People love GPT and especially ChatGPT for everyday use. It’s an incredibly useful tool for everything from casual chats to business tasks. But let’s be clear — this isn’t about loving GPT itself or OpenAI as a company. Today, we’re talking about ChatGPT, the specific interface many people use to interact with GPT. While the tool is powerful, the interface has some serious limitations. We’ll dive into three major problems and discuss how you can overcome them with alternative solutions.

But first, remember: this isn’t about choosing one tool over another — it’s about understanding the pros and cons and exploring alternatives. Whether you’re using GPT, Claude, or LLaMA, there are many other chat interfaces like Jan, Open WebUI, or Anything LLM that can provide better privacy, lower cost, and way more features. Let’s break it down.

Concern #1. Privacy

One of the biggest concerns with the ChatGPT interface is privacy. By default, unless you manually switch on private mode, your data may be used for future model training. This is especially dangerous if you’re handling sensitive company data or private personal information. Imagine a scenario where confidential business data you enter today could resurface in a future version of the model that your competitor is using. Or, even worse, your personal details could end up somewhere in the output — data leaks without you even knowing.

If you’re worried about privacy but still love using GPT, you don’t have to stick with ChatGPT’s interface. By using the API directly with any open-source private chat tool like Jan, AnythingLLM, or Open Web UI, your data is not used for training because you’re paying for the service, not becoming the product. This applies to most closed-source models like GPT. So, if you’re working on something sensitive — whether it’s personal or business-related — an API-based open source solution might be the way to go to protect your data.

There are many other tools available, and I’ve talked about a few of them in previous blog posts. Here are some noteworthy ones:

• Jan
• AnythingLLM
• Open Web UI

Concern #2. Cost

Let’s talk about money. ChatGPT offers a $20/month subscription, which covers approximately 6.7 million input tokens or 1.25 million output tokens. To put this in perspective, 1 million tokens is about 750,000 words. So if you’re not having conversations or generating text close to these limits, you may be overpaying for your subscription. You can even check how much you’re using by trying the OpenAI Tokenizer tool to count your own text.
If you don’t use the full volume of tokens offered in the subscription, the API model may be better for you. The API charges per use, so if you use fewer tokens you’ll save money. Also, with the API you won’t hit any sudden conversation limits like you might in the middle of a busy day with the ChatGPT UI. You only pay for what you use.
The open source tools mentioned above use an API-based approach that can save you money if you don’t use more than what you pay for with the subscription. Remember that companies like OpenAI and other closed source vendors need to make money.

Concern #3. Flexibility and Control

The ChatGPT interface, while simple, has serious limitations when it comes to customization and control. Want to tweak settings like the temperature (which controls how creative the model gets)? You can’t. Need a prompt database that grows with you over time? Nope. There’s no straightforward way to integrate custom tools either, which could enhance the interface with features like HTML content generation, adding RAG, or any other custom functionality you might need.

To be fair, ChatGPT has the unique ability to let you create Custom GPTs, but keep in mind this comes with vendor lock-in. As of today, if you cancel your subscription, you can still access your Custom GPTs but won’t be able to edit them anymore.

Most open-source interfaces offer way more control. For example, with Open WebUI, you can: — Adjust model settings like temperature, token limits, and other key parameters. — Build a prompt database that evolves with you, giving you full control over your past prompts. — Add custom code and tools, including community-driven integrations, allowing things like voice interaction, HTML rendering, or even more advanced custom features.

The best part is that with open-source tools, you’re not locked into a vendor’s system. You see the code and control every aspect of your setup without the risk of losing access if you stop paying for a subscription.

Conclusion

This was an overview of some key aspects to consider when deciding for or against a vendor or chat interface where you’ll spend a significant part of your day and share a lot of important and private data.

If you love GPT, you don’t need to compromise on privacy, cost, or features just because you’re using the ChatGPT interface. There are alternative interfaces that let you enjoy the full power of the model without the limitations. Whether you’re worried about your data being used for training, overpaying for services you don’t fully use, or missing key features like prompt management and tool integration, there are better solutions.

Of course, the same applies for Gemini, Claude, and other models or vendors. Stay tuned and remember that alternatives are always available!