Lekker.build is An AI-powered website builder that guides users through a series of natural language prompts, allowing them to create their own production-grade website for just R69/month.
Created by South African entrepreneur Anthony van Tonder, the Lekker.build platform has completed beta testing and is now open for public use.
“With the technology we have today, you shouldn't need a web designer or be a web designer. All you need to have is information about your website, some photos, and it's ready to go in a matter of minutes,” Van Tonder told TechCentral in an interview this week.
“For us, the internet should be for everyone. It should not be just for those who can afford R3,000 to R4,000/month.”
Van Tonder's inspiration lekkar.build Came from years of consulting for small businesses. In addition to the financial and technical barriers holding back small business owners, Van Tonder has observed unscrupulous service providers defraud their non-technical customers, often gatekeeping critical functionality for additional fees after the initial payment.
built on gemini
Lekker.build uses Gemini as its underlying model. Gemini generates the technical elements – HTML, CSS and JavaScript – that determine the layout of a webpage. The tool goes a step further by using a short description provided by the user to write detailed descriptions for specific sections of the website. The user is then free to edit these sections as they wish.
“The average user doesn't want to be technical. That's a big deal for us,” Van Tonder said.
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TechCentral tested Lekker.build and got a test site up in less than five minutes. The one-page test site created was for a fictional arts and crafts shop whose logo was also created using Gemini's Nano Banana tool (this was done outside of the Laker.build interface). The clean, professional look of the output and how quickly it was produced were impressive, but questions remained about the platform's ability to handle more complex builds.
“We have a pipeline of changes we're going to make. One of them is a multi-page website. We wanted to introduce something that speaks to the vast majority of small businesses. The vast majority of small businesses really only need a one-page website where users can read a little bit about them, but more importantly, keep in touch,” Van Tonder said.
Hosting is handled through Cloudflare Pages, which keeps costs so low for Laker.build that it prices its entry-level offering at R69/month, including a domain. Domain registration is handled through the platform itself when customers check out. Suggestions and checking for domain name availability are done automatically. For South African domains, the site typically goes live within 30-45 minutes of payment, Van Tonder said.
Along with multi-page support, one-click Google My Business integration and integration with WhatsApp are in the pipeline. The WhatsApp integration will allow users to create their website by giving prompts and sending images through the chat platform. According to Van Tonder, the WhatsApp integration is important because for many small business owners, it is the dominant platform they use to run their business.
The system prompt used to guide Gemini in building user sites is designed to identify and respond to injection attacks that potentially jeopardize platform security. The system prompt has also been modified to reduce hallucinations and incorrect output. In cases where things go wrong, a dedicated support function helps users overcome any difficulties.
For van Tonder, Lekker.bild aims to enable an Internet where any plumber, electrician, hairdresser or landscaper can have a professional online presence at low cost. However, as the platform grows, they are expected to support larger website projects. — (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
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