Vibe Coding vs Custom Web Development? Choose Creativity, Not AI

The “S” in Vibe Coding stands for security!

Instances like the Tea App disaster and Claude vibe hacking prove the fact that digital products created using vibe coding are not secure.

In fact, one of the biggest problems with vibe-coded products is the lack of security.

But, what’s vibe coding about?

Vibe coding is a new approach to software development where LLMs generate code based on natural language prompts, coined by OpenAI’s Andrej Karpathy in 2025. While it makes app and website creation faster, it introduces severe security vulnerabilities. Despite its convenience, experts warn that vibe coding leads to weak app structures, data breaches, and a lack of originality, making custom web development the safer, more reliable alternative.

Let’s explore all that and more in detail!

What Is Vibe Coding?

Vibe coding is a process of software design or development that uses LLMs (Large Language Models) to generate code.

Didn’t get it?

Suppose you want to develop an app or a website. Instead of working on the code right away, you go to a tool. You describe the app or website you’re trying to create to the tool. The tool gives you a code that you can implement to develop the digital product.

How cool is that, right? It can save you a ton of time and effort!

The term was coined by OpenAI’s co-founder, Andrej Karpathy, in February 2025.

There’s a kind of coding I call “vibe coding”, where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists. It’s possible because the LLMs (e.g. Cursor Composer w Sonnet) are getting too good…” — Andrej Karpathy, Co-Founder, Open AI.

Though the term was coined by Andrej, this practice was already in experimental phases. Developers were already trying out an approach to generate code using LLMs like Copilot and ChatGPT (Gen AI).

The Implications?

It doesn’t matter how cool you think it is, vibe coding is something that is sleepwalking into security traps, as per experts. Companies might not realize it, but AI-generated code can give away their entire security systems.

Why is vibe coding not secure?

The core problem lies in the way Gen AI writes the code. But why is it so?

Well, every Gen AI model retrieves data from a certain part of the internet. In the case of vibe coding, developers train the Gen AI models on existing data.

So, the AI models absorb all the old, low-quality software available in the market. All the existing vulnerabilities of that software transfer to the trained models.

The same AI models are responsible for providing the code. Hence, they pass all the existing vulnerabilities and issues down to the new code.

What’s more?

AI code is not really transparent. It has no accountability and doesn’t even consider any need for human audit.

See, in the case of repositories like GitHub, you can always track the contributor who made any change or enhancement to the code. This provides accountability and identifies contributors with malicious intent.

But, is it really possible to create code through Gen AI for hacking or attacking someone online?

According to the BBC, Anthropic’s AI model Claude, was exploited by malicious actors. These attackers ran an extortion campaign against around 17 organizations.

That’s not it; even North Korean scammers misused Claude to acquire jobs at top US firms illegally.

The attackers used something called Vibe Hacking to leverage Claude, where the Gen AI platform was used to produce malicious code that could allow them to hack into organizations, including government bodies.

According to Anthropic, the attackers made strategic and tactical decisions. They decided which data to hack and psychologically crafted extortion demands.

What Vibe Coding has to do with Web Development?

In web design, it can be seen as an approach that gets started with an idea, not implementation.

So, the development just has to explain what the digital product has to feel like. They should also have a clear idea about what the app or website should do.

However, clarity on the tone, look, and emotional impact of the digital product is a pre-requisite to go for this approach. The behavior, interactivity, and layout should also be determined.

Once the designers have that, the AI tool can turn ideas into reality. It doesn’t really speed up the creative process, but it certainly reduces the distance between an actual interface and the idea.

This is how vibe coding helps in web design!

Why is Everyone Talking About It?

The negative security implications of vibe coding aren’t a theory anymore; they are a reality. The vulnerability of AI-generated code or vibe coding is too hard to ignore.

The Tea Dating Advice App Disaster

What if you upload your pictures on an app and add a mandatory selfie during the verification process and end up leaking your pictures for the internet to see?

That’s what happened in the Tea App data breach!

Do you know what’s worse? It was a dating safety app. It was supposed to help women stay nothing but safe.

The Tea Dating Advice is an app based in the US with more than 1 million users.

While some criticized the app for being anti-men, there was a huge popularity of the app among women.

The application allowed women to check if their date is a registered sex offender or married. By running a reverse image search technique, they even protected women against potential catfishing (where people use fake identities).

