# Croft > Croft is hosting for the small apps a team builds with AI assistants. Your assistant (Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, Microsoft Copilot, or any tool that speaks the open MCP standard) writes the app; Croft runs it on your own private server - with a database, enterprise single sign-on for the people you invite, HTTPS, connectors to your other tools, automations, backups, and one-click rollback all handled. Bring your own AI, own your data, no lock-in. Croft is a product of Lupchoo Limited, a company registered in New Zealand. It's built for small, private apps a small or medium-sized business actually needs - a pricing model, a client portal, an internal tracker, a booking sheet, a stocktake tool - shared with the people you invite, not the public. There's a deliberate ceiling: Croft is not for public sign-ups from strangers, native mobile apps in an app store, or serving thousands of people. You can publish public pages and forms (a survey, an RSVP) with results kept private, but the login side is for the people you invite. Key facts: - **Bring your own AI.** Use Claude (free plan or better), ChatGPT (Plus or better), Grok (free plan or better), Microsoft Copilot, Cursor, or any MCP-capable assistant. With your own AI over MCP, Croft does not resell AI or meter tokens - the AI is your own account, and it's the cheapest way to build. - **Croft Build (optional).** An AI chat built into Croft that creates and updates apps without connecting an external assistant. It uses Croft's own MCP under the hood, with no special treatment - anything you can do via MCP with your assistant, you can do in Build. Priced with credits (an optional add-on): 200 credits per $1, packs from $10, custom top-ups $5–$500. A typical app build is around 500 credits (about $2.50); the free trial includes 500 credits. - **Your own private server.** Each croft is a dedicated virtual machine, not a shared multi-tenant pool. Apps run in isolated containers, each with its own embedded SQL database. - **Enterprise-grade security, built in.** Everything starts locked (least privilege): apps and people start with access to nothing. Enterprise single sign-on with passkeys is enforced at a gateway before any request reaches an app - apps never handle passwords or logins. All access, connectors, and approvals are on an audit trail. - **Roles.** Four roles, one per person: Owner (full control + billing), Admin (manage connectors, approve grants, invite people, build apps), Creator (build/deploy their own apps, request grants), Member (use apps shared with them). - **Connectors & data governance.** Apps use outside tools (Stripe, HubSpot, any API) through connectors - the key is held by Croft, never in app code. Sensitive data sources can require admin approval before an app or person uses them. - **Automations.** Give any app a schedule or an event to react to; with your own AI it can read, summarise, and decide (reminders, syncs, reports, briefings). Not autonomous "agents" - small jobs that do one thing well. - **Backups & rollback.** Continuous encrypted off-site backups plus nightly snapshots; any deploy can be rolled back in one click. - **You own your data.** Export everything - code, database, and files - as a single bundle that runs anywhere Docker does. No lock-in. - **Pricing.** Three plans, no usage meter. **Solo** ($29/mo, or $24/mo billed yearly) - one person, share apps with up to 10 people. **Team** ($149/mo, or $99/mo billed yearly) - multiple builders, up to 50 people, all roles, team governance and audit. **Enterprise** (contact sales) --unlimited people, larger servers and more app capacity, your choice of hosting region (data residency), and a full change log & audit export. 7-day free trial, no card to start. - **Connect via MCP** at https://mcp.oncroft.net (or install the official open-standard agent plugin) · Sign up at https://app.oncroft.net/signup ## Pages - [Homepage](https://oncroft.net/): What Croft is - host and share the apps you build with AI. - [How it works](https://oncroft.net/how-it-works/): Plain-English tour - hand your assistant a spreadsheet or a description, it builds a real app on your croft, and your team signs in and uses it. Covers people, connectors, automations, and how fixes work. - [Croft Build](https://oncroft.net/build/): The AI chat built into Croft - create and update apps without connecting an external assistant. Bring your own AI over MCP for no AI fees, or use Build's optional credits. - [Artifacts to apps](https://oncroft.net/artifacts/): What an AI artifact is, why it isn't an app (it runs only in your chat, with no server, database, or sharing), and how Croft deploys it into a real app with a live URL, a database, and one login. - [Security](https://oncroft.net/security/): Enterprise-grade security, none of the enterprise - least privilege, SSO, approval gates, audit trail, private server, backups. - [Under the hood](https://oncroft.net/under-the-hood/): Technical & security overview - the stack, security model, request flow, automations, and data handling, with diagrams. - [Automations](https://oncroft.net/automations/): Apps that run on a schedule or when something happens, using your own AI to read and decide. - [Connectors](https://oncroft.net/connectors/): Let your apps use the tools you already run on, with keys held by Croft and admin approval for sensitive data. - [Pricing](https://oncroft.net/pricing/): Three plans (Solo, Team, Enterprise), monthly or annual, no meter. 