Claude vs ChatGPT for business.
What each costs, what the business plans control, where your data can live, and where each one is the better buy for a New Zealand or Australian team. Every figure is the vendor's own, read from Anthropic's and OpenAI's plan pages on 1 October 2026.
The short answer
For a business, Claude and ChatGPT cost the same: US$20 per standard seat per month billed annually on Claude Team and ChatGPT Business, and neither trains on your content by default. Claude is the stronger choice when the assistant has to connect to your own systems, carry skills for every role and be measured per person. ChatGPT is the stronger choice when your team already uses it, when you need more than 150 people on a self-serve plan, or when an Enterprise contract must store data in Australia. Neither vendor's own app processes requests in Australia; Claude through Amazon Bedrock does. Prices are in US dollars excluding tax, as listed on 1 October 2026.
Claude and ChatGPT side by side
The business plans only. The seat prices are identical, so the differences that matter are in the controls, where data lives and what each connects to.
| Claude | ChatGPT | |
|---|---|---|
| Standard seat | US$20 a month billed annually, US$25 monthly (Team) | US$20 a month billed annually, US$25 monthly (Business) |
| Premium seat | US$100 annually, US$125 monthly, five times the usage | US$100 annually, US$125 monthly, five times the usage |
| Self-serve plan size | 2 to 150 people | 2 to 200 people |
| Enterprise price | Published: US$20 a seat plus usage at API rates, 20-seat minimum, self-serve | Not published: quoted by sales, credit or token based |
| Training on your content | Off by default | Off by default |
| Single sign-on | Team and Enterprise | Business and Enterprise |
| SCIM provisioning | Enterprise only | Enterprise only |
| Audit logs and compliance API | Enterprise | Compliance API on Enterprise |
| Usage telemetry you can export | OpenTelemetry (Claude Code on every plan, the whole app on Enterprise) | Analytics dashboard on Enterprise |
| Data stored in Australia | Not for Claude's own apps; through Bedrock, Vertex AI or Foundry | Enterprise, for eligible new customers |
| Processing in Australia | Through Bedrock, Vertex AI or Foundry | Not offered |
| Coding agent | Claude Code, on every seat | Codex, on every seat |
| Office add-ins | Microsoft 365 and Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint | Excel, PowerPoint, Word |
Both vendors ship new models every few weeks, so a model comparison dates faster than this page. What lasts is the plan shape above. For the Claude plans in more depth, see Claude Team vs Enterprise.
Where each one wins
We deploy Claude, so read the left column knowing that. The right column is there because it is true: there are businesses for which ChatGPT is the better buy.
- Connecting to the systems you already run. Anthropic created MCP, the open standard most AI connectors are now built on, and Claude's connectors, plugins and skills are built around it.
- Skills deployed across the organisation on the self-serve plan (ChatGPT's are still in beta), so every role gets the same playbooks on day one.
- Claude Code on every seat, including non-developers building their own tools.
- Measuring use. Claude exports usage telemetry over OpenTelemetry, which is how you see who is using it, for what, and whether seats are the right type.
- A published Enterprise price you can budget against without a sales cycle.
- Your team already uses it. Familiarity is worth real money in the first month, and switching people off a tool they like has a cost.
- More than 150 people who want a self-serve plan. ChatGPT Business goes to 200.
- An Enterprise contract that must store data at rest in Australia. OpenAI offers that; Anthropic does not for Claude's own apps.
- Teams that work in Word all day and want the assistant in the document, or want @ChatGPT inside Slack and Teams.
What actually decides it
Four questions, in the order they usually settle it. Model quality is not one of them: at this level both are good enough, and the lead changes hands every few months.
Where does your data have to live?
If data at rest must be in Australia and you want a vendor's own app, ChatGPT Enterprise is the only one of the two that offers it. If every request must also be processed onshore, neither app does it today; Claude through Amazon Bedrock in Sydney does.
What does it need to connect to?
