What are the main differences between CustomGPT and SimplyRetrieve?

CustomGPT and SimplyRetrieve differ in features, pricing, and target audience. CustomGPT excels in specific use cases while SimplyRetrieve offers different strengths. Our detailed comparison covers all key differences to help you choose.

Which is better: CustomGPT or SimplyRetrieve?

The better choice between CustomGPT and SimplyRetrieve depends on your specific needs. Consider factors like budget, required features, team size, and technical requirements. Our comparison tool helps you evaluate both options side-by-side.

How much does CustomGPT cost compared to SimplyRetrieve?

Pricing varies between CustomGPT and SimplyRetrieve. Both offer different pricing tiers and models. Check our detailed pricing comparison to see which fits your budget and requirements better.

Can I switch from CustomGPT to SimplyRetrieve easily?

Migration between CustomGPT and SimplyRetrieve depends on your current setup and data. Many tools offer migration assistance or import features. Review our migration guide section for specific steps and considerations.

What integrations do CustomGPT and SimplyRetrieve support?

Both CustomGPT and SimplyRetrieve offer various integrations with popular tools and platforms. Our comparison includes a detailed integration matrix to help you ensure compatibility with your existing tech stack.

CustomGPT vs SimplyRetrieve

Make an informed decision with our comprehensive comparison. Discover which RAG solution perfectly fits your needs.

More about SimplyRetrieve More about CustomGPT Get Started Today

Priyansh KhodiyarDevRel at CustomGPT.ai

Fact checked and reviewed by Bill Cava

Published: 01.04.2025Updated: 25.04.2025

In this comprehensive guide, we compare CustomGPT and SimplyRetrieve across various parameters including features, pricing, performance, and customer support to help you make the best decision for your business needs.

Overview

Welcome to the comparison between CustomGPT and SimplyRetrieve!

Here are some unique insights on CustomGPT:

CustomGPT.ai is our own RAG-as-a-Service platform—a way to turn your internal data into a smart assistant without wrestling with infrastructure. Whether you drop in files or point it at a website, it handles the heavy lifting and gives you a clean API (plus a friendly UI) so both developers and business folks can get moving fast.

We built CustomGPT.ai to take the pain out of AI roll-outs: everything works out of the box, yet you can dig deeper whenever you need tighter integrations or special tweaks.

And here's more information on SimplyRetrieve:

SimplyRetrieve is an open-source RAG stack you run on your own hardware. It keeps data in-house and pairs with open-source LLMs, giving developers full visibility into the pipeline.

Expect hands-on setup—GPU drivers, Python deps, scripts—before you’re up and running.

Enjoy reading and exploring the differences between CustomGPT and SimplyRetrieve.

