Should your business have an app inside ChatGPT?
Tom Whitfield
Writer
For most UK small businesses, a ChatGPT app is not worth building yet. A ChatGPT app can show your products, answer questions from your own data and send people to your website, but it cannot sell a subscription, a booking credit or any other digital product inside ChatGPT. It earns its place when you already have a service people log in to, or physical stock to show. Otherwise a fast website or web app still does more for the money.
What is a ChatGPT app?
A ChatGPT app is a small piece of software that runs inside a ChatGPT conversation. Someone mentions your app by name, or ChatGPT suggests it, and your app can pull in live information, show buttons, maps or product cards, and carry out actions on your systems.
Under the bonnet, a ChatGPT app is a server you run that speaks the Model Context Protocol, an open standard for connecting AI assistants to outside tools and data. OpenAI introduced its Apps SDK, the toolkit for building them, at its developer event in October 2025, and opened submissions to outside developers on 17 December 2025 , with approved apps rolling out from early 2026.
The first wave came from big names. The seven pilot partners were Booking.com, Canva, Coursera, Expedia, Figma, Spotify and Zillow, later joined by companies such as Adobe, Mailchimp and Stripe.
What can a ChatGPT app sell?
A ChatGPT app can only take part in selling physical goods, and even then the customer pays on your own website. OpenAI's submission guidelines state that selling digital products or services, "including subscriptions, digital content, tokens, or credits", is not allowed.
The same guidelines go further than most business owners expect. A ChatGPT app may not show subscription plans, start a new subscription, promote upgrades or link straight to a checkout page. It may let an existing customer sign in to a paid account and use what they already pay for, and it may explain that a feature needs a different plan and link to an information page about plans.
OpenAI did try a native shopping route. Instant Checkout launched in the US in September 2025, but a guide last updated in June 2026 reports that OpenAI said in March 2026 the first version did not offer the flexibility it wanted, and shifted its focus to product discovery, with merchants using their own checkout. None of the coverage we found describes Instant Checkout being open to UK merchants.
So if your business sells memberships, classes, consultations booked in advance or software, ChatGPT will not take the payment for you. The most a ChatGPT app can do is help someone who has already decided.
Who is getting value from the ChatGPT directory so far?
The ChatGPT directory so far rewards companies that already had a large online audience. An independent review site, ChatGPT Apps Rank, counted 123 apps in its July 2026 report . Its three highest scoring apps were Canva, Wolfram and GitHub, and it found that partner companies with existing software audiences ship first.
Two other figures from that report matter for a small business. 79% of the apps it reviewed had a usable free plan, which it put down mainly to companies reusing the free tier they already offer elsewhere rather than charging inside ChatGPT. And the report has no install or usage numbers at all, because OpenAI does not publish them.
That last point is the one to hold on to if someone is pitching you a ChatGPT app. Nobody outside OpenAI can tell you how many people will find your listing, and a directory where the top spots go to household names is hard for a local business to stand out in.
The ChatGPT app directory became a plugin directory in July 2026
The ChatGPT app directory has changed shape since launch. In July 2026, OpenAI moved app discovery into a Plugin Directory . Apps still exist as the part that connects ChatGPT to outside accounts and data, but they are now packaged inside plugins alongside reusable instructions, templates and interactive views.
At the same time, custom GPTs are being phased out. A September 2026 report says OpenAI plans to retire custom GPTs on 11 December 2026 and is asking creators to move them to plugins. Custom actions that connect a GPT to another service do not carry over automatically and have to be rebuilt.
Two lessons follow. If your business already relies on a custom GPT with actions, you have a real deadline and some rebuild work before December. And the platform has been renamed, repackaged and had its shopping rules reworked within a single year, so anything built for ChatGPT should be small enough that the next change does not hurt.
When a ChatGPT app makes sense for a small business
A ChatGPT app makes sense when it gives existing customers a quicker route to something they already value. Three situations fit.
- You run a service customers log in to. A booking system, a client portal or a stock checker can let a signed in customer ask "when is my next appointment?" or "do you have this in a size 10?" inside ChatGPT. The guidelines allow exactly this kind of use for paying customers.
- You sell physical products with real detail. A shop with a large catalogue of parts, ingredients or specifications can answer precise questions and link to the product page to buy.
- Your staff already work in ChatGPT. Connecting ChatGPT to an internal tool, such as your job sheets or price list, can save time inside a business on a ChatGPT Business or Enterprise plan. Since June 2026, admins can set defaults for when connected apps ask permission , which makes this easier to control.
In each case the value comes from the system underneath. The ChatGPT app is a new front door on to a database, a booking engine or a product catalogue you already have, and without that the app has nothing to say.
When a normal web app is the better spend
A normal web app or website is the better spend when you need to take money, win new customers or own the experience. Your own site can take any kind of payment, sell subscriptions, appear in Google and be shared as a link, and none of that depends on a policy page another company can rewrite.
A custom web app also gives you the thing a ChatGPT app needs later. Once your bookings, stock or customer accounts live in a proper system with a clean way for other software to talk to it, adding a ChatGPT app on top is a modest job rather than a project of its own.
The order matters. Build the system that runs your business first, make sure your website answers customer questions clearly enough for AI search to quote it, and treat a ChatGPT app as an extra channel once the basics earn their keep.
What should you ask before paying for a ChatGPT app?
The right questions before paying for a ChatGPT app are about outcomes, not features. Ask anyone pitching you one:
- What will customers do in the app that they cannot already do on our website?
- Which of our existing systems will the app read from or write to, and who maintains that connection?
- How will we know whether anyone uses it, given that OpenAI publishes no directory figures?
- Does our product fall under the physical goods rule, and if not, how does this make us money?
- Who owns the OpenAI developer account? Submissions must come from a verified individual or organisation, and that should be your business, not your supplier.
- What happens to the app if OpenAI changes the rules again?
A good answer to the first question is the whole case. If the honest answer is "nothing new", the money is better spent on the website.
If you are weighing up a ChatGPT app against a web app and want a straight answer for your business, book a free 15 minute call and we will tell you which one, if either, is worth doing.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to build a ChatGPT app?
The cost of a ChatGPT app depends mostly on what it connects to. If your booking system or shop already offers a clean way for other software to read its data, the ChatGPT part is a fairly small piece of work. If that connection has to be built first, the connection is where most of the budget goes.
Can a ChatGPT app take bookings or payments?
A ChatGPT app can help a customer find a slot or a product, but payment has to happen on your own website. Selling digital services such as subscriptions or credits inside ChatGPT is not allowed under OpenAI's current guidelines, and linking straight to a checkout page is not allowed either.
Is a ChatGPT app the same as a custom GPT?
No. A custom GPT was a set of instructions and files layered over ChatGPT, while a ChatGPT app is software running on your own server that ChatGPT connects to. Custom GPTs are scheduled to retire on 11 December 2026, and OpenAI is moving their creators to plugins.
Will a ChatGPT app help my business show up in ChatGPT answers?
Not directly. ChatGPT answers general questions from what it finds on the web, so a clear, well structured website is still what gets a local business mentioned. A ChatGPT app mainly helps people who already know your name and choose to use it.
Do I need a developer account to list a ChatGPT app?
Yes. OpenAI requires every submission to come from a verified individual or organisation, with up to date support contact details and a published privacy policy. Register the account in your business's name so you keep control of the listing.
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