With OpenAI’s big Dev Day announcement that anyone can now create “custom GPTs” using the ChatGPT platform, a big question being asked by businesses is: Is this right for me?
In particular, what are the capabilities of the no-code “custom GPT” builder and how does it compare to business-centric options like CustomGPT, currently the leader in no-code retrieval-based custom GPTs.
In this blog post, I will compare the two options side-by-side so that businesses can make an informed decision.
And just to be sure: What is being compared is the option of creating a custom GPT chatbot with no-code. If your company has extensive developer resources to code your own chatbot using the API, that would be a topic for another day.
So without further ado, let’s get started:
How Are ChatGPT GPTs and CustomGPT.ai similar?
The biggest similarity is: Each platform offers individuals and businesses the ability to create a custom GPT chatbot using their own knowledge.
Both offer an easy no-code interface where even non-technical people can quickly ingest their knowledge and then get ChatGPT-style answers based on that knowledge.
Both are built on the backbone of GPT-4, but they cater to distinct audiences and offer unique functionalities.
Let’s dive deep into this comparison, and trust me, it’s more than just a battle of features – it’s about finding the right fit for your requirements.
But first .. Who’s It For?
CustomGPT.ai is your go-to if you’re a business, especially a Small or Medium Enterprise (SME). Its tools and capabilities are tailored to handle complex, business-specific needs like anti-hallucination and citations. Imagine having a chatbot that’s like your most knowledgeable employee who never sleeps – that’s CustomGPT.ai for you.
ChatGPT GPTs, on the other hand, shine for personal and small business uses. It’s like your smart, tech-savvy buddy who can juggle a variety of tasks but might not know the nitty-gritty of your business in-depth.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Here is the side-by-side comparison. And a quick reminder: This comparison is for the no-code interface that can be used by any individual or business without requiring coding.
| CustomGPT.ai | ChatGPT GPTs | |
| Who best for? | Business use | Personal & Individual use |
| Company Size | Small and Medium Enterprises | Personal and Small Business |
| Default Model | GPT-4 | GPT-4-turbo |
| Cost For GPT-4 Queries | 10 cents/query | Unlimited (For ChatGPT Plus Users) |
| Data Indexing ($99 plan) | 30 million words | 1.5M words |
| Number of documents | 1000 | 20 |
| Token Limit | 40 million | 2 million |
| Ease of Use | ||
| No-code browser-based dashboard | Yes | Yes |
| Customized chat interface | Yes | Yes |
| Knowledge Integration | ||
| PDFs | Yes | Yes |
| Websites | Yes | No |
| Sitemaps | Yes | No |
| 1400+ Document Formats | Yes | Limited |
| Youtube Videos | Yes | No |
| Audio/Podcasts | Yes | No |
| OCR | Yes | No |
| Zapier Ingestion | Yes | No |
| API Ingestion | Yes | No |
| Free Data Ingestion Tools | Yes | No |
| Multi-source data integration | Yes | No |
| Change data capture | Yes | No |
| Data Security | ||
| – Delete immediately after processing | Yes | No |
| – Data anonymization | Yes | No |
| – Data used for training | No | Yes |
| Audit Logs | Yes | No |
| Teams Collaboration | Yes | Coming soon |
| Query Relevancy | ||
| Anti-Hallucination | Yes | No |
| Citations / Sources | Yes | No |
| Query Intent | Yes | No |
| Trust / Transparency | Yes | No |
| Persona / Custom Instructions | Yes | Yes |
| Code Interpreter | No | Yes |
| Realtime Web Browsing | No | Yes |
| Multi-modal query input | No | Yes |
| Image Generation | No | Yes |
| Deployment Options | ||
| Embed Widgets | Yes | No |
| Live Chat | Yes | No |
| Share with Public | Yes | Limited |
| Share with Team | Yes | Limited |
| API Access | Yes | No |
| Zapier | Yes | No |
| App Store | No | Yes |
| Integrations (Slack, Teams, Etc) | Coming soon | No |
| White-labeling | Yes | No |
| Affiliate program | Yes | No |
| Reporting / Auditing | ||
| Chat Logs | Yes | No |
| Chat Metrics | Coming soon | No |
| Chat Intelligence | Coming soon | No |
| Support / Contracts | ||
| Enterprise Contracts | Yes | Limited |
| Purchase Orders / SOWs | Yes | Limited |
| Onboarding | Yes | No |
| Dedicated Support | Yes | No |
| Self-Service Documentation | Yes | Yes |
| LLM Models | ||
| ChatGPT-4 | Yes | No |
| Azure OpenAI | Yes | No |
| ChatGPT-4-turbo | Yes | Yes |
| Llama-2 | Coming soon | No |
| Technical Comparison | ||
| Context | Yes | Yes |
| Context Ranking | Yes | Yes |
| Cost | Yes | Yes |
| Low-Code API | Yes | Yes |
Now let’s dig into each aspect separately.
