ChatGPT Business, Claude Team or Microsoft 365 Copilot: which should a small business buy?
Short answer
In November 2026, a UK standard seat costs £15 a month on ChatGPT Business, £18 on Claude Team including 20% VAT, and £16.10 plus VAT for the Microsoft 365 Copilot Business add-on, all billed annually. None of the three trains on business data by default. No plan wins for every firm. Copilot suits businesses that run on Outlook, Teams and SharePoint. ChatGPT Business and Claude Team suit firms on Google Workspace or a mix of tools.
Deniz SancarFounder of Yarigai, London. Updated .
Yarigai is a done-for-you AI agency that builds these systems, so read this with that in mind. Every price and figure links to its source below. Read this page as Markdown.
At a glance
| Question | ChatGPT Business | Claude Team | Microsoft 365 Copilot Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard seat, billed annually | £15 a month | £18 a month including VAT (£15 before VAT) | £16.10 a month plus VAT, £13.80 first-year offer to 31 December 2026 |
| Standard seat, billed monthly | £18 a month | £22.50 a month including VAT | £19.32 a month plus VAT |
| Team size | 2 to 200 staff | 2 to 150 staff | Up to 300 users, on top of a Microsoft 365 Business plan |
| Trains on business data by default | No | No | No |
| Works with Google Workspace | Yes, listed connector | Yes, Gmail, Calendar and Drive connectors | No Google connector listed on Microsoft's business page |
| Works with Microsoft 365 | Yes, listed connector | Yes, Claude for Microsoft 365 and Outlook | Built in to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams |
UK prices from each provider's official page, checked 7 November 2026. OpenAI's UK page does not say whether its prices include VAT.
What each plan costs in the UK
ChatGPT Business and Claude Team cost about the same per seat once VAT is treated the same way. Microsoft 365 Copilot needs a Microsoft 365 Business plan underneath it, so its real cost depends on what the business already pays Microsoft.
| Plan | Billed annually, per seat a month | Billed monthly, per seat a month | VAT on the official page | Seat limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Business, Standard seat | £15 | £18 | Not stated | 2 to 200 staff |
| ChatGPT Business, Premium seat | £75 | £90 | Not stated | Mix with Standard seats |
| Claude Team, Standard seat | £18 | £22.50 | Includes 20% VAT | 2 to 150 staff |
| Claude Team, Premium seat | £90 | £113 | Includes 20% VAT | Mix with Standard seats |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot Business add-on | £16.10 (£13.80 first-year offer) | £19.32 | Excludes VAT | Needs an eligible Microsoft 365 Business plan |
| Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot | £18.10 | £21.72 | Excludes VAT | 1 to 300 users |
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot | £24.60 | £29.52 | Excludes VAT | 1 to 300 users |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic, without Copilot | £5.40 | Not checked | Excludes VAT | 1 to 300 users |
Claude's £18 seat is £15 before VAT (£18 ÷ 1.2). Copilot's £16.10 seat is £19.32 with VAT added (£16.10 × 1.2). Microsoft's £13.80 price needs an annual commitment made between 1 July and 31 December 2026 and applies to the first year only.
Premium seats buy more usage. OpenAI says its Premium seat has "no 5-hour limit", and Anthropic says its Premium seat gives "5x more usage than standard seats". Microsoft bills some advanced Copilot features, such as Cowork, Autopilot and the Work IQ APIs, by usage on top of the licence.
A worked example for 10 staff
On annual billing, a year of 10 standard seats costs:
- ChatGPT Business: 10 × £15 × 12 = £1,800, with VAT treatment not stated on the page.
- Claude Team: 10 × £18 × 12 = £2,160 including VAT, which is £1,800 before VAT.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot Business add-on: 10 × £16.10 × 12 = £1,932 plus VAT, or 10 × £13.80 × 12 = £1,656 plus VAT in the first year on the current offer. The Microsoft 365 plan underneath is extra.
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot: 10 × £18.10 × 12 = £2,172 plus VAT, which includes email, Teams and the Office apps as well as Copilot.
The totals run from £1,656 to £2,172, a gap of £516 a year for 10 people. The tools the business already pays for matter more than the seat price.
