Comparison
LetterForge vs ChatGPT for replies to candidates
Three ways to answer a candidate: an AI chat like ChatGPT, templates in Outlook, or LetterForge. What each one does, what it costs, and when it is all you need.
The comparison at a glance
Context: role, thread, notes
- LetterForge
- Knows the vacancy, the email thread with the candidate from your mail app and your call notes.
- AI chat, e.g. ChatGPT
- Works with what you paste into the chat or give it access to.
- Outlook templates
- Fixed text. You fill in names, numbers and whatever the candidate asked.
Effort per reply
- LetterForge
- Open the candidate, have the draft written, check it, open it in your mail app and send. On Solo and Team the draft starts by itself when you open a candidate with a new reply.
- AI chat, e.g. ChatGPT
- Copy the thread and the role details in, copy the answer out, paste it into the email, check the greeting and the names.
- Outlook templates
- Insert the template and adapt it to the case. Quick, as long as the case fits the template.
Privacy: what goes where
- LetterForge
- Mailbox, candidates and notes stay on your computer. For a draft, the thread it needs goes, cleaned, through our server in the EU to OpenAI (USA). Our server stores no text.
- AI chat, e.g. ChatGPT
- Whatever you paste goes to the chat provider. You take out signatures, phone numbers and names yourself. Whether your input is used for training depends on the ChatGPT plan and setting [1] [2].
- Outlook templates
- No AI service involved. The templates live in Outlook or in your mailbox [4].
Sending
- LetterForge
- The draft opens in your mail app and goes out from your address, only when you press Send.
- AI chat, e.g. ChatGPT
- You copy the text into your mail app and send it there.
- Outlook templates
- Straight from Outlook, from your address.
Sent mail and follow-ups
- LetterForge
- Finds the sent email in your Sent folder, sees the candidate's reply and reminds you to follow up if they go quiet.
- AI chat, e.g. ChatGPT
- You keep track yourself of who has replied and when to follow up.
- Outlook templates
- You set reminders yourself, for example by flagging the email for follow-up in Outlook.
Cost
A good fit for
- LetterForge
- Many candidates at once, and replies that refer to the role, the thread and the last call.
- AI chat, e.g. ChatGPT
- One-off texts without candidate data: job ads, ideas for wording, translations.
- Outlook templates
- Messages that are always the same: application received, interview confirmed, a standard rejection.
When ChatGPT is all you need
An AI chat is a good tool for text that is not about one particular candidate: drafting a job ad, rewording a tricky sentence, translating a rejection into German. If you only write a few candidate emails a week, copying them into the chat is not much work either.
With candidate emails, take out names, phone numbers, signatures and addresses before you paste. On personal ChatGPT accounts OpenAI may use your input for training unless you switch that off in the settings. On ChatGPT Business and Enterprise, OpenAI says it does not train on your input by default [1] [2].
When Outlook templates are all you need
Messages that never change need no AI: application received, interview confirmed, a standard rejection after the first call. A template is in place in seconds and reads the same every time, which is exactly the point here.
It gets tedious once the reply has to deal with what the candidate wrote: a salary question, the notice period, a question after the client interview. Then you rework the template by hand every time. Ready-made texts for these cases are in our template library, with or without LetterForge.
When LetterForge pays off
LetterForge pays off when you look after many candidates at once and your replies refer to the role, the thread so far and your last call. Then there is nothing to gather and copy: the draft comes from what LetterForge already knows and opens ready in your mail app.
On top of that you keep the overview. LetterForge sees which email went out and who has replied, and reminds you when a candidate goes quiet. Whether that suits you, you will see on your own emails, with 20 free replies a month.
What LetterForge does not do
- LetterForge is a desktop app for Mac and Windows. It does not run in the browser.
- It reads Apple Mail, classic Outlook and Thunderbird. The new Outlook and Outlook on the web are not supported yet.
- It is not made for text without a candidate, such as a job ad.
- It does not rate candidates or search for anyone. The conversations, the judgement and the decision stay with you.
Data flow
What stays on your computer and what goes where
The way of one reply draft. Anything not in the graphic never leaves your computer.
The graphic as text
- Your mailbox with all its threads, your candidates, vacancies and clients, your notes, CVs and drafts stay on your computer. LetterForge reads the thread straight from your mail app and never uploads the mailbox.
- Something leaves your computer only when a draft is written: when you ask for one, on Solo and Team also by itself when you open a candidate with a new reply, or when you have switched on preparing follow-up drafts. Then the thread with that one candidate and the details of the vacancy go to our server, encrypted.
- Before that, LetterForge takes out quoted earlier emails, signatures, phone numbers, postal addresses, bank details, profile links and other people's email addresses, on your computer.
- Our server is in a data centre in the EU, passes the request on to the AI service and returns the draft. It does not store the text, it only logs the purpose, model, length and duration of the request.
- The draft is written by OpenAI (USA) on our behalf, outside the EU. Requests through the provider’s API are not used for training. How long the provider keeps requests for abuse monitoring is in the privacy policy.
- The draft opens in your mail app. You read it, change what you like and send it from your own address. Nothing goes out without your click.
All the details in the privacy policy → More on security and privacy →
FAQ
- Is LetterForge just ChatGPT with a different look?
- No. The drafts are written by a language model from OpenAI (USA), but through its API, not through the chat. The difference is what LetterForge does before and after: it gathers the thread, the vacancy and your notes, takes out signatures and phone numbers, and opens the finished draft in your mail app.
- Can I paste candidate emails into ChatGPT?
- That depends on how your agency uses the service, and it is a question for your data protection officer. At the least, check whether there is a data processing agreement, whether your input is used for training and what has to come out of the text before you paste it. For LetterForge we give you a data processing agreement.
- Can I use ChatGPT and LetterForge side by side?
- Yes. Keep writing text that is not about a candidate, such as job ads, wherever you like. LetterForge takes care of the replies to candidates and keeps track of the thread.
- Does LetterForge replace my Outlook templates?
- Not necessarily. For messages that never change, templates stay handy. LetterForge helps where the reply has to deal with what the candidate wrote. Your templates in Outlook stay as they are.
- What does LetterForge cost?
- 20 replies a month are free, no credit card needed. Solo is €49 a month, Team €499 a month for up to 10 people, excl. VAT. Only the replies LetterForge writes count.
Sources
A factual comparison as of 18 October 2026. The details on ChatGPT and Outlook come from the sources below. Plans and features of the providers may change.
Compare on your own emails
Try both on real candidate emails. 20 replies a month are free.