Checked 17 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. Otherwise ChatGPT Plus is $20 a month; OpenAI says building or editing a site counts toward your Codex usage, and usage limits apply. |
| 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. | While you wait, as the assistant builds it. Sooner than our 48 hours. |
| 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 and can set the records for you: itself for a domain bought through it, or through a service called Entri for one you already own. Anthropic's page for Claude doesn't mention it. |
| Who makes the next change | We do. Write what you want in your dashboard in your own words, tap the thing you mean on your own site, or ask for changes on WhatsApp. Your evening stays yours, because you never open an editor or learn a tool you'd use twice a year. 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 you can retype words on the page yourself for free, up to 100 edits in any 24 hours; asking it for any other change spends credits, from half a credit to two in its own examples. |
| Who reviews your site before you see it | A person on our team looks over your new site before it is 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 | Your 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 your 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 17 October 2026 and is described in their words: ChatGPT Sites and its price from learn.chatgpt.com/docs/sites, OpenAI's Sites help article 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, its page on editing from the preview and its email page, which describes sign-up and password emails, and app emails it writes when you ask, such as order confirmations and shipping notifications. 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 your 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 we make 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 sooner than our 48 hours, and you're in full control. That's a perfectly good choice.
Choose InkySites if
You'd rather not be the person who runs your website. You ask in plain words 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 your 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 building or editing a site counts toward your Codex usage, and usage limits apply. Checked October 2026.
Is doing it yourself cheaper than InkySites?
It can cost less. 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 your site and make your changes, unlimited within reason.
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 most changes you ask it for spend 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 person on our team looks over your new site before it is sent, 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.