I run a small handmade goods business out of Omaha and am trying to get a proper site up without hiring a developer. I’ve been comparing a few AI website builders and keep going back and forth on what actually matters for a site this small. My worry is that the AI-generated layouts will look generic, or that I’ll get locked into a platform that makes it hard to move my content later if I outgrow it. I also don’t know how much I should care about built-in SEO versus just having clean pages and fast load times. On top of that, I’d like something that handles a simple product catalog without forcing me into a full e-commerce setup I don’t need yet. If you’ve set up a small business site with one of these tools, what pushed you toward or away from a particular option, and what would you check before committing?
The lock-in worry is the one I’d weight heaviest for a catalog you might outgrow. Before committing, I’d test whether product entries and page text can be exported in a usable format, since a pretty builder is little help if migrating later means retyping everything. On SEO, clean pages and load speed matter more than a feature checklist at this scale. I’m weighing a similar choice for a small Omaha operation and keep second-guessing whether to start with a catalog-only tool. For comparison, I came across Best Dora AI Alternatives (2026). Has anyone actually moved content off one of these platforms?