Detailed Feature Comparison

Features	CustomGPT	SimplyRetrieve
Data Ingestion & Knowledge Sources	Lets you ingest more than 1,400 file formats—PDF, DOCX, TXT, Markdown, HTML, and many more—via simple drag-and-drop or API. Crawls entire sites through sitemaps and URLs, automatically indexing public help-desk articles, FAQs, and docs. Turns multimedia into text on the fly: YouTube videos, podcasts, and other media are auto-transcribed with built-in OCR and speech-to-text. View Transcription Guide Connects to Google Drive, SharePoint, Notion, Confluence, HubSpot, and more through API connectors or Zapier. See Zapier Connectors Supports both manual uploads and auto-sync retraining, so your knowledge base always stays up to date.	Uses a hands-on, file-based flow: drop PDFs, text, DOCX, PPTX, HTML, etc. into a folder and run a script to embed them. A new GUI Knowledge-Base editor lets you add docs on the fly, but there’s no web crawler or auto-refresh yet.
Integrations & Channels	Embeds easily—a lightweight script or iframe drops the chat widget into any website or mobile app. Offers ready-made hooks for Slack, Zendesk, Confluence, YouTube, Sharepoint, 100+ more. Explore API Integrations Connects with 5,000+ apps via Zapier and webhooks to automate your workflows. Supports secure deployments with domain allowlisting and a ChatGPT Plugin for private use cases. Hosted CustomGPT.ai offers hosted MCP Server with support for Claude Web, Claude Desktop, Cursor, ChatGPT, Windsurf, Trae, etc. Read more here. Supports OpenAI API Endpoint compatibility. Read more here.	Ships with a local Gradio GUI and Python scripts for queries—no out-of-the-box Slack or site widget. Want other channels? Write a small wrapper that forwards messages to your local chatbot.
Core Chatbot Features	Reduces hallucinations by grounding replies in your data and adding source citations for transparency. Benchmark Details Handles multi-turn, context-aware chats with persistent history and solid conversation management. Speaks 90+ languages, making global rollouts straightforward. Includes extras like lead capture (email collection) and smooth handoff to a human when needed.	Runs a retrieval-augmented chatbot on open-source LLMs, streaming tokens live in the Gradio UI. Primarily single-turn Q&A; long-term memory is limited in this release. Includes a “Retrieval Tuning Module” so you can see—and tweak—how answers are built from the data.
Customization & Branding	Fully white-labels the widget—colors, logos, icons, CSS, everything can match your brand. White-label Options Provides a no-code dashboard to set welcome messages, bot names, and visual themes. Lets you shape the AI’s persona and tone using pre-prompts and system instructions. Uses domain allowlisting to ensure the chatbot appears only on approved sites.	Default Gradio interface is pretty plain, with minimal theming. For a branded UI you’ll tweak source code or build your own front end.
L L M Model Options	Taps into top models—OpenAI’s GPT-4, GPT-3.5 Turbo, and even Anthropic’s Claude for enterprise needs. Automatically balances cost and performance by picking the right model for each request. Model Selection Details Uses proprietary prompt engineering and retrieval tweaks to return high-quality, citation-backed answers. Handles all model management behind the scenes—no extra API keys or fine-tuning steps for you.	Defaults to WizardVicuna-13B, but you can swap in any Hugging Face model if you have the GPUs. Full control over model choice, though smaller open models won’t match GPT-4 for depth.
Developer Experience ( A P I & S D Ks)	Ships a well-documented REST API for creating agents, managing projects, ingesting data, and querying chat. API Documentation Offers open-source SDKs—like the Python `customgpt-client`—plus Postman collections to speed integration. Open-Source SDK Backs you up with cookbooks, code samples, and step-by-step guides for every skill level.	Interaction happens via Python scripts—there’s no formal REST API or SDK. Integrations usually call those scripts as subprocesses or add your own wrapper.
Integration & Workflow	Gets you live fast with a low-code dashboard: create a project, add sources, and auto-index content in minutes. Fits existing systems via API calls, webhooks, and Zapier—handy for automating CRM updates, email triggers, and more. Auto-sync Feature Slides into CI/CD pipelines so your knowledge base updates continuously without manual effort.	Run it locally: prep a GPU box, drop data, run `prepare.py` to embed, then `chat.py` for the Gradio UI. Updating content means re-running scripts or using the new Knowledge tab; scaling is a manual process.
Performance & Accuracy	Delivers sub-second replies with an optimized pipeline—efficient vector search, smart chunking, and caching. Independent tests rate median answer accuracy at 5/5—outpacing many alternatives. Benchmark Results Always cites sources so users can verify facts on the spot. Maintains speed and accuracy even for massive knowledge bases with tens of millions of words.	Open-source models run slower than managed clouds—expect a few to 10 + seconds per reply on a single GPU. Accuracy is fine when the right doc is found, but smaller models can struggle on complex, multi-hop queries.
Customization & Flexibility ( Behavior & Knowledge)	Lets you add, remove, or tweak content on the fly—automatic re-indexing keeps everything current. Shapes agent behavior through system prompts and sample Q&A, ensuring a consistent voice and focus. Learn How to Update Sources Supports multiple agents per account, so different teams can have their own bots. Balances hands-on control with smart defaults—no deep ML expertise required to get tailored behavior.	Lets you tweak everything—KnowledgeBase weight, retrieval params, system prompts—for deep control. Encourages devs to swap embedding models or hack the pipeline code as needed.
Pricing & Scalability	Runs on straightforward subscriptions: Standard (~$99/mo), Premium (~$449/mo), and customizable Enterprise plans. Gives generous limits—Standard covers up to 60 million words per bot, Premium up to 300 million—all at flat monthly rates. View Pricing Handles scaling for you: the managed cloud infra auto-scales with demand, keeping things fast and available.	Free, MIT-licensed open source—no fees, but you supply the GPUs or cloud servers. Scaling means spinning up more hardware and managing it yourself.
Security & Privacy	Protects data in transit with SSL/TLS and at rest with 256-bit AES encryption. Holds SOC 2 Type II certification and complies with GDPR, so your data stays isolated and private. Security Certifications Offers fine-grained access controls—RBAC, two-factor auth, and SSO integration—so only the right people get in.	Entirely local: all docs and chat data stay on your own machine—great for sensitive use cases. No built-in auth or enterprise security—lock things down in your own deployment setup.
Observability & Monitoring	Comes with a real-time analytics dashboard tracking query volumes, token usage, and indexing status. Lets you export logs and metrics via API to plug into third-party monitoring or BI tools. Analytics API Provides detailed insights for troubleshooting and ongoing optimization.	An “Analysis” tab shows which docs were pulled and how the query was built; logs print to the console. No fancy dashboard—add your own logging or monitoring if you need broader stats.
Support & Ecosystem	Supplies rich docs, tutorials, cookbooks, and FAQs to get you started fast. Developer Docs Offers quick email and in-app chat support—Premium and Enterprise plans add dedicated managers and faster SLAs. Enterprise Solutions Benefits from an active user community plus integrations through Zapier and GitHub resources.	Open-source on GitHub; support is community-driven via issues and lightweight docs. Smaller ecosystem: you’re free to fork or extend, but there’s no paid SLA or enterprise help desk.
Additional Considerations	Slashes engineering overhead with an all-in-one RAG platform—no in-house ML team required. Gets you to value quickly: launch a functional AI assistant in minutes. Stays current with ongoing GPT and retrieval improvements, so you’re always on the latest tech. Balances top-tier accuracy with ease of use, perfect for customer-facing or internal knowledge projects.	Great for offline / on-prem labs where data never leaves the server—perfect for tinkering. Takes more hands-on upkeep and won’t match proprietary giants in sheer capability out of the box.
No- Code Interface & Usability	Offers a wizard-style web dashboard so non-devs can upload content, brand the widget, and monitor performance. Supports drag-and-drop uploads, visual theme editing, and in-browser chatbot testing. User Experience Review Uses role-based access so business users and devs can collaborate smoothly.	Basic Gradio UI is developer-focused; non-tech users might find the settings overwhelming. No slick, no-code admin—if you need polish or branding, you’ll build your own front end.

