The OpenAI Codex Sites alternative for sharing outside your workspace.

Codex Sites is great for internal tools the people in your OpenAI workspace already use. Stacktree is what you reach for when the artifact has to leave that workspace: a private link anyone can open, on your own domain, published from any agent, no OpenAI seat required.

Get started free

What is the best OpenAI Codex Sites alternative?

Stacktree, when you need to share agent output with people who are not in your OpenAI workspace. Codex Sites hosts internal web apps and dashboards that only workspace members can open, on Business and Enterprise plans. Stacktree turns any agent's HTML into an unguessable private URL that is itself the credential, so anyone you send it to can view it with no account.

Where Codex Sites genuinely fits

Codex Sites is strong, and worth conceding plainly. Invoked with @Sites inside Codex, it lets Codex create, save, deploy, and inspect full websites, web apps, dashboards, internal tools, and games hosted by OpenAI. It is backed by a real database (D1 for durable structured data) and object storage (R2 for files), and persistence is supported: every deployment URL is a production deployment. Codex writes the whole app, including server logic and the database, in one place.

The showcase makes the intended use obvious: onboarding hubs, enablement libraries, executive KPI dashboards, employee idea boards, launch calendars, event-ops hubs. These are internal team tools for people who are already inside your OpenAI workspace. If you live in Codex plus ChatGPT Enterprise and the audience is your own colleagues, especially for a data-backed dashboard, Codex Sites is an excellent fit and Stacktree does not replace it.

Availability moved: on July 9, 2026 Sites went GA as ChatGPT Sites for all paid subscribers, with publicly viewable pages. The wedge shifted with it: sites can now be shared by link, and the differences that remain are precise — gated viewing without an account (their private modes require signed-in, invited viewers; no password or email gate), expiry, your own domain, and publishing by API/MCP rather than in a chat. History and the public-link question: the availability post.

Where Stacktree differs

The sharpest, fully-documented difference is who can view the result. To open a Codex Site, the viewer must be an active member of your OpenAI workspace. Access has three modes (admins_only, workspace_all, and custom users or groups), but there is no public, link-only, or external-viewer mode. Stacktree inverts that: every URL is unguessable and acts as the credential, so anyone you send the link to can open it with no OpenAI seat and no account at all.

Share outside the workspace. A client, contractor, or prospect opens a Stacktree link directly. With Codex Sites they would first need to be added to your OpenAI workspace.
Your own domain. Custom domains map on Pro through Cloudflare for SaaS. Custom domains are not documented for Codex Sites.
Any agent, not just Codex. The publish primitive is MCP-native and works from Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and Claude.ai. Codex Sites runs inside Codex only.
Free tier exists. Anonymous first publish for 24 hours, flat $8 and $19 plans, never per-seat. ChatGPT Sites needs a paid ChatGPT subscription to create.
Own and export the infrastructure. Stacktree is source-available and self-hostable on your own Cloudflare (Workers, R2, D1). Export and self-host are not documented for Codex Sites.
Layered access when you want it. Optional shared password, optional email-domain gate (magic-link verified), and optional end-to-end encryption where the server stores only ciphertext.

Be clear about Stacktree's limits too. It hosts static HTML only: no serverless backend, no built-in database for the published app, and no in-browser live editor. Workspace-wide SSO is on the roadmap, with the per-link email-domain gate covering most cases today. If your artifact is a data-backed app that needs server logic, Codex Sites does more out of the box.

Who should pick which

Pick Codex Sites if you work inside Codex and ChatGPT Enterprise, the audience is your own workspace, and you want Codex to build a full internal tool with a database and server logic. Pick Stacktree if the artifact has to leave the workspace, the viewer has no OpenAI seat, you want it on your own domain, you publish from a non-Codex agent, or you are an individual who wants to own and export the hosting.

The two together

They are not mutually exclusive. Keep building internal, data-backed tools in Codex Sites for your workspace, and reach for Stacktree the moment a Codex artifact needs to go to someone outside it. Have the agent render the static view as HTML, publish it to Stacktree, and share the unguessable link, on your own domain, with anyone, no OpenAI seat required.

