"ChatGPT apps" now means two different things
In December 2025 OpenAI launched the ChatGPT App Directory, a catalogue of third-party services built with the Apps SDK that run inside a conversation. That is separate from the GPT Store, which opened in January 2024 and lists custom GPTs. Both still exist, so the phrase "ChatGPT apps" is now ambiguous and the two are reached from different places.
- App Directory: third-party products such as Spotify, Canva, Booking.com, Adobe Acrobat, MyFitnessPal, and AllTrails, connected through the Apps SDK. Browse them at chatgpt.com/apps.
- GPT Store: custom GPTs, which are ChatGPT configured with instructions and conversation starters rather than an outside service. Browse them at chatgpt.com/gpts.
- A third meaning is the official ChatGPT mobile and desktop clients. If you are searching for a download, that is what you want, and neither directory applies.
Which one should you use for your task?
The deciding question is whether your task needs an outside account and live data, or just a better starting prompt. Apps reach into a real service. Custom GPTs do not — they only see what you type.
- Choose an app when the task needs your actual account or live data: playing a playlist, checking availability, editing a real document, pulling your own records.
- Choose a custom GPT when the task is thinking, drafting, explaining, or analysing text you can paste in, and you want to skip re-describing the format every time.
- Choose plain ChatGPT when the task is one-off. A custom GPT mostly saves you from repeating a brief, so for a single question it adds nothing.
What AppGPTStore covers
This directory indexes custom GPTs — the GPT Store side — organised by category and searchable by task. It is an independent index compiled from public GPT pages, not an OpenAI product, and it does not list Apps SDK apps.
- Browse by category when you know the broad job: writing, programming, education, business, finance, productivity.
- Search by task when the workflow is specific, such as lesson planning, SQL debugging, or resume feedback.
- Check the listing date on any detail page. Records are collected from public pages and a GPT can be changed or withdrawn by its creator afterwards.