Vibe Coding for Websites: Revolution or Just the Next No-Code Hype?

Building a website without knowing how to code is not a new idea. Content management systems, website builders and no-code platforms have steadily lowered the technical barrier over the past years. Vibe coding takes this development one step further. Instead of building a website entirely through an interface or programming every feature manually, you describe what you want to an Artificial Intelligence (AI). The AI then generates code, creates components, fixes errors and evolves the application through an ongoing conversation.

What still sounded futuristic a few years ago now works surprisingly well. A prompt such as “Create a responsive website for a Swiss consulting firm with navigation, case studies and a multi-step form” can produce a functional first version in a very short time. That is exactly what makes vibe coding so compelling: the distance between an idea and its technical implementation becomes significantly smaller.

At the same time, this raises an important question. If AI can program websites and web applications, does the choice of platform still matter? In our view, it matters more than ever. The more technical options become available, the more important it is to understand the actual requirements of a project first and only then define the right technical foundation.

The key question is not which tool a website is built with. What matters is which technical solution fits the needs of the business.

What does vibe coding actually mean?

Vibe coding describes a form of software development in which not every line of code needs to be written manually. Instead, a person explains the desired outcome to an AI in natural language. The AI translates that description into code and adapts it based on further instructions.

In a traditional workflow, a developer might build a component manually. With vibe coding, the instruction could look more like this:

Create a responsive hero section.

Place an H1 with a maximum of 60 characters on the left,
with a short introduction underneath.
Place an image on the right.

On mobile, move the image below the text.
Use semantic HTML and follow accessibility best practices.

The AI interprets these requirements and generates the corresponding code. The result can then be refined further by adjusting spacing, connecting data sources or adding more complex interactions.

The fundamental difference is therefore not that code disappears. What changes is how directly the human has to work with it. The role shifts more towards guiding, reviewing and making decisions.

Vibe coding is another way to build, not automatically the right platform

New web technologies are often presented as replacements for existing solutions. That view is too simplistic when it comes to vibe coding. It is not just another platform that will make everything else obsolete. It is an additional way to build websites and digital products.

A website project can already be implemented in many different ways. Depending on the requirements, the right solution might be a traditional CMS, a visual development platform, a headless setup, a custom-built application or a combination of several systems. Vibe coding adds another option, especially because it can make custom development faster and, in some cases, more cost-effective.

This is not about declaring one technology inherently better than another. An editorial platform with many authors has different requirements from a small corporate website. An international organisation operating across multiple markets needs a different setup from a start-up launching a single landing page. A platform with user accounts, data processing and complex workflows brings another level of technical requirements altogether.

Technology should be the result of a requirements analysis, not the starting point of a website project.

That is where vibe coding becomes especially interesting. The technology decision does not become less important. It becomes more nuanced. The toolbox gets larger, and so does the responsibility to choose deliberately.

Why vibe coding is so attractive

The most obvious advantage is speed. A functional prototype that might previously have taken several hours or days to develop can now sometimes be created in a fraction of that time. In the early stages of a project, this changes what teams can realistically test.

An idea no longer has to be fully specified before anyone can try it. Instead of discussing for hours how a feature might work, it is often possible to build a first version and test it directly.

Vibe coding is particularly useful for:

• rapid prototypes and proofs of concept
• interactive calculators or configurators
• more complex forms
• small web applications
• data visualisations
• internal tools
• custom integrations
• specific automations

The most valuable benefit is not necessarily that less development is required. It is that teams can discover much faster what is actually worth developing.

A complex filter no longer has to be simulated only in Figma. It can be tested with realistic data. A multi-step process can be completed for real. An unusual navigation concept can be experienced instead of simply presented. That makes discussions around digital solutions more concrete and less theoretical.

AI does not only reduce development effort. It also reduces the cost of testing an idea and deciding to discard it.

A functioning website is not automatically a good website

The most impressive moment in vibe coding is often the beginning. You enter a description and, shortly afterwards, a working application appears in the browser. Navigation, animations, forms and responsive layouts may already be in place.

The real complexity of a professional website project usually appears later. What information does the target audience actually need? How should content be structured? Which pages need to be discoverable through search engines? Who will maintain the site after launch? How should multilingual content be managed? Which systems need to be connected? What are the requirements around security, privacy, performance and accessibility?

Faster code does not answer these questions. A strong technical foundation therefore depends less on choosing the newest tool and more on understanding the context in which the website will be used.

This is especially important for business websites. A solution can be technically elegant and still be poorly suited to the client’s daily workflow. If a marketing team needs a developer for every small content update, the platform may be the wrong choice. On the other hand, a very simple system can become limiting very quickly once complex data, user accounts or custom processes are required.

The bottleneck shifts from code to decision-making

AI makes code faster to produce. As a result, the bottleneck shifts. When several technical options can be implemented quickly, the more important question becomes which one actually makes sense.

