Until recently, building a website or web app required a team of developers, weeks of work and plenty of trial and error. Today, that timeline looks very different. Over the past year, AI-powered no-code and low-code tools — like Vercel’s v0, Replit and Lovable — have surged in popularity. Tasks that once demanded deep technical expertise can now be accomplished with a prompt and a bit of creativity.
A movement known as vibe coding is driving this shift: You describe an idea or desired outcome to a large language model (LLM), and it generates functional code in response. The result? A working website, application or digital product without writing a single line of code. The barrier to building has never been lower.
These next-generation tools are far more than experimental technologies. Lovable reached $10 million in revenue within two months of monetizing, making it one of the fastest-growing companies in the world. Meanwhile, Replit’s revenue has grown more than tenfold since launching its AI agent and partnering with Anthropic. Across Reddit, YouTube and X, entire communities are buzzing with demos of what people are building.
The Need: Speed, Accessibility and Independence
Today’s founders, indie hackers and creators often exist outside traditional tech circles, and they want to build without the complexity and cost of assembling a development team. They’re launching businesses solo, with AI builders as their technical co-founders.
This changes everything about the web development process, including when and how people think about securing domains. With AI-powered tools, users can quickly generate multiple apps or website ideas and secure a domain as one of the final steps before going live.
Domains remain important, but they’ve shifted to play a role in the final stage – that moment when a project becomes real and ready to share. This redefines expectations for domain providers. They can no longer wait for users to come to them afterward. Instead, they must be present at the point of launch-readiness, offering integrated domain search, availability and setup within the very tools people use to create.
A Pivotal Moment for the Internet
AI-powered tools are changing more than user interfaces. They’re fundamentally changing how the internet is built. Where the last generation of websites came from agencies or developer teams working over weeks or months, the next wave will be created by individuals using AI-native platforms, hours or even minutes.
This transformation touches every aspect of web infrastructure:
- Domain registration and configuration need to happen instantly and seamlessly within builder flows.
- DNS and hosting services face unprecedented expectations for speed. With users expecting instant deployment, the traditional infrastructure needs to evolve quickly to match this pace.
- Search and discoverability still rely on domain names as a signal of trust and ownership, especially in a world flooded with AI-generated content.
- Cybersecurity risks multiply as AI-generated apps scale quickly, requiring stronger safeguards at the domain and hosting level to prevent abuse and maintain trust.
We’re moving away from a web that was coded by hand to one increasingly shaped by prompts, and the infrastructure must evolve to keep up.
Risks and Opportunities Ahead for the Domain Industry
The AI revolution brings both challenges and opportunities for domain providers. Many still rely on multi-step purchasing flows, disconnected dashboards, and DNS setup screens that feel like relics from 2010. And the toolchain fragmentation that separates domains, hosting, site builders and analytics into different silos creates a disjointed experience that contrasts sharply with the seamless, prompt-driven interfaces of modern AI builders.
However, domain providers can forge embedded partnerships with no-code platforms to offer real-time domain search, provisioning, and configuration inside the creation flow, reaching users before they even think about launching. As AI-generated content floods the web, a verified, human-owned domain becomes an increasingly important marker of credibility. Domain platforms can evolve from URL vendors into a trust infrastructure for the AI age.
In many ways, domain providers have a chance to become the connective tissue that ties identity, hosting, and discovery together in the new web. As websites evolve into dynamic apps, bots, or live interfaces, the concept of what a domain points to – and how it’s used – will evolve, too.
A New Era for the Web
The web is becoming more accessible, inviting participation from people who were previously locked out of digital creation by technical barriers. Thanks to AI-powered tools and no-code platforms, the ability to build online is no longer limited to those with engineering backgrounds or deep pockets. Anyone with an idea and a prompt can create something real.
This shift isn’t only technological – it’s cultural. We’re seeing the rise of a new builder class: Indie creators, solo entrepreneurs, side hustlers and small teams who are reimagining what it means to have a digital presence. And they’re moving fast.
For domain registrars and hosting platforms, it’s essential to reduce friction, embrace experimentation and stay closely connected to this new wave of builders. This means rethinking onboarding processes, streamlining DNS configuration, providing smarter domain suggestions and integrating seamlessly into the tools people are already using.
If the domain industry can meet creators where they are and evolve its services to match how people are building today, it will not only keep pace but actively shape what comes next – a more open, creative and dynamic internet that belongs to everyone.
