen Rojas – President of All in One SEO

Keep reading to get the behind-the-scenes scoop from one of our favorite WordPress leaders.

This is our new series, #MyWordPressStory, which brings you insights from some of the most successful leaders in the WordPress industry.

If you’d like to be featured in our interview series – whether you’re a plugin developer, founder, or SEO expert – feel free to reach out and let us know through our contact form.

How Ben Rojas rose from a developer to the president of AIOSEO

Video Interview with Ben Rojas

If you’d like to check out the complete video interview with Ben Rojas, then you can watch it below:

Otherwise, you can use the quick links below to read more:

Meet Ben Rojas, President of All in One SEO

Before becoming the President of All in One SEO, Ben got his start in IT and customer support. But long before that, he began his journey as a developer. In fact, he wrote his first lines of HTML code at the age of 13 after learning from library books.

When chatting with James Agar from the WPBeginner team, he fondly remembered his family limiting his computer time (kids need to go outside and play) and working around this obstacle by writing code by hand on lined paper. He’s even kept records of these early efforts!

Since then, Ben has maintained an identity as a lifelong learner, which has helped him become a leader in the WordPress community today. Next, let’s talk about how he discovered WordPress.

A WordPress Journey: From Support to Web Development to President of All in One SEO

After laying the foundations for a future in web development at an early age, Ben got a job in IT at a nonprofit organization in 2008. This was when he started tinkering with WordPress for the first time.

Soon after, he transitioned to a customer support role for a WordPress eCommerce product, which was called Cart66 (now part of WP EasyCart). His plan was to get more familiar with WordPress code.

Ben quickly started to work on his development skills and eventually became a developer on the Cart66 team. During this time, he also started his own side business of writing PayPal plugins for Easy Digital Downloads (EDD), which is now an Awesome Motive product.

Then, after a brief career shift and a departure from WordPress development, Ben returned to his roots. He reconnected with the EDD community and joined the Awesome Motive team in 2016.

He started as a software developer for Envira Gallery but quickly transitioned to OptinMonster to leverage his strengths in PHP development.

Optinmonster's homepage

At that point, he decided to start leveling up. According to Ben, during this phase of his career, he was constantly building, iterating, and thinking about how to give back to his team.

“That was my mentality. That was the effort that I put in each and every day trying to show up, do my best to be able to … get off work when I did, and go back to my family and say, I did the best I could today, and I’m going to come back at it tomorrow.”

benjamin rojasBen Rojas

At WPBeginner, we love to hear this from industry leaders!

During this enhanced phase of productivity, Ben was proactive as a contributor and helped his team transition to a new JavaScript framework to boost efficiency.

After proving himself in his role and capabilities at OptinMonster, Ben was asked to run All in One SEO (AIOSEO). “Basically, I went from just being a developer at OptinMonster straight into this role of being President at All in One SEO.”

Even though he had no management experience, Ben rose to the occasion. When discussing his early days as President of AIOSEO, he jokingly said, “It wasn’t without its challenges … it was just like drinking from a fire hydrant for the first couple of years.”

In addition to learning how to run a business, Ben talked about how his biggest challenge as president was inheriting a very outdated codebase.

The AIOSEO team had to decide whether to build on top of bad code or start over. With Ben leading the way, they chose to rebuild the code from zero, which was more challenging but ultimately more sustainable.

His team was able to rewrite AIOSEO from the ground up within 11 months. This way, they could offer users the best product moving forward.

Inside All in One SEO

Now, let’s talk more about what Ben is working on at AIOSEO today. But first, here’s a little background on the product and its evolution.

With over 3 million users, All in One SEO (AIOSEO) is one of the most popular SEO tools for WordPress. When chatting with WPBeginner, Ben also reminded us that “It was the first and original SEO plugin for WordPress.”

At WPBeginner, we love AIOSEO and use it on all of our websites. You can check out our complete AIOSEO review for more information on this powerful SEO plugin.

All in One SEO for WordPress

Since the beginning, AIOSEO has helped WordPress users improve their on-page SEO with meta tags, sitemaps, and much more.

The original plugin had a strong foundation, but Ben’s team has constantly been developing the tool and its features over the last few years. They have built out new feature sets to help users with redirects, internal links, local SEO, and much more.

Most recently, the AIOSEO team launched Search Statistics to help people see how their SEO is working for them. This new native AIOSEO tool integrates WordPress with Google Search Console.

Search Statistics overview

Here are a few things that Search Statistics can do:

Essentially, Search Statistics gives people actionable insights into how to improve their content.

Ben and his team have received a lot of positive feedback about Search Statistics. “We’ve had a lot of people who said this is what they need. They love the ability to see all of that right in their WordPress dashboard.”