7-day free trial, no card to start. - [Compare](https://oncroft.net/compare/): Croft vs other platforms - private-by-default, people you invite, bring-your-own-AI, no lock-in. - [Blog](https://oncroft.net/blog/): Why Croft exists, worked examples, and posts on each feature. - [Prompt library](https://oncroft.net/prompts/): Copy-paste prompts to build apps with your assistant - small business, growing companies (commissions, reviews, approvals), freelance, financial, public forms, and automations. - [FAQ](https://oncroft.net/faq/): Common questions - do I need to code, which subscriptions, data safety, what Croft can and can't do, leaving and exporting. - [About](https://oncroft.net/about/): Why Croft exists - small software is real software. ## Comparisons - [Croft vs Vercel + Supabase](https://oncroft.net/compare/vercel-supabase/): One platform vs assembling and maintaining a stack. - [Croft vs Replit](https://oncroft.net/compare/replit/): Private apps for a team vs a cloud IDE for shipping public products. - [Croft vs Lovable](https://oncroft.net/compare/lovable/): Private, own-your-server vs a public-product AI app builder. - [Croft vs Base44](https://oncroft.net/compare/base44/): Bring-your-own-AI on your own server vs an all-in-one no-code builder. - [Croft vs Cloudflare OS](https://oncroft.net/compare/cloudflare-os/): Simple + owned vs an open-source enterprise "agent OS" you operate on Cloudflare. - [Croft vs Retool](https://oncroft.net/compare/retool/): A developer/IT internal-tools platform vs chat-to-your-own-AI on a server that's yours. - [Croft vs Superblocks](https://oncroft.net/compare/superblocks/): Enterprise governed app-building vs the same idea sized for an SMB. - [Croft vs Island](https://oncroft.net/compare/island/): The enterprise browser vs a governed home for the apps your team builds. - [Croft vs ChatGPT Sites](https://oncroft.net/compare/chatgpt-sites/): OpenAI-hosted and ChatGPT-locked vs provider-agnostic apps on your own server, with connectors, schedules, and governance. ## Docs - [Getting started](https://oncroft.net/docs/): Connect an assistant, chat to build an app, grab a prompt, invite people. - [Setting up the MCP](https://oncroft.net/docs/connect-mcp/): Point an assistant at your croft over MCP. - [Connectors](https://oncroft.net/docs/connectors/): Developer reference - connector fields, auth styles, and the Operations format. - [Roles & permissions](https://oncroft.net/docs/roles-and-permissions/): Owner, Admin, Creator, Member - who can do what. - [Your data & export](https://oncroft.net/docs/your-data/): Where data lives, backups, and the Docker export. ## Connect an AI assistant - [Connect an assistant](https://oncroft.net/connect/): Point Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, or Microsoft Copilot at your croft over the open MCP standard. - [Official agent plugin](https://oncroft.net/connect/agent-plugin/): One-step, open-standard (Agent Plugin 1.0.0) plugin - the Croft tools plus skills. Repo: https://github.com/On-Croft/agent-plugin - [Set up Claude](https://oncroft.net/connect/claude/): Connectors → Add → Browse connectors, search "Croft", Connect, then sign in. - [Set up ChatGPT](https://oncroft.net/connect/chatgpt/): Requires ChatGPT Plus or better - enable Developer mode, add a connector pointed at your link. - [Set up Grok](https://oncroft.net/connect/grok/): Skills & Connectors → New Connector → add a custom connector. - [Set up Microsoft Copilot (Teams)](https://oncroft.net/connect/copilot/): Build a Copilot Studio agent, add Croft as an MCP tool, publish it to your whole org in Teams; each user signs in to Croft as themselves. - [MCP tools](https://mcp.oncroft.net/tools): The tools Croft exposes to assistants over MCP. ## Who it's for - [Vibe coders](https://oncroft.net/vibe-coding/): You bring the idea, your AI writes the code, Croft gives it a home - you don't have to be a developer. - [Small businesses](https://oncroft.net/for/small-business/): Secure hosting for the custom internal tools your team builds with AI. - [Freelancers & the self-employed](https://oncroft.net/for/freelancers/): Run your business on tools you built yourself. - [AI app hosting](https://oncroft.net/ai-app-hosting/): Generic overview - hosting for the apps you generate with AI. ## Optional - [Privacy](https://oncroft.net/privacy/): How Croft handles your data. - [Terms](https://oncroft.net/terms/): Terms of use, including the fair-use policy. - [Sign up](https://app.oncroft.net/signup): Start a free trial.