Build a premium business website with Replit
No code, no designer, no template. Just a brief and a chat.
Hey, it's Adam. The pickleball site in that reel — with motion, a gallery, a booking system and a lead form — came out of one tool: Replit's Agent. I didn't write any code, use a template or hire a designer. I gave it screenshots of sites I liked, talked the idea through, and let it build. You commented [YES], so here's the exact process, the prompts, and what it really costs to get it live.
How it works 🧠
Most people open an AI website builder and type "make me a website for my gym." They get a generic site back and decide the tool is bad.
The tool isn't the problem. The brief is. Replit's Agent builds what you describe, so a vague idea gets you a vague site.
So this process has three stages, and only the last one is "build":
- 1Show it what good looks like. Give it screenshots of sites you like, as reference.
- 2Talk it through before building. Use Free Mode to plan the site, which costs nothing extra.
- 3Build, then keep editing. Once the plan is right, let it build the whole thing, front end and back end. Then refine it by chatting.
Remember what the screenshots are for. You're not copying anyone's site. You're giving Replit a taste reference so it can suggest a direction that fits your business.
What you need ✅
- A Replit account. Sign up at replit.com.
- 5 to 10 screenshots of websites you like. They don't have to be in your industry. Save the ones whose feeling you like — whether that's the layout, the colours or the motion.
- Your business basics: name, what you sell, who it's for, prices or packages, location and hours, and what you want visitors to do (book, enquire, buy).
- Your own photos if you have them. Replit can use stock images, but real photos of your place and your people make the site look real.
Which plan do you need? Free Mode is included on Starter, Core and Pro. That's the mode for planning and building. The more powerful Power and Max modes need a paid plan (Core from $20 a month). There's more on publishing costs in Step 6.
Step 1 — Collect your reference screenshots 📸
Spend ten minutes on this. It decides how the whole site turns out.
- Screenshot full sections, not whole pages crammed into one image. Take the hero, a pricing block, a gallery, a footer.
- Take them from sites that feel like your brand — whether that's calm and premium, bold and sporty, or warm and local.
- Save a note on each one saying what you like: "this hero animation", "these rounded cards", "this colour contrast".
For every screenshot, you can say in one line what you're taking from it.
Step 2 — Open Replit and start in Free Mode 💬
- 1Go to replit.com and start a new chat with the Agent.
- 2Check the mode picker is set to Free.
- 3Upload your screenshots with the + button, or drag them straight into the chat.
The three modes, in Replit's own words:
| Mode | What it's for | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Free | "Explore ideas, ask questions, start building." | Included in your plan. On Core and Pro it resets every five hours, with a weekly limit |
| Power | "A smart balance of speed and capability for most work." | Uses monthly credits. Paid plans only |
| Max | "The most capable option for complex, ambitious work." | Uses monthly credits. Paid plans only |
If you've watched older tutorials: these were renamed in August. Lite became Free, Economy became Power, and the old Power became Max.
My rule: plan in Free, build in Free or Power, and only use Max if the build gets complicated (bookings plus accounts plus payments, say).
Step 3 — Give it the brief, not the build 📋
Paste this with your screenshots. Fill in the brackets.
I want to build a website for my business. Don't build yet —let's plan it together first.BUSINESS: [name] — [what you sell] for [who it's for] in [location].GOAL: the main thing a visitor should do is [book / enquire / buy].FEEL: [3 words, e.g. premium, energetic, friendly]I've attached screenshots of sites I like. Don't copy them.Use them to understand the style I'm drawn to, then tell me:1. What you think I like about each one2. The page structure you'd recommend for my business3. A colour palette and font pairing that fits4. The motion and interactions you'd add5. What I've forgotten that a business like mine needsAsk me anything you need to know before you start.
It replies with questions and a proposed structure, not code. If it starts building straight away, reply "Stop, plan first."
Step 4 — Push back on the plan 🔁
This is the step that separates a template-looking site from one that looks premium. Don't accept the first plan.
Good start. Now make it better:- Which section would a first-time visitor skip? Cut or fix it.- What makes this feel generic? Replace it with something specific to my business.- Where does the motion help, and where is it just noise?Show me the revised plan.
Then lock in the working parts:
The site needs to actually work, not just look good:- A booking system: [what's bookable, time slots, what info you need from the customer]- A lead form: name, email, phone, message — saved to a database I can see- A gallery I can add photos to laterConfirm how each of these will work before you build.
You can explain the finished site to a friend in thirty seconds, section by section.
Step 5 — Build it 🏗
Once you're happy with the plan:
The plan is approved. Build the full website now — front endand back end, including the database for bookings and leads.Use real-sounding placeholder copy I can edit later, neverlorem ipsum. Make it fully responsive on mobile.
Then go and make a coffee. When it's done, click through every button and form on both desktop and mobile.
Where your bookings and leads go: into a PostgreSQL database that Replit sets up for your app. To see them, open the Database tool and look under My Data. If you'd like new leads emailed to you, ask for it — but email sending needs a connector (such as Resend), and connectors are a paid-plan feature.
Submit a test booking and a test lead, then find both in My Data.
Step 6 — Publish it 🚀
Click Publish. Replit suggests a .replit.app address, and your site is live.
| Plan | What you get |
|---|---|
| Starter | 1 free published app, but it goes down after 30 days and shows a "Made with Replit" badge. Fine for a test, not for a business. |
| Core or Pro | Unlimited published apps. Hosting costs come out of your monthly credits first — Replit's own example puts a small business site at about $2.39 a month. |
Use Autoscale, not Static. Replit says static deployments "are not compatible with Replit Apps created using Agent" — so the booking system and lead form need Autoscale.
Custom domain: Replit charges nothing to connect one. You pay your domain provider, or you can buy a domain inside Replit.
Open the live link on your phone, on mobile data, and make a booking.
Step 7 — Keep editing by chatting ✏️
The site is yours. Change anything in plain English:
Make the hero headline shorter and punchier. Give me 5 optionsfirst.
Change the accent colour to [#hex] everywhere, and make suretext stays readable on it.
Add a testimonials section after pricing — leave clearplaceholders for me to paste real reviews into.
The page feels slow on mobile. Find what's heavy and fix it.Add an FAQ section answering the 6 questions a new customerwould ask before booking.
You can also download your whole project as a zip or push it to GitHub, so it isn't locked into Replit.
Before you share the link 🔍
Five minutes with this checklist is what makes it look professional:
- Replace every placeholder. That means the copy, the images, and the page description. That last one hides in the code — it's the text Google and WhatsApp previews show, and Replit's default reads "Update this description to reflect the app." Ask: "Write a proper page title and meta description for SEO and link previews."
- Use real reviews, or none at all. Never publish testimonials the AI wrote.
- Check every price, time and address against what your business actually offers.
- Test every form one last time on the live link.
- Add a privacy note to the lead form. You're collecting people's names and phone numbers.
Three rules that make it look premium 🔑
- Plan in Free, build once. Every change to the plan is free. Every rebuild costs time and, in Power or Max, credits.
- Reference the feeling, not the site. "The calm spacing of screenshot 2 and the bold type of screenshot 4" beats "make it like this site."
- Real content beats clever design. Your own photos, real prices and real reviews do more for trust than any animation.
The honest bit ⚠️
"A $10,000 website" means what an agency might charge for something similar. It's not a price tag and it's not a promise. What you save is the build cost and the waiting. You still have to supply the thinking: your offer, your content and your photos.
Use screenshots as inspiration only. Copying someone's layout, copy or images line for line is a quick way to get a takedown notice, and it's never how a premium site starts anyway.