Basis: AI website builder for small business

An AI website builder creates a site from a description of your business. You answer questions in place of dragging blocks around a page. The software writes the text, picks the layout, builds the pages and publishes the result.

Most builders work from a stock of templates and fill them in. Basis generates four design directions for your business and builds the one you choose, so the structure and the look come from your answers.

Basis suits a small business that needs a credible site and has no wish to manage one.

The journey takes place in one conversation.

1. Access. Basis is in private preview. You leave your email, our team approves the request and you receive a link.
2. Interview. You answer one question at a time, and most answers take a tap. The chat lasts about two minutes.
3. Directions. Four distinct designs are generated in parallel. You can leave while this runs.
4. Review. You react to each one in plain words, such as "warmer" or "less text".
5. Build. Basis builds the finished site from the direction you kept, for desktop and mobile.
6. Domain and email. You connect a domain or buy one, and add an inbox if you want it.
7. Publication. The site goes online with its contact form.

You can ask for changes in plain language before the site goes live, and each change appears in the preview.

Visitors arrive with a few questions, and a good site answers them quickly.

Bring real material to the interview: your prices, your service area, your photos, your reviews. A generated page can only be as specific as what you tell it, and specific pages convert better than generic ones.

The headline price of a website builder is often an introductory rate. One guide we read on 1 November 2026 advertised $4.99 a month renewing at $15.99. Another vendor offered a free domain in year one and $22.50 after that. Inboxes are usually a separate charge.

Add up these lines before you compare offers.

Basis prices are stated without an introductory rate.

The checkout lists every line, and the same calculation drives the screen and the charge.

Most small businesses need fewer pages than they think. Each page should have one job.

Needs vary by trade.

The first screen must answer three questions: what is this, is it for me, what do I do next?

Name the place, the service and the proof. A visitor from a search result should recognise their problem in the first line.

Reviews work best with a name and a detail: "Marie, Villeurbanne: they replaced the boiler in a morning" says more than five stars alone.

Real photos of you, your team and your work beat stock pictures. A phone is enough in daylight.

• A clear portrait of the owner
• The team at work
• Finished jobs, with client permission
• Your shop front, so people recognise it

Keep rights in mind: pictures from a search engine are protected by copyright, and logos of clients need their approval.

Ten minutes of preparation will improve the result more than any design choice.

Search the name before you buy it, and look for existing businesses with a similar one. Renew on time: a domain that lapses takes your site and your email with it.

Some businesses need more than a presentation site. Bookings need a calendar, online sales need a catalogue and payments, and a client area needs accounts. Those needs usually call for a specialised tool or a custom build. Describe them in a brief, and the studio will tell you which route fits.

Choose a builder when speed and low cost matter most. Choose a person when your site is central to how you sell, or when it needs features a builder lacks. La Boétie's studio work covers those larger projects.

A domain is your address on the web, such as your-business.com. A registrar rents it to you by the year, and the person named as registrant controls it.

Some services register the domain in their own name. Leaving then becomes painful, because your address and your email belong to someone else. Basis registers a purchased domain in your name.

If you already own a domain, you replace its nameservers at your provider with the two lines Basis gives you. A nameserver tells the internet where your domain's records live. Basis handles the rest. Changes can take some hours to spread.

Check first whether your existing domain carries email. Moving nameservers moves its records too, so tell us if you have active mailboxes.

An address such as [email protected] looks more credible on a quote than a free mailbox. It also proves control of your domain when you register with a directory or a supplier. Basis sets the inbox up, including the DNS records that help your mail reach the inbox of your customers.

A new site starts with no visibility. These steps help a local business more than anything else.

1. Create and complete your Google Business Profile, with the same name, address and phone as the site.
2. Add a page for each service and each area you truly cover.
3. Collect reviews from real customers and answer them.
4. Ask partners and local directories to link to you.
5. Put the search term in the title of each page, in natural wording.
6. Publish useful answers to the questions customers ask you.

No builder can guarantee a position. Growth takes months, even on a good site. For a brand that needs sustained organic growth, Cortex runs that work, and it has a different scope and price.

Rules vary by country, so check yours. In France, a professional site must show legal mentions: the company name and form, the address, a contact, the registration number, the publication director and the host. A site that collects personal data through a form needs a privacy notice saying what you collect and why, and how long you keep it. Cookies that are not strictly necessary need consent.

Selling to consumers online adds further duties, such as prices including tax and information on the right of withdrawal. A lawyer or your chamber of commerce can confirm what applies to you.

A site alone brings no visitors. It turns people who already heard of you, or who found you through a search, into a request. Put the address on your van, your invoices and your email signature.

• The business name, address and phone are correct on every page.
• Prices or a clear explanation of pricing appear.
• Photos are yours, or you hold the rights.
• Claims about results or qualifications are true.
• Legal mentions and a privacy notice match your country.
• A real test message sent through the contact form reaches you.
• The site reads well on your own phone.

You stay responsible for what the site says, and generated text should be read before it goes live.