ChatGPT vs Claude vs Microsoft 365 Copilot vs Gemini for a small UK firm: business plans compared on price, data terms and admin controls

Five people on annual billing cost between £708 and £900 a year before VAT on the business plans of the four big AI assistants, on prices read on 1 October 2026. Google Workspace Business Standard with Gemini is £708, the Microsoft 365 Copilot Business add-on is £828 at its offer price, and ChatGPT Business and Claude Team are £900 each; all four vendors say content on these plans is not used to train their models by default.

The figures below are each vendor's own, read on the date shown. We did not buy or test any plan, so this page says nothing about which of the four writes better.

Price for five people

VAT is worked at the standard rate of 20%. Four things stop the rows being like for like.

• ChatGPT and VAT. OpenAI's pricing page does not say whether VAT is in the Business price. The UK price data the page loads marks £15 and £18 as before tax, and we have treated them that way.
• Claude and currency. Anthropic's page shows US dollars ($20 and $25 a seat) until its UK version has loaded. The UK version shows pounds and says the prices include 20% VAT.
• Copilot is an add-on. It needs a qualifying Microsoft 365 business plan, bought separately. The £13.80 offer runs to 31 December 2026, needs an annual commitment and covers the first year only. At £16.10, five seats cost £966 before VAT (5 × £16.10 × 12). The like-for-like row against Google is the bundle: Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot, which includes business email and the Office apps, was £18.10 a user a month paid yearly before VAT on 1 October 2026, so £1,086 for five seats (5 × £18.10 × 12). Our Microsoft 365 Copilot cost guide prices the plan underneath.
• Google's price buys the whole suite. Business Standard includes business email and storage as well as Gemini. We have left out its introductory discount for new customers.

On monthly billing the order changes. Five ChatGPT Business seats cost £1,080 a year before VAT (5 × £18 × 12). Five Claude Team seats cost £1,350 including VAT (5 × £22.50 × 12), which is £1,125 before it, so Claude is £45 a year dearer than ChatGPT.

ChatGPT Business and Claude Team both start at two seats, so a one-person firm cannot buy either. Claude Team stops at 150 seats, ChatGPT Business at 200 employees, and Copilot Business and Google's Business plans at 300 users. We price the first two in more detail in what Claude costs and what ChatGPT costs.

What each vendor says about training on your data

Feedback is the exception with two of them. OpenAI and Anthropic both say a conversation that a user rates with the thumbs-up or thumbs-down button may be used for training. Microsoft and Google say feedback helps improve their products and is not used to train the underlying models.

On where data is held, OpenAI's pricing page lists data residency in ten regions, the UK among them, on its Enterprise card and not on the Business card. Microsoft says queries from customers outside the EU may be processed in the US, the EU or other regions. Anthropic's privacy centre says of its commercial products that data is stored in the US; the page does not name the Team plan.

The contract matters because of Article 28 of the UK GDPR. It says a supplier that processes personal data for a firm must be under a contract binding it to act only on the firm's documented instructions. A personal account that a member of staff pays for has no such contract with the firm. Our guides for accountants and recruiters set out what follows for client and candidate data.

Admin controls on each plan

A five-person firm needs four things from the admin screen: one bill, the power to remove a leaver's seat, sign-in tied to the firm's own accounts, and a say over how long chats are kept.

• ChatGPT Business. The plan card lists SAML single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, central billing and spend controls. OpenAI's privacy page says workspace admins can view, export and delete members' conversations and set how long data is kept. SCIM and role-based access are listed under Enterprise.
• Claude Team. The page lists single sign-on, central billing, domain verification and usage analytics. An owner can switch off the feedback buttons for the whole firm. Audit logs, SCIM, role-based access and custom retention are Enterprise only. The help centre gives Enterprise a 20-seat minimum.
• Copilot Business. The pricing page lists enterprise data protection and adoption analytics. Microsoft's privacy page says admins can set retention for Copilot chats in Microsoft Purview and can manage feedback.
• Google Workspace Business Standard. 2-Step Verification and group-based policy controls are on every plan. Vault, for keeping and searching data, starts at Business Plus at £18.40 a user a month.

Two of the four keep record-keeping controls for a dearer plan: Claude Team leaves audit logs and retention settings to Enterprise, and Google puts Vault one plan up.

Before you buy

1. Count the seats and choose annual or monthly billing. Annual is cheaper on all four.
2. Check at checkout whether the figure includes VAT.
3. Accept or sign the vendor's data processing terms and write down the date.
4. Name the approved tool in a short written policy, with personal accounts left off it. The AI policy guide for small law firms shows one layout.
5. Tell staff not to press the feedback buttons on a chat that holds customer data.

Prices and terms change often. Read the live page before you pay.

This is general information, not legal advice.