Checked October 2026.
The honest side-by-side.
| InkySites | Doing it yourself with an AI assistant | |
|---|---|---|
| What it costs | The redesign is free, no card. Then $29 a month flat, hosting and changes included. | Nothing extra if you already pay for a plan that includes it, so cheaper than us. Otherwise ChatGPT Plus is $20 a month; OpenAI says usage limits apply during the beta and doesn't publish the figures. |
| How fast you see something | 48 hours. A redesign, or a copy of your current site, emailed to you after a person has reviewed it. | Minutes. Faster than us, by about two days. |
| Getting it online | We host it. It's part of the $29. | ChatGPT hosts it on a public address, and Lovable publishes from a Publish button. Claude gives you a link anyone can open; Google says a shared Gemini Canvas link only opens in gemini. |
| Your own domain | Yours, and it never leaves your hands. There are two small DNS steps when you go live, and we tell you exactly what to add. | The same on ChatGPT: it connects a domain you already own, and you add the DNS records it gives you. Lovable connects one on paid plans; Anthropic's page for Claude doesn't mention it. |
| Who makes the next change | We do. You ask in plain words in your dashboard or on WhatsApp, as often as you like, within reason. Most changes are live within the hour. All within 48. | You do. You ask the assistant, check what it changed, and fix anything that isn't right. On Lovable each request spends credits, from half a credit to two in its own examples. |
| Who reviews the site before you see it | A real person reviews every site before it's sent to you. | You do. |
| Where a form enquiry goes | From the contact form we build into your site, each enquiry is emailed to you and kept in your dashboard. | None of the three assistants' pages says an enquiry gets emailed to you. We could not find it stated, so check before you rely on it. |
| Built to be found | Every site ships with the groundwork: structured data, a sitemap and a setup AI crawlers can read, checked before it goes live. Groundwork, not a promise of rankings. | The pages we read don't say. Ask the tool you use what it sets up for search. |
| If you want to leave | Your domain never left your hands, and the code is plain static files that come back whenever you ask. | Depends on the tool. The pages we read don't describe taking your files out, so check before you build. |
What each assistant does was read from its own pages on 2 October 2026 and is described in their words: ChatGPT Sites and its price from learn.chatgpt.com/docs/sites and learn.chatgpt.com/docs/pricing; Claude from support.claude.com; Gemini from support.google.com/gemini; Lovable from its publish page, its custom domain page, its credits page and its email page, which lists sign-up confirmations, password resets, order confirmations and shipping notifications as the emails it supports. These products change often, so check their pages for today's answer. InkySites's "most within the hour, all within 48" is our normal turnaround, not a contractual SLA, and changes are unlimited within reason: small-to-medium tweaks rather than a monthly rebuild. Much of our own work is done by AI too, and a real person reviews it.
The part that doesn't show in a table.
Making the site was never the long part. The long part is the Tuesday in March when your hours change. In public forums, people who built theirs with an AI builder often say a small change later took more effort than they expected. With an assistant that Tuesday is you opening it up, asking, and checking nothing else moved; with us it's one line in plain words, and a person reads it.
Who each one is right for.
Choose doing it yourself if
You want a one-page site, you enjoy this sort of thing, and you'll rarely change it. It costs nothing extra if you already pay for the assistant, you'll have it in minutes rather than two days, and you're in full control. That's a perfectly good choice.
Choose InkySites if
You'd rather not be the person who runs the website. You ask in plain words, a person reads it, and it's done, for $29 a month flat. The redesign is free and needs no card, so you can see it before you decide.
Questions people ask.
Can ChatGPT build and host my business website?
Yes. ChatGPT's Sites feature, in public beta on its Plus and Pro plans (Plus is $20 a month), builds a site, hosts it on a public address and can connect a domain you already own. You add the DNS records it gives you at your domain provider. OpenAI says plan-specific usage limits apply during the beta and does not publish the figures. Checked October 2026.
Is doing it yourself cheaper than InkySites?
Yes. If you already pay for a plan that includes it, it costs you nothing extra, and if you don't, ChatGPT Plus is $20 a month. InkySites is $29 a month flat after a free redesign. What the $29 buys is not having to do it: we host the site and make your changes, unlimited within reason, and a real person reads every one.
What about Claude or Gemini?
Both will make you a site. Claude publishes what it builds as a link anyone can open, with embed code for another website; Anthropic's page does not mention connecting your own domain. A page made in Gemini's Canvas can be shared, and Google says shared links only open in gemini.google.com. A builder such as Lovable publishes from a Publish button and connects a custom domain on paid plans, and each change you ask for spends credits.
Isn't InkySites just AI too?
Yes, much of it. A lot of our work is done by AI, and we'd rather say so. The difference is that a real person reviews every site before it is sent and reads every change you ask for, and you are not the one operating it. You ask in plain words and it's done.
Already made one? Bring it.
Paste its address and we'll email you a redesign, or a straight copy of it, in 48 hours. Free, no card.
If you like it, it's $29 a month from there. If not, you've lost nothing.