Ethora: The CustomGPT.ai Alternative You Can Run on Your Own Servers
Build an AI chatbot that answers from your website and documents, then add it to your site with one line of code. The same job as CustomGPT.ai, with an open-source core you can self-host on premises or in your own cloud, your choice of model (including one you host), a person joining the same conversation, and a free plan with no credit card.
The honest short answer
Ethora vs CustomGPT.ai: the honest short answer
CustomGPT.ai is a hosted platform for business AI agents built from your content: websites and sitemaps, documents in more than 1,400 file types, helpdesks, knowledge bases, YouTube and podcasts, with a source link on every answer. Its security page states it is a cloud-only service in AWS US East, with private cloud and on-premises deployment not available. Ethora does the core job for your website and documents and can run where you need it: our managed cloud, a dedicated server in your cloud account, or your own servers, with per-agent model choice including models you host with Ollama or vLLM.
Stay with CustomGPT.ai if
- You need many knowledge connectors (SharePoint, Confluence, Zendesk, Google Drive, Notion) and a very wide range of file types
- Your security review asks for a vendor with its own SOC 2 Type 2 report and a fully managed cloud is acceptable
- You want a source link shown on every answer to visitors out of the box
Choose Ethora if
- Content and conversations must stay on your servers, on premises or in your own cloud account and region
- You want to choose the model per agent, including a self-hosted one, so prompts never leave your perimeter
- You want a free plan to start and a chatbot that can grow into a full chat product with human handoff
Best for: CustomGPT.ai for a managed, connector-rich RAG service; Ethora for a RAG chatbot you can self-host on your own model and grow into a full chat platform.
Side by side
Ethora vs CustomGPT.ai: capabilities at a glance
The ten questions buyers ask most when choosing a RAG chatbot for their website and documents. CustomGPT.ai facts come from its public website, pricing page and security page.
Ethora
How to read this table
CustomGPT.ai facts are taken from customgpt.ai, its pricing page and its security page, checked 16 October 2026. Plans and limits change, so check their pricing page for the current state. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Why teams switch
Why teams move from CustomGPT.ai to Ethora
Both will answer questions from your own content. The reasons to switch are about where the system runs, which model answers, how you start, and what the chatbot can grow into.
CustomGPT.ai
Hosted RAG platform
Ethora
Open-source chat and AI platform
An honest view
When CustomGPT.ai is the better choice
We would rather you pick the right tool. CustomGPT.ai is likely the better fit in these cases.
Many knowledge sources to sync
If your knowledge sits in SharePoint, Confluence, Zendesk, Google Drive and Notion, or in unusual file types, CustomGPT.ai lists connectors and auto-sync for them. Ethora trains on your crawled website and uploaded files.
A vendor with its own SOC 2 report
CustomGPT.ai states a SOC 2 Type 2 audit of its service. Ethora is SOC 2 compatible: it has helped a customer pass SOC 2, but compliance depends on how and where your deployment runs.
Citations shown to every visitor
CustomGPT.ai links each answer to its source for the person asking. Ethora shows the sources behind an answer in the Try it test chat for you, while you tune the agent.
Build it on Ethora
Everything you need to replace CustomGPT.ai
The pieces most teams use when they move their RAG chatbot to Ethora.
RAG chatbot on your own content
Crawl your website, upload documents, and check which sources each answer used before you go live.
How the RAG chatbot worksSelf-hosted LLM AI agent
Point an agent at Ollama, vLLM or another OpenAI-compatible endpoint so prompts and answers never leave your servers.
Run it on your own modelAI chatbot for your website
One script tag adds a floating AI chat widget to any site. It loads asynchronously and keeps its styles isolated from your page.
See the AI chat widgetPricing
Free plan with 1,000 monthly active users and no credit card, then Small Business at $149/mo and Enterprise from $599/mo with dedicated or on-premises hosting.
Compare plansAlso comparing SiteGPT?
If you are looking at chatbots trained on your website, see how Ethora compares with SiteGPT.
Ethora vs SiteGPTAlso comparing Elfsight?
If you are weighing a low-cost widget bundle with an AI chatbot, see how Ethora compares with Elfsight.
Ethora vs ElfsightAI chatbots running on Ethora today
Healthcare: HIPAA-compliant AI assistant (RAG) over a medical video library
Dr. Talks is one of the most prominent organizers of online healthcare conferences and summits.
Ethora enabled them to create a context-aware AI-powered chatbot to help users navigate thousands of pages of medical content, correctly referencing pages, authors, videos and timestamps. 100% secure and HIPAA-compliant.
This assistant enhances user experience by simplifying interaction with the platform and reducing search time.
- 1000+ summits indexed by AI bot
- Instant user engagement
- Vector embeddings enable intelligent domain expert AI responses
Communities: fan chat app with second-screen rooms and digital collectibles
A cross-platform social app uniting the automotive community around racing events.
