Prices and plan details as the vendors published them on 31 October 2026. They change often, so check the linked page before you buy. Anum sells no licences and takes no vendor commission.
This covers cost, data, storage and admin controls. It does not rank which one writes better.
Do you need a new AI tool if you already pay for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace?
Often not, at least to start. If your business runs on Microsoft 365, Copilot Chat is included at no additional cost with eligible Microsoft 365 plans, and Microsoft says that using Copilot Chat doesn't require a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. What the paid licence adds is reach into your own files: with it, Copilot can reason across a wider set of organizational data, including email, meetings, chats and documents, and it brings Copilot in Teams and Microsoft 365 apps such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
If you run on Google Workspace, Gemini is part of the plan. Business Starter has the Gemini AI assistant in Gmail, and Business Standard and above have it in Gmail, Docs, Meet and more.
The tool your staff already sign in to needs no new account, and Microsoft says staff get its enterprise protections when they sign in with their work or school account. Pay for a separate ChatGPT or Claude subscription when a team needs something the bundled tool does badly and you can name the task.
What each business plan costs in Australia
ChatGPT Business. OpenAI sells Business and Enterprise for organisations. A Standard seat is A$28/month if billed annually. A$35/month if billed monthly, per user, from two users. The page does not say whether those prices include GST. Enterprise is custom pricing, through sales.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Business. This is an add-on, available only to existing Microsoft 365 customers with an eligible Business plan, for organizations with up to 300 users. Paid yearly it lists at AU$31.40 per user a month, with a promotional AU$26.91 for the first year on annual plans taken up by 31 December 2026, or AU$37.68 a month on monthly billing. Microsoft states that its prices shown here and on following pages do not include GST.
Claude Team. Anthropic's Team plan is for teams of 2 to 150. When we checked, its pricing page showed the Team price with no currency, and the figure changed between page loads, so we have left it out. Its Enterprise plan is listed at US$20/seat/month, billed annually, 20 seat minimum, plus usage at API rates.
Gemini in Google Workspace. No add-on. On annual plans, Business Starter is A$9.90 and Business Standard A$19.80 per user a month, and Google states the price does not include tax.
Does ChatGPT, Copilot or Claude train on your business data?
Not by default on any of the business plans. They differ on the exceptions.
OpenAI says: "By default, we do not use your business data for training our models", unless you have explicitly opted in, for example through its feedback tools. Microsoft's statement has no "by default" in it, and it is about foundation models: "prompts, responses, and data accessed through Microsoft Graph aren't used to train foundation LLMs". Anthropic says it will not, by default, use "inputs or outputs from our commercial products" to train its models, unless you report feedback or otherwise allow it, and a Team or Enterprise owner can disable the ability for members of your organization to submit feedback. Google says Workspace does not use customer data for training models without customer's prior permission or instruction.
The individual plans are different. On ChatGPT's Free, Go and Plus plans, and on Claude's Free and Pro plans, training on content is listed as opt-out rather than off (OpenAI, Anthropic), and that is the gap when staff use personal accounts for work. The Privacy Act side of that is in what the Privacy Act means for putting customer information into AI tools.
Where is your data stored, and can it stay in Australia?
Microsoft is the only one of the four with a commitment to store it in Australia that needs no Enterprise plan or add-on. If your Microsoft 365 tenant is provisioned in Australia, Microsoft commits to store any stored content of interactions with Microsoft 365 Copilot or Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat at rest in Australia. Processing is separate: customers outside the EU may have their queries processed in the US, EU, or other regions. Its paid Advanced Data Residency add-on lists Australia and covers Copilot, and it must cover every paid licence in the tenant.
OpenAI lists Australia among its data residency regions, but as part of Enterprise. The Business page says to contact sales if you need Enterprise SCIM, role-based access controls, or data residency.
Anthropic says that by default it may route customer traffic to select countries in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia, and then: Note that data is stored in the US.
Google Workspace data regions are the United States, European Union (labeled Europe in the Google Admin console), or No preference. There is no Australian option.
What can an admin control on each business plan?
ChatGPT Business has a secure workspace with SAML, SSO, and MFA, and its admins can view, access, export, and delete end user conversations in the workspace. Domain verification is on both plans, and SCIM and role-based access controls are listed under Enterprise only. Claude Team includes single sign-on and domain verification, while SCIM, audit logs and custom retention are Enterprise features. In Microsoft 365, Copilot activity is logged as part of Audit (Standard) once auditing is on, admins can use Microsoft Purview to set retention policies for Copilot chats, and admins can block Copilot across the tenant, with a control Microsoft says you can scope to specific users or groups.
So which one should you pick?
Start with what you already pay for, and set it up properly before you buy anything else: work accounts for everyone, the right access, and a written rule on what may go into it. Add a second tool only for a named job the first does badly. Then measure whether people are still using it after the novelty wears off, which is a different problem, covered in why the training worked and the change did not.
Common questions
Is the free version of ChatGPT safe to use for work?
It is a personal plan, and on it training on your content is opt-out rather than off. For work that touches customer information, a business plan with training off by default is the safer base.
Is ChatGPT Plus enough for a business?
Plus is an individual plan. OpenAI says Go, Free, and Plus plans are designed to be used by individuals, and Business and Enterprise are for businesses. The business plans add single sign-on and no training on your business data by default.
Can staff use their personal AI accounts for work?
They can, but the business controls do not follow them. Microsoft, for example, tells admins to have users sign in with their work or school account to get its enterprise protections. Decide which accounts are allowed and write it down.