Ease of Use
When it comes to ease of use, both systems shine, with even non-technical users being able to create smart custom chatbots with their own knowledge.
No-code browser-based
Both systems have excellent no-code browser based dashboard, making it easy to create custom chatbots.
CustomGPT.ai
ChatGPT GPT
Customized Chat Interface
While both systems have easy customization options, CustomGPT.ai has extensive options to control your brand’s look-and-feel and control the chatbot’s behavior.
CustomGPT.ai
ChatGPT GPT
Knowledge Integration
When it comes to ingesting knowledge about your business, CustomGPT.ai really shines and creates a huge distance with ChatGPT GPTs. Using just the no-code interface, CustomGPT.ai allows ingestion of not just plain documents (like PDFs), but also websites, helpdesks, Youtube videos, audio files, podcasts, etc.
If building a consolidated chatbot based on your business’ knowledge is a priority, CustomGPT.ai is a slam-dunk.
In addition, the current limits on ChatGPT GPTs are quite restrictive, allowing for just 20 files and 2M tokens (which is about 1.5M words). In contrast, the CustomGPT.ai basic $99 plan allows for 40M tokens and upto 1,000 documents.
PDFs
Both CustomGPT.ai and ChatGPT GPTs have extensive support for PDFs.
Websites
CustomGPT.ai has extensive support for websites – allowing you to ingest content from your website, helpdesks, documentation, support systems and more. You can even build curated collections of webpages and web documents to ingest into your custom chatbot’s knowledge.
At this time, ChatGPT GPTs only allow uploading documents. This is a critical shortfall for businesses that want to ingest their business content.
Sitemaps
CustomGPT.ai has extensive support for sitemaps, including free tools to create sitemaps and collections of curated knowledge. This is critical for business-centric requirements like “Change Data Capture” and keeping the bot in sync with website and helpdesk content.
The sitemap feature is not supported in ChatGPT GPTs.
Document Formats
CustomGPT.ai currently supports around 1400+ document formats, from which textual knowledge can be extracted and ingested by the custom chatbot.
ChatGPT GPTs currently supports 16 document formats.
Youtube Videos
CustomGPT.ai supports Youtube videos and channels out-of-the-box. Using easy no-code tools, customers can ingest entire Youtube channels or even collections of videos.
This is not supported in ChatGPT GPTs.
Audio/Podcasts
CustomGPT.ai supports audio files and podcasts out-of-the-box. Using OpenAI Whisper, the audio and podcasts are transcribed and added as knowledge into the chatbot’s retrieval knowledge base.
This is not supported in ChatGPT GPTs (but is probably expected to be supported soon given that OpenAI has an excellent audio transcription API).
OCR
CustomGPT.ai supports OCR when ingesting knowledge. This allows businesses to upload images and scans and extract textual knowledge from them.
ChatGPT requires OCR to be done separately. It would make sense for OpenAI to use its Vision capabilities to ingest knowledge from images and scans. However, this feature has not yet been activated in the no-code interface for ingesting knowledge.
Zapier Ingestion
CustomGPT.ai has in-built Zapier integration. Using CustomGPT.ai’s easy no-code Zapier app, businesses can ingest files from 5000+ apps into the CustomGPT.ai chatbot’s knowledge base.
ChatGPT GPTs do not currently support any form of 3rd party integration (besides the Upload button).
API Ingestion
CustomGPT.ai has a low-code API available to ingest data. While this might be un-necessary for business customers interested in only no-code solutions, it does offer an easy path to integrating knowledge from private internal sources or workflows.
ChatGPT GPTs currently do not allow ingestion via API. It’s technically possible this might be offered in the future. (Point to note: ChatGPT offers a completely new Assistants API – but this is unrelated to the no-code ChatGPT GPTs service)
Data Ingestion Tools
CustomGPT.ai has a library of free tools for easy no-code data ingestion. This allows you to bring in knowledge from varied web sources like Wordpress, Youtube, podcasts, Pubmed or other web collections. You can even create a curated collection of web articles or Google Search results and insert them into the chatbot’s knowledge base.
