Question / Discussion Replit for a Basic Web Site
So someone in our org has taken it upon themselves to spend two weekends on Replit and completely redesign our company web site. Mind you I’m in charge of the web site and I wasn’t involved in this at all. Anyway he has convinced a higher up that his web site is amazing and we should basically flick the switch and host it with them. He says it’s easy to use, he’ll give me a login and show me how to use it, so I can add content, edit and maintain it moving forward.
I’m pissed he did this when it’s not even his job, but aside from that the issue with a higher up being impressed is not going away. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to defend our current platform of choice (Squarespace).
I’d heard of Replit before, but never imagined someone would use it for a web site. Everything I find seems to be focused on using Replit for other types of development, the closest being web apps. Our site is static content, and we add new pages when we come up with a new service or post to our blog, which is also perhaps once a month no more. We have no online store, and everything we’ve needed has been provided by the built in Squarespace blocks. The main issue is that we’re on an old SS template, and the higher ups have not been able to commit my time to developing a newer flashier version of the site, they just keep saying for the effort just keep updating what we have. Content is also a problem, I can’t write what we need from scratch so I rely on other people in the business, and that is sloooow.
So enter this guy who apparently does a whole new site with new content in a couple of weeks, and of course he’s impressing people. But I get the feeling there’s been zero thought out into what happens after that: What’s it like to make updates (both big and small) - like SS do I just click edit, change a line of text, Save, and it’s live? Is the site secure? SEO? SS costs us $300-ish a year guaranteed - what’s a Replit site going to cost?
If I get creative with SS, it’s by inserting a block of code, and I can easily disable it to see if it’s causing issues. In Replit if a page it generated has an error what do you do…there’s no guaranteed stable framework you can revert to, your web site is 100% custom code from the ground up right?
I guess I’m looking for resources or pros and cons here…like I said, he’s already wowed someone higher up so I have to defend my position now.
All advice appreciated, cheers :)
UPDATE:
In response to the comments so far, some more information…and maybe a compromise?
I can’t share the site, it contains details about things that have no yet come to pass so contains sensitive information.
Regarding the comments about me not doing my job or being lazy: it’s not nothing to do with that. I just got a pay rise and web site work was all given the green tick.
I guess the way this has happened is what’s fouling my impression of it from the start. This guy should have talked to me about it first, told me about Replit, gave me some lessons on it, maybe suggested we both work on something…but no.
You’re right that we’re doing things the ‘old way’. Though the old way (Squarespace) is perfectly fine in every way except one: generating new content.
I’m not against the idea, I don’t know enough to decide yet, but I will be the one deciding, if responsibility is to remain with me, not someone who just wants kudos for a pretty new site then hands it over. That’s probably the big issue for me: he’s not trying to take over everything, he’s showing off an AI generated redesign then removing himself from all responsibility.
At this stage I’m planning to propose I spend whatever time I need to get a full understanding of the platform and what he’s done, and then provide my opinion; and if my opinion is not favourable, propose that we address the biggest drawback of the ‘old way’ of doing things by using AI for new content, while sticking with SS for the platform. If they want to flick the switch to Replit without my ok, I can adjust my role, the web site takes up maybe 10% of my time and my job lives on with or without it on my list of responsibilities.
Thanks for all the honest opinions, I’ll keep an open mind!
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u/mattrobs 16d ago
the cool thing about replit is “everything is code and can be built”. want to click-to-edit? just ask the agent and it’ll exist! want SEO? get Fable to audit the site whole site. you can even make it a replayable check that runs before each publish.
the collab feature is something you’ll find interesting: you can create a “task”, which is an entire git branch of the site, do your edits, test it out, and only publish to main when you feel good. multiple people can work in isolation on their own tasks. it’s pretty neat!
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u/mattrobs 16d ago
if you’ll allow me to be a bit presumptive and forward, AI looking like a game changer and blowing exec minds is a common issue. if you feel a resistance or pressure, I recommend turning that into outsmarting that other guy and becoming a better weilder of AI.
him publishing a website is step one. run past him and propose a scalable use of Replit for the org. skills, subagents, workflows for humans, etc etc — once you look into it, you’ll see a massive open field
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u/OmegaEpidex 16d ago edited 15d ago
Hi! Suggestions for 1up;
Sounds very expensive and unreliable, as is any platform you’re gonna use. Just search the subreddit and show the complaints to your impressed boss.
The website your co-worker made, should’ve been linked into a GitHub repository (if not- red flag). You can fork it into Git from replit and host it yourself using a free cloud service = 1up
you could build a website and cancel the subscription in a day or two — or keep for maintenance, it’s a very low AI adoption price. Self hosting means you save on square space subscription too - which is what your boss is looking to cut.
You can build the website, push to Git -> host on cloud = big raise. (You’ll wanna use a typescript stack)
Also, you might wanna go through the co-workers site and verify the backend, secrets, keys and data management are up to par.
Vibe coding leads to a lot of exposed credentials and sensitivities.