In the past, some ideas were rejected simply because the development effort was too expensive. Today, more options can be tested realistically. That creates more freedom, but it also increases the responsibility to choose carefully.

The central question is no longer only: can we build this? Increasingly, it becomes: should we build it this way?

The easier technical solutions become to produce, the more important it becomes to know how to choose between them.

This is likely to become an increasingly important part of digital consulting. An agency should not start a project with a preferred platform. It should start with the right questions.

The right platform starts with the requirements

Before discussing specific technologies, the actual needs of the business should be clear. This goes beyond design and functionality. It also includes internal workflows, content management, available technical resources and how the website is expected to evolve over time.

Important questions include:

• Who will work with the website on a daily basis?
• How often will content be updated or published?
• How many languages and markets need to be managed?
• What are the SEO requirements?
• Which external systems need to be integrated?
• Are user accounts, personalised content or complex data structures required?
• What technical resources are available internally?
• Are there specific hosting, privacy or data-location requirements?
• How likely is the platform to grow significantly over the next few years?

Only after these questions have been answered does it make sense to define the technical architecture. For one project, a visual platform might be ideal. For another, an established CMS, a headless setup or a fully custom solution may be more appropriate.

The goal should not be to build as many projects as possible with the same technology. The goal should be to find the right level of technical complexity for each project.

Vibe coding can make custom solutions more accessible

One of the most interesting effects of vibe coding is that it can make some forms of custom development economically more attractive. In the past, many features were implemented with plugins, third-party tools or workarounds simply because building them properly from scratch would have taken too much time.

If AI accelerates a significant part of development, that boundary starts to move. It can suddenly become more efficient to build a specific feature properly instead of forcing an existing platform to do something it was never designed to do.

That does not mean every website should be built from scratch. Quite the opposite. It opens the door to more hybrid architectures. A website might use an established CMS for editorial content while integrating a custom-built calculator. Another platform might combine a content system with a separate client portal or a specialised e-commerce solution.

The idea that an entire website has to live inside a single system becomes less important.

A strong digital architecture uses as much technology as necessary and as little complexity as possible.

The more options are available, the more important it becomes to keep the architecture understandable and maintainable.

What still matters for a professional website

Whether code is written by a developer, generated by AI or produced through a combination of both does not change the fundamental requirements of a professional website. Faster development does not reduce responsibility for the outcome.

Maintainability, SEO, performance, accessibility, security, privacy and scalability remain essential. It is equally important to consider how easy the website is to manage in daily use and whether another team could take over the project later.

Ownership also becomes more important. Who owns the code, the data and the infrastructure? What dependencies exist on third-party providers? How easy will it be to evolve or migrate the platform in a few years?

These questions may be less exciting than an AI-generated prototype, but they are far more important for the long-term quality of a website.

What vibe coding changes for web agencies

When technical implementation becomes faster, the role of web agencies inevitably changes. An agency that defines itself mainly through expertise in a single platform will likely become less relevant over time.

What becomes more valuable instead is the ability to evaluate different technologies independently. An agency should not arrive with the answer before understanding the problem. It should begin with the right questions: What business goals should the website support? Which internal processes matter? Who manages the content? Which systems already exist? Which features are actually needed? How should the platform evolve over the next few years?

Technology comes afterwards.

The future of a web agency is less about selling a platform and more about defining and implementing the right digital solution.

For clients, this is also a healthier approach. The website is not shaped around the agency’s preferred technology, but around the real needs of the project.

Revolution or just another hype cycle?

Vibe coding is certainly surrounded by a certain amount of hype. The idea that complete enterprise platforms will soon be operated sustainably through a few prompts alone is too simplistic. An impressive prototype and a robust, maintainable and secure digital platform are still two very different things.

At the same time, it seems unlikely that the underlying development will disappear. AI is gradually becoming a normal part of design and development. The tools will change, some providers will disappear and new ones will emerge, but the broader trend is likely to remain the same: the distance between an idea and its technical implementation is shrinking.

For businesses, the important question is therefore not whether a solution should be labelled vibe coding, no-code, low-code or traditional development. What matters is whether it fits the project, can be maintained over time and genuinely supports the organisation’s goals.

We therefore do not believe the future of the web belongs to a single platform. It is more likely to become increasingly technology-agnostic, with specialised systems working together and AI making custom solutions easier to build.

A website project should therefore not begin with the question: “Which platform do we want to use?” A better question is: “What does our website need to do today, and what will we need from it in the coming years?”

The best platform is not the newest or the most popular. It is the one that meets the project’s requirements without creating unnecessary complexity.

Vibe coding does not only change how websites are built. It reinforces a broader shift that was already necessary: away from tool-centric thinking and towards a more open, strategic approach to digital platforms.

In the end, users do not care which CMS, framework or AI tool is running in the background. The website needs to be clear, fast, discoverable, easy to manage and capable of fulfilling its business purpose. How it gets there should be a deliberate choice, not a habit.