Claude Artifacts vs a Real Hosted App: What's the Difference?

A Claude artifact is a working page that Claude builds next to the chat and shares as a Claude link. A hosted app is software on its own web address, with its own database, logins, and payments. If only you or your Claude-using team will open it, an artifact is enough. If strangers will sign up, pay, or find you on Google, you need a hosted app.

The short version:

An artifact can be published and shared, but it always lives on Claude's site.

For most sharing, the person opening it needs a Claude account. A published artifact can save up to 20 MB of text, and nothing else. On Floot, you turn the same idea into a hosted app in the same Claude chat.

On other paths, "make it real" means copying the code out and wiring up a database, logins, and payments yourself.

The rest of this guide covers the difference in one picture, what an artifact actually gets you, when it is enough, and what each path to a real app makes you do.

Artifact and hosted app, in one picture

Think of a market hall. An artifact is a stall inside Claude's building. It opens in seconds and costs nothing to set up.

But visitors have to come through Claude's entrance, and most need a Claude pass to get in. You cannot hang your own sign on the street, run your own till, or hand out your own membership cards.

A hosted app is a shop with its own street address. Anyone can walk in, you decide who gets an account, and the till is yours.

The split exists because Claude built artifacts for showing and sharing ideas, not for running a business on someone else's floor.

What an artifact actually gets you

An artifact gives you four things, and each one has a ceiling. It gets shared as a link. On Pro and Max you can also invite people by email as viewers, commenters, or editors, according to Claude's Help Center as of Sept 25, 2026.

It lets people in with their Claude account. Artifacts shared from the Share dialog need a Claude account to open, even with the link. The exception is an artifact published from chat in the older experience, which anyone with the link can open.

It saves a little data. Once published, an artifact can store up to 20 MB of text, either personal (only that user sees it) or shared (everyone sees it). That covers a team poll, not a marketplace with photos, because images and files are not allowed.

It bills AI use to the viewer. If an artifact calls Claude, each person signs in and the usage counts against their own plan, not yours. Notice the pattern. Every one of those runs on Claude's accounts, Claude's storage, and Claude's rules.

Is an artifact enough?

Here is the quick test. Ask whether every person who will ever use this already has a Claude account.

If they do, and you do not need to charge them, you can stay in the artifact. A team tracker, a meeting-notes formatter, a study quiz, and a clickable prototype are all artifact-sized.

If they do not, you need a hosted app. That covers a booking page, a client portal, a paid tool, a job board, and anything you want people to find on Google.

What each tool makes you do

Every path from artifact to real app is a rebuild. They differ in who does it.

You can copy the artifact's code and deploy it on a host like Vercel or Netlify. That works for a static page. The moment it needs saved data, logins, or payments, you add a database service, an auth service, and Stripe yourself, each with its own account and keys.

The pattern is the same everywhere it goes wrong: the prototype works, then the first real user sends you off to rebuild it somewhere else. Floot turns the artifact into a hosted app for you, in the same Claude chat. You say "make this a real app," and your assistant rebuilds it as a Floot project: pages for what people see, small server programs called endpoints for what the app does ("save a score," "list my entries," "invite a teammate"), and a database table for everything the artifact used to keep in its 20 MB of storage. Floot hosts all of it on its own URL.

Because Floot also includes the database, logins with Google, Microsoft, and email, file storage, email sending, scheduled jobs, and live updates, everything an artifact cannot do is already there. Your users do not need a Claude account, uploads are allowed, and you never sign up for anything else.

FAQ

Can I publish a Claude artifact?

Yes. You can share it as a link or invite people by email. For most sharing, viewers need a Claude account.

Can a Claude artifact save data?

Yes, once published. It can store up to 20 MB of text per artifact, either private to each user or shared with everyone.

Can I put a Claude artifact on my own domain?

Claude's docs do not describe custom domains for artifacts. To use your own domain, host the app somewhere else, like Floot.

Can other people log in to my Claude artifact?

They sign in with their own Claude account, not an account you control. For your own sign-up and user list, you need a hosted app.

How do I turn a Claude artifact into a website?

Copy the code to a host like Vercel if it is a static page. If it needs logins or a database, ask Floot to rebuild it in the same chat.

Does Floot work with Claude artifacts?

Yes. Add Floot as a connector in Claude and ask it to turn the artifact into a real app with a live URL.