Final Thoughts

We hope you found this comparison of CustomGPT vs SimplyRetrieve helpful.

In short, CustomGPT.ai is designed to help you scale quick and stay confident. A straightforward dashboard, solid performance, and responsive support mean you spend less time worrying about the plumbing and more time shipping great features.

Thanks for checking out what CustomGPT.ai can do. If you have questions or want a hand getting started, our team’s always here to help.

If local control and privacy outweigh convenience, SimplyRetrieve is a solid DIY route. Just be ready for the ongoing maintenance that comes with a self-hosted system.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Ready to Get Started with CustomGPT?

Join thousands of businesses that trust CustomGPT for their AI needs. Choose the path that works best for you.

Start Your Free Trial

Experience the full power of CustomGPT risk-free.

Get Started

RECOMMENDED

Request a Demo

See how CustomGPT can transform your business operations.

Get Started

Contact Sales

Get personalized guidance from our expert team.

Get Started

Why Choose CustomGPT?

97% Accuracy

Industry-leading benchmarks

5-Min Setup

Get started instantly

24/7 Support

Expert help when you need it

Enterprise Ready

Scale with confidence

Trusted by leading companies worldwide

CustomGPT

The most accurate RAG-as-a-Service API. Deliver production-ready reliable RAG applications faster. Benchmarked #1 in accuracy and hallucinations for fully managed RAG-as-a-Service API.

Get API Key Documentation Read our benchmarks

Get in touch
Contact Us

Join the Discussion

Priyansh Khodiyar

DevRel at CustomGPT.ai. Passionate about AI and its applications. Here to help you navigate the world of AI tools and make informed decisions for your business.