Fan rooms for teams and drivers, second-screen events, and collectibles handed out and traded through chat bots.
- Cross-platform iOS and Android app
- Fan rooms and second-screen events
- Collectibles distributed in chat
Energy: dedicated chat server, AI-agent rooms and a React Native app for a procurement platform
Preshent is a US platform for energy-project procurement with AI-driven decision support.
Ethora provides the conversation layer: a chat room per project workspace shared by people and the AI agent, a dedicated chat server in Preshent’s own cloud, push notifications and a React Native app.
- 1,130 chat rooms, one per workspace
- AI agent as a participant in every room
- Dedicated chat server, 99.99%+ uptime
Professional services: a private, self-hosted AI assistant for a corporate intelligence firm
A London corporate intelligence and investigations firm whose analysts could not use public AI assistants on confidential client work.
Ethora designed a private AI assistant: a single-tenant server with AI agents, document search and an open-weight model on the firm’s own GPU, managed by Ethora in a London cloud region or installed on a workstation in the office.
- Local open-weight LLM, no public AI services
- Single-tenant server, UK hosting
- Cloud GPU or on-premise workstation
Virtual worlds: a 3D multiplayer world built from a book, with AI characters, in one weekend
An internal R&D showcase by Ethora’s founder: Alice in Wonderland, The Tempest and A Christmas Carol as 3D worlds you walk through in first person.
Each room is an Ethora chat, each character an Ethora AI agent with the book as its knowledge; a generator and the hosted MCP server build a new world from any book in about four minutes.
- Built in a weekend on the public SDK, API and MCP
- Characters answer in character from the text
- Daily AI budget keeps a public world affordable
AI agents on customer websites: support, intake and teaching assistants
Clinics, schools and small businesses build AI agents on Ethora themselves and put them on their own websites, often on the day they sign up.
3 examples, from a US mental health provider and a wellness brand to a university pharmacology course.
- WordPress plugin or one script tag
- Answers from the customer’s own pages and documents
- Self-serve, no developer needed
Migration
Moving from CustomGPT.ai to Ethora
Your content is the asset, not the bot. Most teams can run both side by side for a few days and switch when the answers match. For a fully private design, with an open-weight model on the customer’s own GPU, see the private AI assistant for a corporate intelligence firm. Also comparing hosted chatbot builders? See Ethora vs Chatbase.
List your sources
Note the websites, sitemaps and documents your CustomGPT.ai agents use, and copy each agent’s instructions.
Choose where it runs
Start on the free cloud plan, or deploy the open-source core on your own servers with Docker Compose or Helm, or ask for a dedicated server in your cloud account. See Get Ethora.
Load your knowledge
Create an app and an AI agent, crawl your website and upload the same documents. Set the instructions as the agent’s system prompt and pick the model, cloud or your own.
Swap the embed code
Replace the CustomGPT.ai widget with
<script src="https://widget.chat.ethora.com/assistant.js" data-app-id="YOUR_APP_ID"></script>before</body>, or install the WordPress plugin.Test 10 real questions
Take ten questions users really asked and run them in the Try it chat. It shows which sources each answer used, so gaps are easy to spot and fix.
Watch conversations for a week
Read the widget conversations in the admin, add the knowledge that was missing, rebuild, and join conversations yourself where a person should answer.
CustomGPT.ai alternative FAQ
Is there a self-hosted or on-premises alternative to CustomGPT.ai?
Yes. Ethora’s core is open source and installs with Docker Compose, a Helm chart, or AWS and Azure Marketplace images. Ethora can also run a dedicated server in your own cloud account and region, so content and conversations stay where your policy requires.
Can I use my own model, for example with Ollama?
Yes. Each agent can use a cloud model API such as OpenAI or a model you host through an OpenAI-compatible endpoint such as Ollama or vLLM. Our open example repository shows the setup with four environment variables; in our test a 3B model on a 4 vCPU, 8 GB CPU-only server answered short replies in 6 to 8 seconds.
How does Ethora keep answers grounded in my content?
Ethora searches your crawled website and uploaded documents by keyword and by meaning, and the Try it test chat shows which sources each answer used. A knowledge health view and rebuild help you fix gaps when content changes.
Can a person take over from the AI?
Yes. A person can join the same conversation the user is having with the AI agent, and admins can read every widget conversation with its message history.
Is Ethora suitable for healthcare or other regulated teams?
Ethora is HIPAA and SOC 2 compatible, and a BAA is available on Enterprise and dedicated deployments. Whether a specific project is compliant depends on its configuration and hosting. Chats are encrypted in transit and at rest by default; end-to-end encrypted rooms are an optional per-app setting that is off by default.
Run a RAG chatbot where your data lives
Crawl your site, upload your documents, paste one line. Free to start on our cloud, or self-hosted on your own servers with the model you choose.