According to a BBC report, in July 2025, 70,000+ images of the Tea app were leaked. These images were then uploaded to the online message board 4chan. The data included user selfies and IDs.

Along with that, two maps containing pin-pointed locations of the Tea app users were published on social media.

So, what’s the catch? The app was mostly built using Vibe Coding! Although the creators didn’t want to hurt anyone, they failed to understand the security implications of it.

That’s how vulnerable vibe coding really is.

What’s Wrong with Vibe Coding?

There’s no denying the fact that developers and designers have sometimes failed to tackle security issues. That’s quite normal.

When it comes to vibe coding, the problem is quite different. Actually, it makes you think that you’re doing everything when you aren’t.

You can indeed build apps in a matter of hours. You don’t have to worry about the login, the functionalities, or security. The app works just fine. Users can easily sign in, and everything’s fine.

Everything is working well until someone realizes that the database is vulnerable. And, what’s worse?

If it’s too late to do anything about it, just like the Tea App.

Why Vibe Coding is not the Future

Vibe coding: A cool name, an even cooler concept!

By now, you will probably know that creating apps with just a few tools like Framer or Cursor becomes easy when you use vibe coding.

In a nutshell: Describe it, and the tool will take care of the rest.

Fun, right?

Well, you might have to rethink that.

It’s a nightmare for product development teams.

The Structure

You have to understand one thing. The best code is not something that makes the app functional. It is something that avoids repetition, fast, or takes less memory.

Experts know this and that’s why they are raising warning signs against vibe coding.

When you start creating an application with vibes and an intention to serve the audience, things can get pretty ugly. Using vibe coding to create an outstanding app is an illusion, as it masks the terrible app structure.

You can make a beautiful house with sand. Will that last? No, right? That’s exactly what vibe coding does. It gives you a house (an app) with an unstable structure.

The Content

Apart from structuring, another important thing to consider is content debt. It is the ultimate cost of moving forward without a plan in place.

This happens when AI-generated content (rather microcopy) without any structuring or review takes a toll on user experience.

So, your app or websites will suffer. How? Let’s look at it!

• The confusing content flow will need an overhaul

• The brand voice will be affected, and inconsistencies will arise

• Accessibility will be hit negatively

• The psychological flow will mismatch that can frustrate users

• Time loss due to system mapping and content cleanup

If you don’t consider these in time, your vibe-coded app or website will become a brittle and confusing mess!

So, what’s the best alternative to vibe coding? Let’s find out.

Enter Custom Web Development

In 2025, if you can’t give an exceptional user experience with your digital products, you are doomed. It doesn’t matter if you’re a startup or an industry giant; your digital products are your identity.

Certainly, vibe coding is not the way you want to go if you want to be successful.

That’s because vibe-coded digital products may allow faster time to market but it’s not at all recommended.

Why is vibe coding not recommended?

• Vulnerabilities will be passed down to your product

• Uniqueness will not be achieved

• Inconsistencies will exist in brand identity

• Not aligned with the business needs

• Functionalities may not be achieved

Now, let’s discuss why custom web development is not going anywhere.

1. Alignment with your Business Objectives

Suppose you’re making an app for your business. You’ll want to showcase your USPs to the target audience, right? That’s exactly what will give you a competitive edge over your substitutes.

You will want an app that is not only aesthetic but also functional, interactive, and unique. Most importantly, it has to meet your business needs while providing an outstanding UX.

With vibe coding, you can never achieve that. That’s only possible with custom web development solutions.

 2. Speed and Performance

We live in a time when users’ attention spans are shrinking rapidly. According to a Time Magazine report, the human attention span is around 8 seconds.

Fun Fact: The attention span of a Goldfish is around 9 seconds!

Therefore, it is important to grab their attention in that crucial 8 seconds window.

Only aestheticism will not work. Your digital product has to be fast and efficient.

The vibe-coded product will be bloated with unnecessary features and have a limited scope for optimization.

This will slow down your website or app and negatively impact performance.

You have to understand that the vibe-coded digital products can never incorporate best practices for performance.

On the other hand, custom web developers can write clean code efficiently. This will make sure the digital products load quickly and smoothly.

3. Stronger Security

Do you know what the top priority of any business is when it comes to digital products?

Aestheticism? Functionality? Performance?

No, it’s data security!