Stacktree vs. Codex Sites

Criterion	Codex Sites	Stacktree
View without an OpenAI seat	No, viewer must be in your OpenAI workspace.	Yes, unguessable URL is the credential.
Share with external clients or contractors	No documented public or link-only mode.	Yes, send the link, anyone can open it.
Built-in database for the app	Yes, D1 for structured data.	No, static HTML only.
Server logic / full web app	Yes, Codex builds the whole app.	No, static HTML, no backend.
Internal workspace dashboards	Yes, onboarding hubs, KPI dashboards.	Static views only, no live data layer.
In-Codex build experience	Yes, @Sites builds and deploys inline.	Agent calls the MCP publish tool.
Custom domain	Not documented.	Yes, Pro plan, Cloudflare for SaaS.
Publish from any agent	No, Codex (@Sites) only.	Yes, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Claude.ai.
Replace-in-place URL	Every deployment URL is a production deployment.	Yes, update_site, one stable URL.
Export / self-host	Not documented.	Yes, source-available, your own Cloudflare.
Available to individuals / free	No, preview, Business and Enterprise only.	Yes, free tier, anonymous first publish.
Pricing model	ChatGPT Business / Enterprise plans.	Flat $0/$8/$19, never per-seat.

FAQ

Frequent questions

How do I share a Codex Site with someone outside my company? +

Codex Sites are workspace-scoped: a viewer has to be an active member of your OpenAI workspace (admins_only, workspace_all, or specific users and groups). There is no documented public or "anyone with the link" mode. To send agent output to a client or contractor with no OpenAI seat, publish it to Stacktree, where the unguessable URL is itself the credential.

Does Codex Sites support a custom domain? +

A custom domain is not documented for Codex Sites today. Deployments live on OpenAI-hosted URLs, and every deployment URL is a production deployment. If you need the artifact on your own domain, Stacktree maps custom domains on the Pro plan through Cloudflare for SaaS, so the link reads as yours, not a vendor subdomain.

Can I export a Codex Site or use it without OpenAI? +

Exporting, downloading the code, or self-hosting a Codex Site is not documented; the site is hosted by OpenAI and viewing requires an OpenAI workspace seat. Stacktree is source-available: you can run the whole stack on your own Cloudflare account (Workers, R2, D1), so the hosting and the data stay under your control.

Is Codex Sites available to individuals? +

Yes, as of 9 July 2026: Sites went GA as ChatGPT Sites for all paid subscribers (Plus, Pro, business). Free ChatGPT users still cannot create sites. Stacktree has a free tier, anonymous first publish for 24 hours with no account, and flat plans at $8 and $19 per month with no per-seat fee.

Should I use Lovable, Replit, or Vercel instead of Codex Sites? +

Those solve a different problem. Reach for Lovable or Replit to build a full app from scratch, and Vercel to deploy one to a public production URL. They are builders and public hosts. If you already have agent output and only need to send it outside your OpenAI workspace on a private link, Stacktree is the lighter fit and keeps the link private by default.

Can I move a Codex Site to Vercel or another host? +

Moving a Codex Site elsewhere is not documented: there is no export or code download, and the deployment is hosted by OpenAI. The lock-in worry is why people often reach for Vercel or Replit up front. Stacktree sidesteps the question because it is source-available and self-hostable on your own Cloudflare account (Workers, R2, D1).

What is the difference between Codex Sites and Stacktree? +

Codex Sites lets Codex build and host full internal web apps and dashboards (with a database and server logic) for people already inside your OpenAI workspace. Stacktree is an MCP publish primitive for static HTML that any agent can call, giving you a private link anyone can open, on your own domain, with no OpenAI seat required.

Can a non-Codex agent publish to Stacktree? +

Yes. Stacktree is MCP-native and cross-agent: it works from Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and Claude.ai. Codex Sites is invoked with the @Sites plugin inside Codex and has no documented use from other agents. If your workflow spans more than one agent, Stacktree gives every one of them the same publish call.

Keep reading

Related guides

References

Sources and further reading

Share agent output with anyone, no OpenAI seat required.

Start free. Wire in the MCP server and any agent publishes a private link in one call.