Spawned vs Cursor: Hosting Options for Token Websites
Choosing a hosting solution for your token's website impacts deployment speed, long-term costs, and integration with your launch strategy. Spawned provides an integrated, token-native hosting environment as part of its launchpad, while Cursor offers a general-purpose AI builder that requires separate hosting configuration. This comparison examines the practical differences for developers launching token projects.
- •Spawned: Hosting is bundled with the 0.1 SOL launch fee; no separate monthly costs for the AI-built site.
- •Cursor: Requires connecting a third-party hosting provider (Vercel, Netlify, etc.) after building, adding complexity and potential recurring fees.
- •Spawned's hosting is pre-configured for Solana token features like live price charts and buy widgets; Cursor sites need manual integration.
- •Deployment time on Spawned is near-instant post-build; Cursor deployments depend on external service speed and configuration.
- •Spawned's environment is secured for financial applications; Cursor sites rely on the security of your chosen external host.
Quick Comparison
Verdict: Which Hosting Option is Better for Token Launches?
The core difference is integration versus separation.
For developers launching a Solana token, Spawned's integrated hosting is the stronger choice for its simplicity, cost structure, and native token features. If your primary goal is to launch a token with a professional website as quickly and cheaply as possible, Spawned eliminates steps. Cursor's approach offers more generic flexibility if you need to host other types of projects, but adds friction for token-specific launches.
Choose Spawned if: Your priority is a fast, integrated launch where the website is a component of your token deployment. The 0.1 SOL fee covers both the token creation and a hosted website, saving you from managing separate services.
Consider Cursor if: You require deep, custom code control and are willing to manage separate hosting to deploy a site that isn't exclusively tied to a token launchpad. This path demands more technical setup.
Deployment Process & Speed
One-click vs. multi-service handoff.
The journey from a built site to a live URL differs significantly.
Spawned's Process:
- Use the AI builder to design your token's site.
- Preview the site within the Spawned dashboard.
- Click 'Launch'. Your token is deployed on Solana and your website is instantly published to a
spawned.comsubdomain (e.g.,yourtoken.spawned.com). - You can optionally connect a custom domain.
Deployment Time: ~1-2 minutes (mostly blockchain confirmation). The website hosting is simultaneous.
Cursor's Process:
- Use Cursor's AI to build and edit your site's code.
- Export the code or connect Cursor to your GitHub repository.
- Push the code to an external hosting service like Vercel, Netlify, or GitHub Pages.
- Configure build settings, environment variables, and domain on the external host.
- Wait for the external host to build and deploy.
Deployment Time: 5 minutes to several hours, depending on the external service's queue and your configuration speed.
The Takeaway: Spawned collapses deployment into a single action. Cursor decouples building from hosting, creating a multi-step process.
Cost Structure: What You Actually Pay
Hosting costs are often hidden. Here’s the breakdown.
Spawned Costs:
- Launch Fee: 0.1 SOL (one-time, ~$20). This includes token creation and website hosting.
- Ongoing Hosting Cost: $0. The AI-built website hosting has no monthly fee.
- Potential Future Cost: If you connect a custom domain, you pay the registrar's annual fee (e.g., ~$12/year). Spawned does not charge extra for this.
Cursor Costs:
- Cursor Builder: Free tier available; paid plans start at $20/month for more AI actions.
- Hosting Service: Most have free tiers with limitations. For a production token site, you likely need a paid plan.
- Vercel Pro: ~$20/month per user.
- Netlify Pro: ~$19/month per user.
- These fees are recurring.
- Custom Domain: You may pay the host to connect it on paid plans.
Annual Cost Example for a Basic Site:
- Spawned: ~$20 (one-time) + $12 (domain) = ~$32 first year, ~$12/year after.
- Cursor: $240 (Cursor @ $20/mo) + $240 (Hosting @ $20/mo) + $12 (domain) = ~$492 first year.
Spawned's model, subsidized by the token's trading fees, provides a clear cost advantage.
- Spawned: One-time 0.1 SOL fee covers hosting.
- Cursor: Requires separate, recurring fees for builder and host.
- Free hosting tiers often lack features needed for token sites.
Token Feature Integration
Pre-wired for crypto vs. a manual wiring job.
A token website isn't just informational; it's a conversion tool. How hosting handles this is critical.
Spawned's hosting environment is built for tokens. When you launch, your hosted site is automatically populated with live, interactive elements:
- A live price chart pulling from decentralized exchanges.
- A 'Buy Now' widget that connects directly to wallets like Phantom.
- Sections for your token's utility, roadmap, and social links are structured for crypto audiences.
- The site is served from a platform associated with Solana, which can bolster user trust.