An assistant that cannot reach your CRM, accounts or shared drive is a chat window. List the five systems your team works in and check each one against both connector directories before comparing anything else.
What are people already using?
Look at the card statements. If half the team already pays for one of them personally, that is your pilot data and your adoption head start.
Will anyone own it after the purchase?
Neither product rolls itself out. The businesses that get value have someone who builds the skills, connects the systems and watches the usage. Without that, the choice between the two matters less than people think.
What we see after the purchase
The choice matters less than the rollout
Most comparisons stop at the purchase. The businesses we work with rarely fail on which assistant they picked; they fail on what happens after. When Nature Baby switched its usage data on, one person accounted for two thirds of all use. The product was fine. Nothing had been built for anyone else's job.
That is the work a Claude rollout covers: skills for each role on every seat, connections to the systems you already run, and use measured per person so you can see it working. Where you run more than one assistant, the AI Operating System puts them under one set of controls, and shadow AI is the page for the tools nobody approved. If Microsoft 365 is where your team works, read Copilot vs Claude next.
Claude vs ChatGPT: frequently asked questions
Is Claude or ChatGPT better for business?
Neither wins outright. On the business plans they cost the same per seat and both keep your content out of model training by default. Claude is ahead on connecting to your own systems, on skills deployed across the organisation and on measuring use per person. ChatGPT is ahead if your team already lives in it, if you need more than 150 people on the self-serve plan, or if an Enterprise contract must store data in Australia. Pick on those, not on a benchmark.
How much do Claude Team and ChatGPT Business cost?
The same. A standard seat on either is US$20 per person per month billed annually or US$25 billed monthly, and a premium seat with five times the usage is US$100 annually or US$125 monthly. Both exclude tax and are listed in US dollars. Checked on both vendors' pricing pages on 1 October 2026.
What is the difference between Claude Enterprise and ChatGPT Enterprise pricing?
Claude Enterprise lists its price: US$20 per seat per month billed annually plus usage at API rates, with a 20-seat minimum, and it can be bought self-serve. ChatGPT Enterprise does not publish a price; it is quoted by OpenAI's sales team on a credit or token basis.
Can Claude or ChatGPT keep our data in Australia?
Partly, and it depends on the product. ChatGPT Enterprise can store data at rest in Australia for eligible new customers, but OpenAI does not offer Australian inference. Anthropic does not list Australian residency for Claude's own apps; it offers Australian regional processing through Amazon Bedrock, Google Vertex AI and Microsoft Foundry. Where every request must stay onshore, we deploy Claude through Bedrock in an Australian region.
Do Claude and ChatGPT train on our business data?
Not by default on either vendor's business plans. Claude Team and Enterprise and ChatGPT Business and Enterprise all state that your content is not used to train models unless you opt in.
Does either one work with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace?
Both do. Claude has Microsoft 365 and Outlook add-ins, Excel and PowerPoint add-ins and connectors to Google Workspace. ChatGPT Business connects to Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack and GitHub, and has Excel, PowerPoint and Word add-ins. If Microsoft 365 is the centre of your business, read our Copilot vs Claude comparison too.
Which has the better admin controls?
On the self-serve plans they are close: both have single sign-on and an admin console, neither has SCIM provisioning. Claude Team adds usage analytics and organisation-wide skills, which are still in beta on ChatGPT; ChatGPT Business allows up to 200 people against Claude Team's 150. On Enterprise both add SCIM, role-based access and custom retention. Claude Enterprise adds audit logs, a Compliance API and usage telemetry over OpenTelemetry; ChatGPT Enterprise adds enterprise key management and data residency.
Can we run both?
Yes, and plenty of businesses do by accident. The cost is two sets of controls, two places company knowledge ends up and no single view of who uses what. If you run both, run both on purpose: one owner, one policy, and usage measured on each.
Choosing between them for your team?
In a short call we will go through the four questions above with your systems, your data rules and what your people already use, and tell you which one we would buy in your position.
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