We have already discussed why vibe coding can never achieve superior security. In case you missed it, let’s explore that one more time (briefly).

Vide-coded web applications come with security vulnerabilities. This is because these codes (and the logic behind it) are extracted from the internet or trained data.

They may contain highly insecure elements. That’s why most of these web applications are targeted by hackers.

With the rise of vibe hacking, the risks of attack are quite high. This will affect the data security of your users, which in turn can be detrimental to your business’s reputation.

When it comes to custom web development, the developers can offer a higher level of security. As the web application is built with unique logic and code, the developers can incorporate the best practices of web security.

They can even write the code using advanced protocols and ensure consistent protection using regular security audits.

How Custom Web Development Gives You Control

Vibe coding is a new concept that emerged only in 2025. Instead of being a hot topic among developers, vibe coding is still a debatable method.

You may think you can build your web application from scratch without a coder.

It will be perfect to some people. However, if you hand over the product to someone who knows what they’re doing, holes will begin to show.

Let’s look it from another angle.

Suppose you create a Ghibli-style art with the help of generative AI. Does that make you Miyazaki or Takahata? Does that even make you an artist?

You’re no artist and you know it. Even the Gen AI isn’t an artist. It’s just copying the style.

So, there’s no originality in the work. That’s how Gen AI models work.

Even in the case of vibe coding, which is essentially developing code through AI, there’s no originality.

You can say that it’s easy. But, if you go deep, you will find no control over the code.

If you have no control over the code, you have no control over the web application you’re developing for your business.

This control can only be achieved by a custom web development agency.

Why Creativity Still Beats AI

Even for some experienced developers, vibe coding is an existential threat. It might invoke imposter syndrome in them.

For all those developers, we have some good news.

Humans defeated AI in coding!

The Competition

On July of 2025, Przemysław “Psyho” Dębiak, a Polish former employee of OpenAI, sat for a 10 hour programming marathon against the AI he once helped design.

The challenge was pretty simple (or was it?). Let’s say it was deceptively simple.

The challenge was to solve a complex heuristic optimization problem and make the most effective algorithm within 600 minutes.

It may seem simple, but it tests the logical and creative capabilities of coders.

On one side there were 12 top heuristic programmers and on the other there was OpenAI’s custom built model (OpenAIAHC).

It was a battle between the Organic and Synthetic.

The Victor!

Psyho scored 1,812,272,558,909 points, and OpenAI’s model finished with 1,654,675,725,406 points.

Although not by a big margin, Psyho was the winner.

Please note that it wasn’t about the fact that a human defeated an AI. It was how he did it!

Do you know what’s interesting? Psyho had only 10 hours of sleep in the final 72 hours of the competition.

It wasn’t just about his skills. It was about his ability to spot patterns, perform under pressure, and creatively adapt in the final phases of the competition.

On the other hand, the AI didn’t get tired. It had no self-doubt.

However, the fatal flaw of the AI was the lack of improvisation.

So, creativity always beats computational efficiency!

Vibe Code is a Downward Spiral: Let Creativity Lead the Code

There is no comparison between vibe coding and custom web development (at least with vibe coding’s current capabilities). This statement may change in the distant future.

However, considering the current state of vibe coding, custom web development is the best option for businesses right now.

Today’s businesses look to establish a strong online presence with a unique brand voice. They also want to develop a digital product that can scale with the growth of the business and technology.

Moreover, at a time when users care so much about data security, a small vulnerability can lead to reputational damage for businesses.

All these can’t be achieved by vibe coding.

So, custom web development is the only way to go!

Do you want to know more about what you can achieve by custom web development?

Book a call with Webskitters Technology Solutions and be a leader in your industry.

FAQs

1. What is vibe coding?

Vibe coding is the process of using large language models (LLMs) to generate software code based on natural language descriptions.

2. Who coined the term “vibe coding”?

The term was coined by Andrej Karpathy, co-founder of OpenAI, in February 2025.

3. Why is vibe coding considered risky?

It introduces security vulnerabilities because AI-generated code often inherits flaws from the outdated or insecure data it was trained on.

4. Can vibe coding replace traditional web development?

No, because it lacks originality, control, and security, all of which are crucial for sustainable web products.

5. What’s the best alternative to vibe coding?

Custom web development remains the best option as it ensures security, optimization, and alignment with business goals.