ChatGPT can build a website, and the two it built for us are below, unedited. We gave GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol, the models behind ChatGPT, the same brief: a marketing site for a fictional scheduling app called Driftwood. Each worked once in Codex, OpenAI's coding agent, and each finished in about ten minutes. The surprise is not quality. It is how alike the two sites are.
What did ChatGPT build?
Two complete one-page sites, each a single HTML file of 64 KB and 73 KB. Both have every section the brief required, a pricing switch that changes Pro from $12 to $10 and Studio from $29 to $24, a working FAQ and a phone menu. Neither logged a runtime error during our recording, and each added an interactive extra: Astra a sign-up dialog, Sol a booking dialog that ends in a confirmation.
Why do the two GPT sites look so alike?
Because the two models made almost the same decisions. Astra's headline is "Less busy. More in flow." and Sol's is "Less busy. More you." Both chose a terracotta accent, a weekly-calendar illustration, the same row of integration logos, and the same font pairing, DM Sans with Instrument Serif. If you were hoping to get two directions by asking two GPT models, this brief says you will get one direction twice.
How do you build a website with ChatGPT?
There are two routes. Inside the ChatGPT app, ChatGPT Sites builds a site from a conversation and can host and share it, which suits a quick page. For a site you own as files, use Codex, the coding agent OpenAI includes with its Pro and Business plans, and ask for a single HTML file the way our Driftwood brief does: name the product, list the sections, give the facts and prices, and require a phone layout. That is exactly how both builds here were produced, with the command published on the methodology page.
Which GPT model should you use?
GPT-6.1 Sol. It took nine minutes against Astra's ten, built an equally complete site, and costs $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens against Astra's $10 and $50, according to OpenAI's Sol announcement. On a job this size Astra's extra intelligence did not show up on the page. Save Astra for work where Sol falls short.
Put ChatGPT's two sites next to Claude's two with the names hidden, and see which you pick.
Take the blind testWhat will you still have to do yourself?
Hosting, a domain and a real backend for the forms. The sign-up and booking dialogs only run in the browser, because the brief forbade network requests, so nothing is stored or sent. Check the phone layout in the live build, then compare with what Claude made in Claude as a website builder.
Frequently asked questions
Can ChatGPT build a complete website?
Yes. GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol, the models inside ChatGPT, each built a complete one-page marketing site from a single prompt in about ten minutes, with working pricing, FAQ, phone menu and a demo dialog, and no human edits.
Is this the same as ChatGPT Sites?
Not quite. ChatGPT Sites builds and hosts a site inside the ChatGPT app. We ran the same GPT-6 models through Codex, OpenAI's coding agent, so each model wrote a plain HTML file you own. The model is the same; the wrapper and hosting differ.
Which ChatGPT model should I use for a website?
GPT-6.1 Sol. On our brief it produced a site nearly identical to GPT-6 Astra's, down to the same fonts and headline idea, at one fifth of Astra's per-token price according to OpenAI.
How does ChatGPT compare with Claude for building websites?
The GPT sites were finished three to five times faster; the Claude sites were more distinctive and did more. Both pairs are side by side on the landing-page brief, and the blind test lets you choose without seeing names.