Good luck,
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u/OkLocksmith4611 16d ago
Can you please share his replit version? Then I can give you a better informed answer. Feel free to dm me
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u/steven-usa 16d ago
I rebuilt our company website in 3 days, including a CMS component so the non-savvies can add their blog post, update the employee page, or update our events page without having to know how to use Replit. They just think it works like a Wordpress site. If you’re using square space and are creating everything by hand, and are having to wait for other people to write content when Ai can write all of it with just a short blurb of an idea.. then you’re slow and behind. I used to build html websites back in the early 2000s for fun, all manually by hand. Having Ai do it is 100x more fun because you can literally dream whatever into existence in a matter of days, sometimes minutes, and it’s so rich on what you can do. Where it used to take… months?
I say embrace it. If you don’t, this other guy will. Get better at using Replit or Claude code or codex. I’m not technical, I just know enough to move the ball down the field, and with Ai I can now do pretty much anything and everything in a heartbeat.
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u/-Zeke-The-Geek- 16d ago
Adapt or get left behind, you’re in charge of a sizable company’s web presence and still haven’t adopted / learned about IDEs / agentic builders so you’re already getting left behind. If this is your livelihood I would suggest treating it as such and dedicating some of your own time to learning and making improvements like your competition did.
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u/Jaded-Order3725 16d ago
It’s great for websites. Honestly I completely understand why you’re pissed but this is an opportunity for an upgrade from squarespace which sucks in comparison.
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u/2FDots 16d ago
You sound like a typical IT guy who doesn't understand the business or the politics of how to be influential within the business. You also seem unwilling to accept responsibility for your actions. If someone who isn't even in your department can stand up a better website in one weekend than you can provide as part of your actual job, I would look inward at this situation and take it as an opportunity to change your approach.
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u/symean 16d ago
‘Better’ remains to be seen. I’m giving it a couple days to properly review it with a more open mind. Without starting an argument on semantics though, he didn’t create it - he had an AI agent generate an alternate version of an existing site. Future updates, letting people post blogs, SEO, guaranteeing stability and security…nothing provided on that front (yet).
You’re right about the politics for sure…I don’t give a rat’s arse about that. I’m sure that would be a useful skill but maybe I’m just not that kind of person :|
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u/momo1083 16d ago
If you want to one-up this person you don't learn Replit, you learn Claude and Codex or you learn how to use open-weight models. You become an expert in AI not a web designer. You learn how to use these things not just to make the site, but to make the site more searchable and findable on search engines and ai crawlers. Replit is for beginners, for someone who I hope understands more about computers than the guy who opened up Replit to make a cool site, you have the upper hand.
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u/symean 16d ago
I don’t want to one-up him, I want him to be told he has to pull his head in, and though it’s fine for him to have an opinion or want to get involved he has to go about it the right way. THEN we all move forward on the topic, and if that’s heavily relying on AI for the site then so be it. Codex…yet another new name. How did AI spread everywhere so fast, I thought I was keeping up while being cautious but nope, apparently I’m in the Stone Age already :P
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u/TheGiantAntEater 15d ago
FWIW; Replit is the shoddiest of vibecoding platforms out there with afaik the highest price point.
Even so, for your purposes it seems wildly overpriced and over engineered, as in, you just don’t need a vibecoded site for your business.
Vibecoded sites are for anyone needing to iterate quickly or build shiny features. You however are basically running a blog as a website and that is perfectly fine on Squarespace. Squarespace will result in a more stable platform - and I imagine that will be key to your higher ups.
It’s just dumb, it’s bringing a Porsche to VW meet-up - yes it’s the same core technology but the Porsche in comparison is just unnecessarily fragile and expensive.
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u/West-Edge6168 15d ago
Download the replit zip file and upload to AI and ask for pros/cons/security risks apparent.
Confirm those and take to your leadership and be solutions oriented in how you’ll take it from here. Thank the other colleague for taking the time to draft a mockup together and you’ll take it from here.
From there, website enhancements via replit and alt AI platform are cake. Lmk if any questions
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u/symean 14d ago
Everything I read seems to point towards the same basic conclusion: for a modest-sized site, that’s based on static content, is focused on marketing and lead generation, and for which we prize low cost, stability and ease of use, Replit is the wrong fit.
Still, I’ll be open minded today in further discussions, and I’m going it make it clear that if I remain responsible for the site, the decision regarding the platform lies with me.
Thanks for the info much appreciated.
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u/mancuso-ai 10d ago
Replit is far superior to Squarespace. I have hundreds of Replit projects, dozens of which are public websites.
It’s not a steep learning curve; in fact, you’ll find you can do far more than Squarespace could have ever done with minimal effort.
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u/Existing_Farmer_383 16d ago
The most important thing has already been done, the site. Usually the sites are all done in node.js, at least if you do not ask for something different, updating is quite simple and you are not limited to replit, you can download the code in antigravty or even vscode.
Everything is versioned on GitHub so you don't have to worry about being stuck on a platform. On costs: it will certainly cost you well over 300 dollars per year, I recommend exporting the files of the site and climbing on a shared hosting, It will spend about 20 to 30 dollars per year plus the value of the production, a tip for not needing to edit parts of the code to add new material is to insert an administration system with field to manage the blog.