How Do You Compare Three AI Website Agency Proposals?
A practical way to normalize quotes from AI website agencies, plus the checks to run before you sign.
You asked three agencies for a quote, and now you can't actually compare them. One says "home page plus five subpages," another promises "AI-generated pages," a third proposes a "web app build." All that's left to compare is the number at the bottom. This post is about measuring very different proposals with the same ruler when the vendor says they build with AI.
What do you need to align before comparing three proposals?
Normalize scope before you look at price. Page count, who writes the copy and supplies images, how many revision rounds, how many integrations, and whether you receive the source code — aligning just those five reveals the real gap between quotes. The fastest method is to move these items into a table, then turn every blank cell into the exact same question sent to all three vendors.
- Number of static pages versus repeating content types (blog, portfolio listings)
- Who produces the copy and images: the agency or you
- Revision rounds included, and the rate once you exceed them
- Number of external integrations: contact forms, booking, payments, chat
- Search visibility scope: meta tags only, or structured data and sitemaps too
- Deliverable format: transferable code, or output that only opens inside one platform account
- Whose name the domain and hosting accounts are registered under
- Post-launch maintenance scope, monthly fee, and what counts as urgent
If vendor A includes copywriting while vendor B is cheaper but expects you to supply text and images, allows one revision, and keeps the source, the real cost can flip. Put your own future hours into the comparison, not just the invoice.
What should you actually verify behind the phrase "built with AI"?
Using AI affects speed and price, but it is not evidence of quality on its own. What matters is the shape of the deliverable and who is responsible for checking it. If AI-written copy contains facts like prices, track records, or awards, name the reviewer in the contract.
- Lock-in: does the site go down if you cancel one platform subscription?
- Handover timing: is the repository transferred at final payment, or weeks after launch?
- Content review: who fact-checks AI-generated descriptions of your business?
- Image rights: usage terms for generated and stock images in commercial contexts
- Time to first screen: how many days until you see something that actually runs?
- Day-to-day autonomy: how much text and imagery can you change yourself?
What do buyers most often miss right before signing?
The most common mistake is judging a portfolio from screenshots. Ask for live URLs, open them on a phone, and check loading, navigation, and whether the contact form really works. Then view the page source to see if titles, descriptions, and structured data exist — five minutes is enough.
- Choosing the lowest bid, then paying for a full rebuild within a year
- Postponing search and AI-answer visibility until "after launch," when page structure and markup are decided during the build. If the terminology is fuzzy, read SEO, AEO and GEO explained before you read the line items
- Never clarifying ownership of design files, domains, and analytics accounts, so nothing transfers when staff changes
- Agreeing maintenance terms verbally instead of writing down request volume and what is free
- Paying in full before seeing a working screen
How does SAENRU work?
This is the official SAENRU blog, so here are our own terms in the open. SAENRU Studio builds through an AI pipeline: websites from 2.7M KRW (about two weeks), web app MVPs from 8.7M KRW (four to six weeks). We show a first prototype within 48 hours and hand over the finished work as the full GitHub repository. All prices exclude VAT.
- Search and AI-answer work runs as a separate track: a measured diagnostic report at 190,000 KRW (five business days), build packages from 3.6M KRW, and monthly operations from 1.47M KRW per month. The diagnostic fee is fully credited against a build contract.
- The SAENRU site itself is raw HTML with embedded JSON-LD and llms.txt — which is exactly why we suggest opening a candidate agency's own page source.
- On the platform, AI-built web and app projects can be listed and shown for free, collecting votes and feedback. The weekly vote winner receives a week of main banner promotion and an interview feature.
No single agency fits everyone. But align scope into the same units, confirm who owns the code and accounts, and insist on seeing something that runs before full payment — those three habits meaningfully reduce the odds of a bad pick. Fill in the checklist above before you request quotes.