With Cursor, you build a generic website. To add token functionality, you must:
- Manually find and integrate a third-party charting library (e.g., TradingView widget).
- Source and correctly implement a 'Buy' widget SDK (e.g., from a DEX aggregator).
- Ensure all these external scripts load reliably on your chosen host. Performance and security depend on your implementation and the external host's configuration.
This means more development work, more points of failure, and a less cohesive user experience. For a developer, Spawned's integrated approach saves hours of integration time.
Security, Updates, and Maintenance
Managed service versus self-assembled stack.
Ongoing management is part of hosting.
Security & SSL:
- Spawned: Provides automatic HTTPS (SSL) for all
*.spawned.comsites and custom domains. The platform manages security patches and DDoS protection. - Cursor + External Host: Security is the responsibility of your chosen hosting provider (Vercel, Netlify, etc.). You must trust their infrastructure and ensure your site code doesn't introduce vulnerabilities.
Updates and Changes:
- Spawned: To edit your live site, you use the Spawned AI builder again. Changes are reflected upon saving. No code deployment pipeline to manage.
- Cursor: You edit code in Cursor, push to Git, and trigger a new build/deploy on your external host. This offers version control but requires understanding the deployment pipeline.
Uptime & Reliability:
- Spawned: Uptime is tied to the Spawned platform. As a financial launchpad, it's incentivized to maintain high availability.
- Cursor: Uptime depends entirely on your external host's SLA. Downtime with a free tier host could directly impact your token's credibility.
How to Choose: A Developer's Decision Flow
A logical filter for your project needs.
Follow these steps to decide.
- Define Your Primary Goal. Is it to launch a token with a site quickly (Spawned), or to build a highly custom web app that happens to include a token (Cursor)?
- Audit Your Time Budget. Do you have hours to configure hosting, CI/CD, and token widgets (Cursor), or do you need it live yesterday (Spawned)?
- Review Your Cost Tolerance. Are you prepared for ~$40/month in combined builder and hosting fees (Cursor), or does a one-time ~$20 fee sound better (Spawned)?
- Assess Your Technical Need. Do you require direct access to the underlying codebase and infrastructure (Cursor), or is a high-level builder with token-specific outputs sufficient (Spawned)?
- Check the Best AI Builder for Tokens for the broader context.
If steps 1-3 point toward speed and cost-efficiency, Spawned is likely your answer. If steps 4 is paramount, Cursor provides the control.
Ready to Launch with Integrated Hosting?
If your analysis shows that an integrated, cost-effective hosting solution built for Solana tokens aligns with your project goals, Spawned streamlines the entire process.
Skip the hosting setup. Launch your token and get a live, feature-rich website in one action for a 0.1 SOL fee. Explore the AI builder and see how your site will look before you commit.
Launch Your Token with Spawned | See More AI Builder Comparisons
Related Topics
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. After launching your token on Spawned, you can connect a custom domain (e.g., buymytoken.com) to your `yourtoken.spawned.com` site. You manage the DNS records with your domain registrar, pointing them to Spawned's servers. Spawned does not charge an extra fee for using a custom domain.
No. Cursor is an AI-powered code editor and builder. It helps you create the website's code, but it does not provide hosting. You must export your code and deploy it to a separate hosting service like Vercel, Netlify, or your own server. These services have their own costs, especially for production sites.
While optimized for token landing pages, Spawned's AI builder can create multi-page sites with sections for team, roadmap, tokenomics, and community. The hosting supports these structures. It's designed for token project marketing sites. For complex web applications with backend databases, a separate hosting solution like what Cursor connects to would be necessary.
Your website, hosted on Spawned, remains live and functional. The 1% perpetual fee collected via the Token-2022 program after graduation helps support the ongoing infrastructure costs, including your site's hosting. There is no action required from you to keep the site online post-graduation.
Currently, Spawned's AI builder is a closed system focused on outputting a live hosted site, not exporting raw code files. If you anticipate needing to migrate your site code to another host in the future, a builder like Cursor that gives you full code access would be the required starting point.
Both allow for basic on-page SEO (title tags, meta descriptions, headers). Spawned's builder includes structured fields for these elements. With Cursor, you have direct code access, allowing for more advanced technical SEO implementations (e.g., JSON-LD schema, advanced sitemaps). However, for a token launch, basic SEO is often sufficient, and Spawned's hosting provides fast, reliable loading—a key SEO factor.
Spawned's hosting uptime is part of its core service commitment. Popular hosts used with Cursor, like Vercel and Netlify, also offer excellent uptime (often 99.9%+). The practical difference is not in uptime percentage but in integration: a problem with Spawned's platform could affect your site and token dashboard, while a problem with your external host only affects the site. Both are generally highly reliable.
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