SimplyRetrieve vs SiteGPT: A Detailed Comparison

Priyansh Khodiyar's avatar
Priyansh KhodiyarDevRel at CustomGPT
Comparison Image cover for the blog SimplyRetrieve vs SiteGPT

Fact checked and reviewed by Bill. Published: 01.04.2024 | Updated: 25.04.2025

In this article, we compare SimplyRetrieve and SiteGPT across various parameters to help you make an informed decision.

Welcome to the comparison between SimplyRetrieve and SiteGPT!

Here are some unique insights 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.

And here's more information on SiteGPT:

SiteGPT.ai is a no-code chatbot builder focused on customer support. Point it at your site, upload docs, and you’ll have a widget in minutes. Handy, though manual retraining and “coming soon” integrations hint it’s still maturing.

Enjoy reading and exploring the differences between SimplyRetrieve and SiteGPT.

Comparison Matrix

Feature
logo of simplyretrieveSimplyRetrieve
logo of sitegptSiteGPT
logo of customGPT logoCustomGPT
Data Ingestion & Knowledge Sources
  • 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.
  • Crawls entire sites by URL or sitemap—thousands of pages in one go. Learn how
  • Accepts uploads in CSV, TXT, PDF, DOCX, PPTX, and Markdown (10 MB per file). File upload info
  • Connects to Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Notion, Confluence, GitBook, and more out of the box. View integrations
  • Scales to big libraries—up to 100 k pages on the Enterprise tier.
  • Retraining is manual for now (click a button), with automated retrain cycles on the roadmap. Retraining details
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Ships native connectors for Slack, Google Chat, Facebook Messenger, Crisp, Freshchat, Zendesk Chat, Zoho SalesIQ, and more. See Slack integration
  • Embed on any site with a quick script or iframe—works on web and mobile. Embed instructions
  • Higher tiers add webhook support for event-driven hooks into your own systems.
  • Embeds easily—a lightweight script or iframe drops the chat widget into any website or mobile app.
  • Offers ready-made hooks for Slack, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger. 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.
Core Chatbot Features
  • 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.
  • Strong Q&A for support, with multi-turn history visible in the admin dashboard.
  • Handles 95 + languages to help a global audience. Language support
  • Captures leads automatically during chat sessions.
  • Built-in human handoff lets users escalate to a live agent when needed. Escalation details
  • Tracks sentiment and conversation metrics so you can watch performance in real time.
  • Powers retrieval-augmented Q&A with GPT-4 and GPT-3.5 Turbo, keeping answers anchored to your own content.
  • 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.
Customization & Branding
  • Default Gradio interface is pretty plain, with minimal theming.
  • For a branded UI you’ll tweak source code or build your own front end.
  • No-code dashboard to swap logos, colors, and welcome text in seconds. Customize appearance
  • White-label add-on removes SiteGPT branding for a seamless look. White-label option
  • Choose preset Personas to set tone and voice for each bot.
  • 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.
LLM Model Options
  • 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.
  • Pick GPT-4o-mini for speed or full GPT-4o for deeper answers. Model options
  • Select the mode per chatbot, balancing response time against depth as you like.
  • 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.
Developer Experience (API & SDKs)
  • 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.
  • REST API for bot management, content uploads, and fetching answers. API getting started
  • Manage Quick Prompts and Personas via API—no multi-language SDK yet, but REST makes it straightforward.
  • 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.
Integration & Workflow
  • 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.
  • Embed on sites, pipe into chat channels, and auto-escalate to humans—ideal for support flows.
  • Webhooks on Scale / Enterprise tiers trigger external actions like Zendesk tickets. Pricing & webhooks
  • Scheduled retraining keeps the bot current with live site changes.
  • 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.
Performance & Accuracy
  • 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.
  • Retrieval-augmented generation keeps answers factual and on-topic.
  • Two modes (fast vs. accurate) let you choose speed or depth. Model modes
  • Fallback replies and handoff workflows cover edge cases gracefully.
  • 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.
Customization & Flexibility (Behavior & Knowledge)
  • 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.
  • Click “Retrain” to upload new files or re-crawl a site—no tech skills required.
  • Personas and Quick Prompts steer the conversation style; higher plans add custom rules. Persona configuration
  • Run multiple chatbots under one account, each with its own data set.
  • 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.
Pricing & Scalability
  • 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.
  • Growth plan (~$79/mo), Pro/Scale (~$259/mo), plus an Enterprise tier. View pricing
  • Limits scale with message counts, bots, pages crawled, and file uploads—add-ons boost capacity when needed.
  • 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.
Security & Privacy
  • 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.
  • Uses HTTPS/TLS in transit and encrypted storage at rest—industry-standard security.
  • Data stays in your workspace; formal certifications aren’t front-and-center, but best practices are followed.
  • 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.
Observability & Monitoring
  • 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.
  • Dashboard shows chat histories, analytics, and trends in one place. Dashboard example
  • Daily email digests keep teams updated without logging in.
  • 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.
Support & Ecosystem
  • 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.
  • Email support and a “Submit a Request” form for new features or integrations. Submit a request
  • Active blog, Product Hunt launches, and an agency partner program grow the 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.
Additional Considerations
  • 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.
  • Built-in “Functions” let the bot trigger actions—like opening a support ticket—directly from chat. Learn about Functions
  • SourceSync headless API offers a pure RAG backend when you need more developer control.
  • 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.
No-Code Interface & Usability
  • 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.
  • Guided dashboard lets anyone paste a URL or upload files and launch a bot in minutes.
  • Pre-built integrations and a copy-paste embed snippet make deployment a breeze. Embed instructions
  • Live demo plus 7-day free trial means you can test risk-free.
  • 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.

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

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.

SiteGPT is great for moderate support loads and quick setup. For enterprise-grade automation or continuous sync, its manual steps could become a bottleneck.

Stay tuned for more updates!

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Priyansh Khodiyar's avatar

Priyansh Khodiyar

DevRel at CustomGPT. Passionate about AI and its applications. Here to help you navigate the world of AI tools.