When it comes to Search Statistics, we completely agree. Here at WPBeginner, our editorial team uses the tool every day to help improve our content and boost rankings.

Similarly, the new Keyword Rank Tracker helps you understand keyword rankings on a deeper level, allowing you to analyze the SERPs more effectively.

That said, the newest and most exciting feature on Ben’s mind is AIOSEO’s Writing Assistant. It integrates seamlessly with SEOBoost to give in-depth insights into your content, including scores for readability and keyword usage.

It even shows you up to 30 examples of competitor websites ranking well for a specific keyword that you’re targeting. This can give you super valuable insights and help you crack the top 10 rankings with your content.

Advice for Aspiring WordPress Developers: Ben on Adaptability and Doing Your Best

For Ben, customer support for a technical product was a great entry point into WordPress development. But when asked, he said one key piece of advice to aspiring developers is: “Get started and never stop learning.” He stressed the importance of education and using free online resources.

For beginners who want to become WordPress developers, he recommends starting by learning PHP and JavaScript to get a strong understanding of the technologies that the platform is built on.

Ben also wouldn’t recommend neglecting JavaScript since WordPress continues to rely on it more heavily, especially as it moves toward a block editing approach.

According to Ben, if you know both PHP and JavaScript, then learning all the other necessary programming languages and frameworks will be much easier. For instance, a strong grasp of JavaScript will make learning jQuery a breeze.

💡 Want to learn how to use WordPress? Check out WPBeginner’s Free Video Courses.

Ben also encourages aspiring developers to proactively seek out opportunities in development, even if it’s on a very small scale to start. For instance, he said you could offer to help friends and family who may need assistance with their website or consider the freelance route to get started.

In his opinion, this kind of experience can make you more competitive when applying for junior developer roles.

When chatting generally about advice for developers, Ben also said, “The biggest thing is adaptability.”

In practical terms, for example, if you find yourself working on a product with a codebase that doesn’t align with your preferences, adapting and writing your code to that standard will still help you learn something new.

Of course, he doesn’t think you should be afraid to ask why things are done the way they are. Instead, he said, “My number one piece of advice is: be teachable, be adaptable … and then you will grow better through that.”

“Get started and never stop learning.”

benjamin rojasBen Rojas

When we talked with Ben further about his time at OptinMonster and discussed the importance of attitude and mindset, he cited his family as a major motivator behind his work.

“I try to instill that in my children. At the end of the day, this is going to make our world better if this is the mentality and attitude that everybody has in the jobs that they’re doing.

Going to work each day with that attitude, you will change the workplace that you’re in. I know it. I’ve seen that, I’ve felt it, and that would be another piece of advice really for someone starting out … being adaptable also has to do with this … it’s not just the code.”

Looking Ahead: The Future of WordPress and All in One SEO

So what’s next for Ben Rojas and AIOSEO? Here’s what he had to say:

“We’re going to continue to work on things around our AI writing assistant, to expand that, to make that better. We’re going to add new features and improvements.

And then our keyword rank tracking tool that we just launched. We’re going to continue to improve that, make changes there as well to continue to cater to our customers.

Besides that, we do have some other amazing things in the works that I can’t really say right now, but we are very, very excited about those.”

benjamin rojasBen Rojas

In terms of the WordPress community as a whole, Ben is equally excited.

“As a developer at heart, I’m really loving what I’m seeing, the work going into security and performance improvements. I think that should have started a lot sooner, and I’m really glad that it’s happening right now.

And then the block editor—it has a lot of room for improvement, but it is being improved.“

Final Thoughts

Early on in the interview when discussing his WordPress journey, Ben jokingly said, “I’m not really the kind of person that has a 5-year plan.”

But later, when asked about what’s next in his professional life, Ben said, “I am loving what I’m doing. I’m excited to stay here. I’m gonna be here for the long haul.”

He also took this as an opportunity to talk again about his previous message of growth. “At the same time, to kind of tie back into where we started, I’m gonna be continuing to learn along the way. And I push my team to do the same thing.

At the end of the day, that’s what’s going to help us to continue to grow and to stay ahead. And that’s what I’m excited about … that is my 5-year plan.”

At WPBeginner, we’re looking forward to watching closely as Ben Rojas continues to lead the AIOSEO team with a positive, forward-thinking, and customer-centered mindset. We truly appreciate him taking the time to chat with us and for bringing us a product that helps us every day.

Bonus: Expert Guides for WordPress SEO

We hope you learned some valuable insights from Ben Rojas, the President of All in One SEO. You may also be interested in some of our guides on WordPress SEO:

A few of these WPBeginner articles were even written by Ben himself.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

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