Last week, Ailin, a client, asked me, “How much for a mini-program?” I spent five minutes digging through an Excel sheet before replying. My face burned.
I suspect most of us doing custom services have had this moment: a client opens with “How much?”, and I’m suddenly scrambling to calculate an answer. ChatGPT gave me a way to generate a webpage where the client can click through the pricing themselves. I don’t need coding skills; I just send the link.
What this is—and who’s using it
GPT-6 recently gained a new capability: ask it to “make a calculator,” and it can generate a clickable webpage with input fields and calculated results—even with a Chinese interface. In my test, I asked for a “mini-program development quote calculator” that calculates the total from features, timeline, and complexity. It was ready in 30 seconds.
The designer Lao Zhou, whom I know, went further. He used ChatGPT to build a “custom LOGO quote calculator” and put it directly on his portfolio website. Clients choose a style and turnaround time, and the price updates live. He told me his inquiry-to-client conversion rate rose by 40%. His explanation: clients arrive with a number in mind, so the haggling no longer leaves him wanting to cry.
There are plenty of other uses: Douyin project quotes, consulting hourly rates, renovation budgets, SaaS annual-plan discounts. Basically, any calculation I repeat in my working day can become one of these.
What it took to replicate
Money: $0–$20. The free ChatGPT plan works, but I often hit a queue. ChatGPT Plus costs $20 a month, or about RMB 145, and usually returns results almost instantly. I’d give it at least one month.
Time: Five to fifteen minutes to build it, plus another ten minutes to adjust the details. I got stuck on “How does the client actually see this?” I was overthinking it. ChatGPT gives me a link that I can send in WeChat or put on my website.
Technical barrier: Plain language is enough. I treat it like an intern who does the work: I can describe what I need without knowing what a “webpage” or “code” means.
First step: My first move was to open chatgpt.com and type, “Help me build an XXX quote calculator that accepts form entries, calculates a total, and uses a Chinese interface.” Then I hit Enter and waited 30 seconds. If the result wasn’t right, I asked ChatGPT to revise it.
My take, stage by stage
Just starting out, with no clients yet: No rush. I’d only reach for this once quote requests are already coming in. Before the first client arrives, building a calculator can become procrastination in disguise. I remember prioritizing visibility in my WeChat Moments instead.
Already have one or two clients and quote from memory: If I were at this stage, I’d try it today. Even a private calculator for “What hourly rate should I really charge?” makes the savings obvious. Sending a link when a client asks for a price also feels completely different.
Scaling up and handling dozens of inquiries a month: At that volume, I’d treat this as a lifeline, not a nice-to-have. Saving one hour every night adds up to 300 hours a year. I’d also have ChatGPT build three to five versions—for different services and client segments—and put each one on the website and in sales materials.
One last thought: I also got stuck on “What exactly does this thing do?” The formula I landed on was simple: whatever I calculate on repeat is exactly what I’m happy to hand off. For my first test, I picked the quoting job I dreaded most.