ChatGPT GPTs only support the upload option.
Multi-source Data Integration
CustomGPT.ai allows integration of disparate data sources (like helpdesks, CRM systems, knowledge bases, product information, etc). This allows for creation of a consolidated “source of truth” custom chatbot. In addition, every document and data asset can be managed from the management dashboard, along with clear audit trails and metadata management.
ChatGPT GPTs only support the upload option.
Change Data Capture (CDC)
CustomGPT.ai allows you to keep your knowledge in sync with your website information. This is critical for businesses to preserve brand integrity and to show accurate answers (think Pricing changes!). If you modify a page on your website (e.g. FAQ page), there is an easy option to refresh the bot’s knowledge with a click of a button. In addition, a fully-automated “Refresh” option that keeps the chatbot’s knowledge in sync with your sitemap is coming soon.
ChatGPT GPTs only support the upload option. If your knowledge changes, you will need to explicitly delete and re-upload the corresponding file from the GPT’s knowledge.
Data Security
A key aspect of using either system is data security and this is an important factor for all businesses. Both systems take data security seriously, with CustomGPT.ai going to additional lengths to ensure data security and provide controls to the business chatbot builder.
Delete immediately after processing
CustomGPT.ai has the option to immediately delete files after processing. This allows the added protection that the original raw files are no longer on the CustomGPT.ai servers.
It’s unclear whether ChatGPT GPT maintains the original raw files.
Data Anonymization
ChatGPT GPTs files need to be anonymized before uploading. CustomGPT.ai has an in-built option to anonymize during processing. This helps remove PII and sensitive data (if not already removed)
ChatGPT GPT expects all data to be anonymized before uploading into the interface.
Data Used for Training
This is by far the biggest drawback of ChatGPT GPTs. The files you upload into the no-code interface can be used by OpenAI for training. This is a show stopper for most businesses.
From OpenAI’s privacy policy page:
OpenAI does have the option in their Enterprise version and their API for “no training” – however, non-technical users and SME businesses would find it difficult to access these options at this time.
CustomGPT.ai does NOT train on any of the uploaded knowledge or files. In addition, CustomGPT.ai utilizes either the ChatGPT-4 API or Azure OpenAI – both of which have guaranteed contractual obligations NOT to train on API-supplied data. (See full details in the Security Whitepaper)
Audit Logs
CustomGPT.ai has clear audit logs for the data ingestion. This is critical for businesses to understand what is being ingested and whether the ingestion was successful. This audit control and management interface is essential for AI safety.
ChatGPT GPTs have no such audit logs or management dashboards.
Teams Collaboration
CustomGPT.ai just introduced full-fledged Teams collaboration and control for fine-grained business access. This lets SME businesses control access to the custom chatbot and allow team members to collaboratively build and prompt the chatbot.
ChatGPT GPTs is expected to support access for teams soon. The ACL permissions are unclear at this time.
Query Relevancy
Both ChatGPT and CustomGPT.ai have made a name for themselves for their AI response quality and the introduction of GPT into ChatGPT Plus is only expected to improve the relevancy.
However, there are some key aspects about the response that are clearly missing in ChatGPT GPTs. And that is : Anti-hallucination and citations.
However, the new ChatGPT GPTs have gained support for Code Interpreter, Web browsing, multi-modal support and image generation. This has greatly enhanced the quality of the responses in ChatGPT GPTs.
Let’s explore each of these in detail — because at the end of the day, what matters most is what the AI responds.
Anti-Hallucination
CustomGPT.ai’s biggest appeal to SME’s is it’s anti-hallucination solution. For most businesses, it is critical that the chatbot stays within the knowledge supplied by the business. You never want the chatbot talking about your competitors or answering questions outside of your brands knowledge base.
CustomGPT.ai excels in this by providing multiple anti-hallucination controls across the entire RAG pipeline.
Unfortunately, ChatGPT GPTs are designed to be creative and this is actually an advertised feature of ChatGPT GPTs. In the example below, the ChatGPT GPT chatbot happily answered the question outside of the knowledge that was supplied. This is a key decision that the chatbot creator needs to make – should the bot be answering questions outside the knowledgebase?
While this might be perfectly fine for some use cases, most businesses would like the safety of having the responses come from within their own content.
