In this comprehensive guide, we compare Protecto 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 Protecto and SimplyRetrieve!
Here are some unique insights on Protecto:
Protecto injects a privacy layer into your AI stack, scanning and masking sensitive data (PII/PHI) before it hits the LLM. It plugs into massive data stores and scales with Kubernetes—impressive, but integration can be complex.
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
Protecto and SimplyRetrieve.
Detailed Feature Comparison
Features
Protecto
SimplyRetrieve
CustomGPTRECOMMENDED
Data Ingestion & Knowledge Sources
Plugs straight into enterprise data stacks—think databases, data lakes, and SaaS platforms like Snowflake, Databricks, or Salesforce—using APIs.
Built for huge volumes: asynchronous APIs and queuing handle millions (even billions) of records with ease.
Focuses on scanning and flagging sensitive info (PII/PHI) across structured and unstructured data, not classic file uploads.
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.
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.
Integrations & Channels
No end-user chat widgets here—Protecto slots in as a security layer inside your AI app.
Acts as middleware: its APIs sanitize data before it ever hits an LLM, whether you’re running a web chatbot, mobile app, or enterprise search tool.
Integrates with data-flow heavyweights like Snowflake, Kafka, and Databricks to keep every AI data path clean and compliant.
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.
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.
We hope you found this comparison of Protecto vs
SimplyRetrieve helpful.
Protecto’s promise of airtight compliance is appealing, yet its API-only model adds development overhead. Its value boils down to whether the security boost outweighs the integration effort for your team.
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!
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