How Jigsaw compares
Where Jigsaw fits among the other places a small app can live, and when one of them is the better choice.
Jigsaw does one job: it takes a small app that an AI agent built and makes it something specific people can use. That means its own address, sign-in for every visitor, viewer and editor roles, shared data and safe handling of secret keys.
| Jigsaw | A link from an AI chat | A website host | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who can open it | Only people added by email | Depends on the chat product | The public, unless you add sign-in |
| Roles for each person | Owner, editor, viewer | Depends on the chat product | Yours to build |
| Shared data | Built in | Depends on the chat product | Yours to add |
| Works with any agent | Yes | The agent that made it | Yes |
Is Jigsaw an alternative to sharing an artifact or app from my AI chat?
It is the next step after it. A link from a chat is the quickest way to show someone a thing you made. Jigsaw is for when the thing should become a small product of its own: an address that does not depend on one chat or one AI product, named people with viewer and editor roles, shared data that everyone sees, and secret keys kept on the server. It works with whichever agent built the app.
How is Jigsaw different from a website host such as Vercel, Netlify or GitHub Pages?
A website host serves your files, and usually functions, to the public. Sign-in, who may do what, and somewhere to keep data are separate pieces you choose and connect yourself. Jigsaw starts from the other end: every app is private, every visitor is signed in, roles and a data store are built in, and there is nothing to wire up. If you want a public website that anyone can open without signing in, a website host is the right tool.
How is Jigsaw different from an app platform such as Fly.io, Render, Railway or Heroku?
An app platform runs servers and leaves the application to you, including its login and permissions. Jigsaw runs a small app's server too, in its own machine that sleeps when idle, and puts sign-in and sharing in front of it. For a large or heavily used service, an app platform gives you the control Jigsaw deliberately hides.
How is Jigsaw different from an AI app builder such as Replit, Lovable, Bolt or v0?
Those products build the app and host what they build. Jigsaw does not build anything: it hosts and shares what any agent wrote, as ordinary files. If you are happy inside one builder and its hosting, you may not need Jigsaw. If you use a general agent such as Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Codex and need somewhere for the result to live, that is what Jigsaw is for.
How is Jigsaw different from an internal-tool builder such as Retool, Glide, Softr or Airtable?
Those are editors: you assemble a tool inside them from their parts. A Jigsaw app is plain code an agent wrote, so it can be anything a web page can be, and it is not tied to one editor. Internal-tool builders are stronger when the job is forms and tables over an existing company database.
When is Jigsaw the wrong choice?
When the app must be open to the public without sign-in, when it expects heavy traffic, or when it needs infrastructure beyond one small server and a simple data store. Jigsaw is for small software used by people you can name.