Setting a New Benchmark: How CustomGPT.ai Leads in AI Innovation
CustomGPT.ai is a standout in the AI chatbot field because of its innovative features. Particularly, its Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology has put it ahead of OpenAI in recent benchmark tests carried out by Tonic.ai. CustomGPT.ai’s success in surpassing OpenAI demonstrates its commitment to enhancing AI capabilities. This underscores the platform’s dedication to offering users cutting-edge RAG technology and trustworthy solutions for their chatbot requirements.
Read the full blog showcasing How CustomGPT.ai outperformed OpenAI in the RAG benchmark
CustomGPT.ai ensures that its chatbots deliver contextually appropriate answers tailored to the user’s inquiries. This capability not only enhances user satisfaction but also boosts engagement and trust in the platform. Also, CutsomGPT.ai’s anti-hallucination technology further enhances the accuracy and trustworthiness of its responses. This technology eliminates the risk of generating erroneous or misleading information, safeguarding users against inaccuracies and misinformation. By prioritizing accuracy and reliability, CustomGPT.ai empowers organizations to provide exceptional user experiences.
View the interview video featuring Alden Do Rosario, CEO of CustomGPT.ai, discussing the RAG benchmark on YouTube: CustomGPT.ai Surpasses OpenAI in Accuracy Benchmark.
Citations / Sources
With each response, CustomGPT.ai shows citations and sources, which is critical for trust, transparency and explainability to ground truth in business use cases. With the fear mounting around AI responses, businesses want to be sure where the response is coming from. This is why with each response, CustomGPT.ai shows the “Where did this response come from?” that clearly shows the ground truth source of the response.
ChatGPT GPTs have no reference to citations or sources. On the contrary, ChatGPT GPTs are expected to tap into the LLMs knowledge base and be creative about the response. While this might be acceptable in some cases, it creates a definite risk for business use cases.
Query Intent
ChatGPT GPTs have the benefit of learning from millions of customers and their response models will certainly improve over time. In most cases, ChatGPT GPTs are spot on in understanding the intent of the user.
On the other hand, CustomGPT.ai is designed to understand the user intent with the goal of fetching the right knowledge from the ground truth supplied by the business customer. As indicated before, business users DO NOT like the chatbot making up facts – so fetching the right context from the knowledge base is critical.
Trust / Transparency
Besides citations and sources, CustomGPT.ai responses can be clearly audited via chat logs and chat intelligence dashboards (coming soon!). Knowing what the AI is responding AND more importantly, what is being asked of the custom chatbot is critical for businesses. The business owner who created the chatbot owns the rights to the chat logs and the goldmine of information within it.
On the contrary, ChatGPT GPTs expressly prohibit any access to the chat logs to the chatbot creator. As a SME business, this provides zero visibility into what is happening in your custom chatbot as it gets distributed and used.
Code Interpreter
ChatGPT GPTs allow dynamic code interpretation. This provides a powerful tool to run python code dynamically and process uploaded user data and files. If there is one major reason to use ChatGPT GPTs for your use case, this is it. This new feature is a game changer for custom chatbots.
CustomGPT.ai chatbots are currently text-only responses (like the traditional ChatGPT) with no dynamic code execution.
Realtime Web Browsing
ChatGPT GPTs allows real time web browsing to integrate web information into the response. This allows the chatbot to dynamically bring in information while constructing the response. If your custom chatbot requires this feature, ChatGPT GPTs would be a great choice.
On the contrary, CustomGPT.ai does NOT have real time web browsing. This improves the predictability of the AI response (again remember: no making up facts!) without making the bot susceptible to runtime knowledge.
Multi-modal Query Input
ChatGPT GPTs now allow multi-modal input allowing users to upload files and images. This is a killer feature in the new ChatGPT experience where users can upload images and have ChatGPT “see” the image. Similarly, users can also upload files and have them be analyzed in real time.
CustomGPT.ai allows text-only user input only.
Image Generation
ChatGPT GPTs allow the generation of images dynamically in the response. This lets users get a multi-modal mixed content response if needed.
CustomGPT.ai allows text-only output only.
Deployment Options
And now comes the fun part – what good is a custom chatbot if you cannot deploy it and put it to use for your business. In this section, CustomGPT.ai seems to be the clear winner with tons of deployment options to help SME businesses actually deploy and get the most out of the custom chatbot.
Embed Widgets
CustomGPT.ai lets you easily deploy the chatbot as an embed widget on your website. This provides for a seamless user experience, without leaving your website. In addition, the embed widget can also be deployed privately on your Intranet and shared in a collaborative manner with your team. In a ninja move below, the customer integrated the chatbot into his search page, making for a true “Search Generative Experience”.