What each plan includes
All three give a business workspace with single sign-on, central billing and admin controls. They differ most on connectors, audit tools and where the AI works.
| Feature | ChatGPT Business | Claude Team | Microsoft 365 Copilot Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sign-in | SAML SSO and MFA | Single sign-on and domain verification | Microsoft 365 identity and access management |
| Admin | Admin console, Member, Admin and Owner roles, usage analytics, spend controls | Central billing, connector controls, usage analytics, spend controls | Microsoft 365 admin center, including spend controls for usage-based features |
| Audit logs and compliance API | Enterprise plan only | Enterprise plan only | Copilot supports audit of interactions; controls vary by Microsoft 365 plan |
| Custom data retention | Enterprise plan only | Enterprise plan only | Applies the business's Microsoft 365 retention policies |
| Connectors | Google Workspace, Slack, GitHub, Microsoft 365 and more | Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Microsoft 365, Outlook and more | Data in Microsoft 365 through Microsoft Graph |
| File uploads | 512 MB per file, 2 million tokens per text file, 80 files every 3 hours, 25 GB storage per user | 500 MB per file, 20 files per chat, 30 MB per project file | Not listed on Microsoft's business pages |
| API credits included | £15 per Standard seat a month, pooled up to £445 per workspace | Up to $500 a month, pooled | Not listed; advanced features use paid Copilot Credits |
ChatGPT Business
ChatGPT Business suits a team that wants one assistant across Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Slack. OpenAI's help centre caps shared upload storage at 25 GB per user and 100 GB per organisation. OpenAI also says that from December 2026, plan usage will share one limit across ChatGPT and Codex.
Claude Team
Claude Team connects to Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Drive. Anthropic's help centre says Claude can send, reply to and forward email through the Gmail connector, and that "by default, Claude asks for your approval before each of these actions". Team owners decide whether members can switch that approval off.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Copilot works inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, and it answers from the business's own email, chats, files and meetings through Microsoft Graph. Microsoft says Copilot "respects your identity model and permissions", so it works within the access each user already has. Copilot Chat, a web-grounded assistant, comes "at no additional cost with eligible Microsoft 365 plans", which gives Microsoft 365 firms a free place to start.
Data training defaults and where the data goes
On their business plans, OpenAI, Anthropic and Microsoft all say they do not train their models on customer content by default. The consumer plans that staff may use on their own accounts work differently.
| Provider | Business plan default | Consumer plan default |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | "No training on your business data by default" on ChatGPT Business | Free, Go, Plus and Pro list "Opt-out available" for training |
| Anthropic | "No model training on your content by default" on Claude Team | Free, Pro, Max and Ultra list model training as "Opt-out" |
| Microsoft | Prompts, responses and Microsoft Graph data "aren't used to train foundation models" | Not checked for this guide |
Three details matter for UK firms:
- Data residency. OpenAI offers UK data storage to eligible ChatGPT Enterprise, Edu, Healthcare and API customers. Its page does not list ChatGPT Business.
- Feedback. Anthropic may use chats for training when a user sends feedback, and keeps that feedback for up to 5 years. Team owners can switch off member feedback.
- Model routing. Microsoft says Claude models used inside Copilot are currently excluded from its EU Data Boundary and in-country processing commitments.
Under UK GDPR, the business stays the controller of any personal data staff put into these tools. Sign the provider's data processing terms, and stop staff from using personal accounts for company files. A personal ChatGPT or Claude account can train on content unless the user opts out. The guide to whether an AI agent is safe with your email and CRM covers the wider controls.
Which plan fits which business
Pick by where the business's documents and email already live, then test with real work before committing to a year.
- Runs on Outlook, Teams and SharePoint. Start with Copilot Chat, which is included with eligible Microsoft 365 plans, then add Copilot for the people who live in Word, Excel and Outlook.
- Runs on Gmail and Google Drive. Choose between ChatGPT Business and Claude Team. Both connect to Google Workspace, and Microsoft's business page lists no Google connector.
- Uses Slack heavily. ChatGPT Business lists Slack as a connector. Anthropic's pricing page does not name Slack.
- Has fewer than 2 staff. ChatGPT Business and Claude Team both start at 2 seats, so a sole trader buys an individual plan instead and should check its training setting.
- Has more than 150 staff. Claude Team stops at 150, and ChatGPT Business at 200. Larger firms move to an Enterprise plan.
Both ChatGPT Business and Claude Team offer monthly billing. A month of 10 seats on monthly billing costs 10 × £18 = £180 for ChatGPT Business or 10 × £22.50 = £225 for Claude Team. That is a cheap way to test both on 20 real tasks before signing an annual plan.
When a seat plan is enough and when you need a custom build
A seat plan is enough when a person sits at the screen, asks for something and checks the answer. A custom build earns its cost when the work has to happen without anyone typing a prompt.
