Which connectors show interactive UI in ChatGPT and Claude?

Does my connector need interactive UI in ChatGPT and Claude?

Your connector does not always need interactive UI. 37% of ranked ChatGPT plugins show a widget in the chat, against 9% of ranked Claude connectors. But the top three in both stores, led by Gmail and Google Drive, answer in plain text, so a widget is clearly not the price of entry.

Some context: most connector tools return text, and the assistant writes the answer. A connector with interactive UI also returns a small web page, such as a map, a chart, a task list or a form, that the chat shows inline. Ask Expedia's ChatGPT plugin for a hotel near Cancún and you get a map with prices on it, not a paragraph.

OpenAI launched this in ChatGPT on October 6, 2025. Claude followed on January 26, 2026, when MCP Apps became an official MCP extension and Anthropic brought interactive connectors to Claude. MCP Apps builds on OpenAI's Apps SDK, so one widget can work in both.

How many connectors show UI in each store?

2,706 of 7,403 ranked ChatGPT plugins (37%) show UI, against 551 of 6,444 ranked Claude connectors (9%). In the top 100 the gap is smaller: 43 in ChatGPT and 33 in Claude.

The same company often ships UI in one store and not the other. Of the 1,556 apps ranked in both stores, 450 show UI in ChatGPT and 252 in Claude, and only 235 show it in both. So 215 apps built a widget for ChatGPT and left their Claude connector as plain tools. Just 17 went the other way.

Which kinds of connectors use interactive UI?

Mostly consumer ones. Shopping, home services, travel and entertainment lead in both stores. In ChatGPT, 74% of shopping plugins show a widget. Work tools that live in text are at the bottom: 6% of ChatGPT's code plugins and 9% of its messaging plugins, and under 3% of both in Claude.

Design and creative is the one work category where UI is the norm at the top. 10 of the 15 design connectors in Claude's top 100 show UI, among them Canva, Figma, Adobe and Miro. A design you cannot see is not much use.

What do these widgets look like?

These five come from the screenshots each company put on its own store listing. Each one does a job that text does badly: compare places, pick from a list, show a canvas, edit work items and read a chart.

ExpediaSpotifyFigmaAsanaCoinGecko

Will a widget help my connector rank?

We can't say it does. UI connectors are common near the top of both stores, but the very top belongs to mail, files and calendars, where the answer is text.

In ChatGPT the share peaks just below the top: two in three plugins ranked #101 to #500 show UI. That band is full of consumer brands, such as Indeed (#103), Skyscanner (#155), Etsy (#188), Walmart (#212) and Expedia (#279). So category explains most of the pattern. A travel plugin is likely to have a map whether or not it ranks well. Here are some of the top connectors with UI, with today's ranks:

So, what should you do?

Build a widget when people need to look or choose. Places and prices on a map, a short list of products or flights to pick from, a design or a chart, or tasks to edit in place. OpenAI's UI guidelines say the same: use UI "only when visual interaction improves the workflow."

Skip it when the answer is text. Gmail, Google Drive, GitHub and Supabase are all in ChatGPT's top 10 without a widget. Clear tools and descriptions matter more, because a widget does not help if the model does not know when to call the tool.

If you sell to consumers, expect to need one in ChatGPT. About two in three of your peers in shopping, travel and home services already have one.

If you have a ChatGPT widget, bring it to Claude. 215 apps have UI in ChatGPT but not in Claude. With the shared MCP Apps standard, the Claude version may be closer than it looks.

Methodology

We read the ChatGPT and Claude directories every day. All numbers here are from October 20, 2026. A ChatGPT plugin counts as showing UI if it declares a UI template or carries ChatGPT's interactive label, and a Claude connector counts if the directory marks it as an MCP App. Ranks are each store's own, and categories and audiences are our labels. More on our method page.