ChatGPT GPTs currently do not support embed widgets. All customers have to visit chat.openai.com via a link to access your ChatGPT GPT.
Live Chat
CustomGPT.ai lets you deploy the widget as a bottom-right Livechat for quick non-intrusive customer service. This is the easiest form of deployment and possibly the most effective. Rather than traditional “Live Agents”, the custom chatbot is available 24/7 and understands ALL your business content.
ChatGPT GPTs currently do not support Live Chat widgets. All customers have to visit chat.openai.com via a link to access your ChatGPT GPT.
Share with Public
CustomGPT.ai chatbots can be shared publicly (though are private by default !).
ChatGPT GPTs are only accessible to ChatGPT Plus users. (Side note: Even though it says “Public”, accessing the bot requires your target users to have the $20 subscription. This might possibly change in the future – but for now, you can share your bot only with fellow $20 Plus subscribers)
Share with Team
CustomGPT.ai’s Teams options allows you to share your chatbot securely and privately with team members.
This option is coming soon to ChatGPT GPTs at $30/user/month.
API Access
CustomGPT.ai chatbots can be queried programmatically from your workflows via API.
This is not available with ChatGPT GPTs created with the no-code interface. (Side note: Assitants created with the new Assistants API can indeed be programmed, however that is not a no-code interface)
Zapier
CustomGPT.ai allows you to create Zapier zaps to dynamically query your chatbot based on various triggers.
This is not available with ChatGPT GPTs.
App Store
ChatGPT GPTs can soon be deployed in the GPT Store, possibly allowing for monetization. This will most likely be a killer feature, similar to Youtube monetization.
Integrations
CustomGPT.ai allows your chatbot to be deployed via SMS, Email and integrated into apps like Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc.
ChatGPT GPTs can only be used via the chat.openai.com web interface.
White-labeling
CustomGPT.ai has options for full white-labeling and reselling for agency partners. ChatGPT GPTs have no current plans (other than coding the chatbot using the Assistants API)
Affiliate program
CustomGPT.ai has an affiliate program for revenue sharing. Often used by marketing agencies, influencers and resellers.
Reporting / Auditing
Chat Logs
CustomGPT.ai has full chat logs available to the chatbot owner for accounting, auditing and customer intelligence.
ChatGPT GPTs expressly dont make chat logs available to the chatbot creator. This is a major shortfall for bot creators and provides zero visibility into the chatbot usage.
Chat Metrics
CustomGPT.ai will soon have a metric dashboard showing detailed chat metrics and analytics.
ChatGPT GPTs have no announced plans.
Chat Intelligence
CustomGPT.ai will soon have an intelligence dashboard based on the chat logs for advanced customer intelligence critical to business uses. This report will have advanced insights like “Missing Content”, “Issues Reported By Customers” and “Feedback From Customers”
ChatGPT GPTs have no announced plans. And since there is no access to chat logs, most likely this goldmine of information will not be accessible to chatbot creators.
Support / Contracts
When it comes to business use, support and contracts are critical.
Enterprise Contracts
CustomGPT.ai has enterprise contracts available with custom terms.
ChatGPT GPTs will possibly be available to OpenAI’s enterprise customers soon.
Purchase Orders / SOWs
CustomGPT.ai supports business procurement processes like POs, SOWs, payment methods, distribution channels.
ChatGPT will likely have this available through the OpenAI Enterprise sales channels.
Onboarding
CustomGPT.ai has onboarding support for Enterprise contracts with deployment blueprints.
ChatGPT GPT is a fully self-service system.
Dedicated Support
CustomGPT.ai has dedicated support available for Enterprise contracts.
ChatGPT GPT may have this available for OpenAI Enterprise customers.
Self-Service Documentation
Both have extensive self-service documentation. ChatGPT GPTs has the additional benefit of vast community documentation and support.
The Bottom Line
Both CustomGPT.ai and ChatGPT GPTs have their arenas where they excel. CustomGPT.ai is your go-to for an in-depth, business-focused AI chatbot platform that offers extensive data integration, AI response safety, and customization.
ChatGPT GPTs, with their user-friendly interface and cost-effectiveness, are ideal for personal or small-scale use.
So, which one should you choose? If you’re a business looking for a robust, secure, and customizable chatbot solution, CustomGPT.ai is your clear winner. For individual users or small businesses looking for an efficient and straightforward chatbot solution, ChatGPT GPTs are the way to go.
Remember, it’s not just about the platform – it’s about how it aligns with your specific needs and goals.