A seat plan covers:
- Drafting emails, proposals and reports.
- Summarising documents, meetings and long email threads.
- Answering questions about files a person uploads or connects.
- Research and analysis that a person reviews.
A custom build on top of the same AI models fits when:
- The work starts on its own, such as every new invoice, enquiry or support ticket.
- The system must read from or write to tools a seat plan can't reach, such as a practice system, a bespoke database or an accounting ledger.
- Customers talk to it directly, on a website, by email or by phone.
- Every action needs a log, an approval step or a fixed output format.
The guide to custom LLMs, RAG and private ChatGPT explains when answering from company documents needs a build, and the guide to AI agent costs gives build prices.
How Yarigai builds on top of ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot
Yarigai is a done-for-you AI agency in London. It builds AI agents, support agents that answer from a client's docs, inbox triage, document reading and filing, invoice chasers and internal tools. It builds them inside the client's own accounts and tools, which can include the client's own OpenAI, Anthropic or Google accounts.
The client owns the code, the data and the accounts from day one, and there is nothing to sign up for. The client pays AI and hosting bills at cost, and the monthly running cost is on the quote. A person approves anything that sends money, emails a customer or deletes data.
A project starts with a free 30-minute scope call on Google Meet. A blueprint of about a week, credited to the build, sets out a written plan, a clickable prototype, the monthly running cost, a fixed price and the payback maths. Yarigai's guarantee reads "If the build isn't profitable for you, we won't build it." If a ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot seat does the job, the blueprint maths will show it, and Yarigai won't take a build that doesn't come out ahead within the first year.
Common questions
Is ChatGPT Business or Claude Team cheaper for a small business?
They cost the same before VAT on annual billing if OpenAI's £15 is a pre-VAT price. Claude Team is £18 a seat including 20% VAT, which is £15 before VAT. OpenAI's UK page does not say whether £15 includes VAT. On monthly billing, ChatGPT Business is £18 and Claude Team £22.50 including VAT.
Does ChatGPT Business train on company data?
No, not by default. OpenAI's pricing page lists "No training on your business data by default" for ChatGPT Business. The Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans train on content unless the user opts out, so staff should not use personal accounts for company files.
Do I need Microsoft 365 to use Microsoft 365 Copilot?
Yes. Microsoft sells the Copilot Business add-on to existing Microsoft 365 customers with an eligible Business plan, or bundled as Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot at £18.10 a user a month plus VAT, billed annually. Copilot Chat comes at no extra cost with eligible Microsoft 365 plans.
Can Microsoft 365 Copilot read Gmail and Google Drive?
Microsoft's UK business page, checked 7 November 2026, describes Copilot working on Microsoft 365 data through Microsoft Graph and lists no Google Workspace connector. A business on Gmail and Google Drive gets more from ChatGPT Business or Claude Team, which both list Google Workspace connectors.
What is the minimum number of seats?
ChatGPT Business and Claude Team both need at least 2 seats. Microsoft 365 Business plans run from 1 to 300 users, so a one-person business can buy Copilot on top of a Microsoft 365 Business plan.
Can I let Claude or ChatGPT send emails for my staff?
Yes, through connectors, with care. Anthropic's Gmail connector can send, reply and forward, and it asks for approval before each action by default. Keep that approval on for anything a customer will read, and check what each connector can do before switching it on.
Sources
Checked on or before 7 November 2026. Prices change, so check the live page before you decide.
- Plans and Pricing, ChatGPT, OpenAI, Business and individual UK prices checked 7 November 2026.
- Business data privacy, security, and compliance, OpenAI, checked 7 November 2026.
- Uploading files and audio to ChatGPT, OpenAI Help Center, checked 7 November 2026.
- Plans and pricing, Claude by Anthropic, Anthropic, Team and individual UK prices checked 7 November 2026.
- Is my data used for model training?, Anthropic Privacy Center, dated 18 August 2026, checked 7 November 2026.
- Use Google Workspace connectors, Claude Help Center, checked 7 November 2026.
- Upload files to Claude, Claude Help Center, checked 7 November 2026.
- Microsoft Copilot for Business: Enterprise AI Solutions, Microsoft UK, prices and FAQ checked 7 November 2026.
- Microsoft 365 Pricing for Business: Plans and Features, Microsoft UK, checked 7 November 2026.
- Enterprise data protection in Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Copilot Chat, Microsoft Learn, checked 7 November 2026.
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