Claude vs ChatGPT for Australian small businesses.

Short answer: for a team of 2 to 150 people, the business plans of both vendors – Claude Team and ChatGPT Business – cost about the same, do not train on your data by default, and support single sign-on. Claude tends to suit teams that write, read long documents and follow detailed procedures; ChatGPT suits teams that want image generation, voice and one broadly familiar tool. Neither business plan stores your data in Australia. The personal plans (Pro, Plus, Max) are the wrong choice for staff handling customer data, because on those plans your conversations can be used for training unless each person opts out.

This guide describes the plans as they appear on the vendors' official pages on the date shown above. We set up both products for Australian businesses and are not a reseller of either, hence we have no commission riding on the choice. Note that vendor plans change often, so check the linked pricing pages before you buy.

The plans that matter for a business

Both vendors sell personal plans and business plans, and the difference is not only the price. In particular, the business plans add an admin console, shared billing, and contractual terms under which your data is not used for training by default. As a general rule, a business whose staff handle customer or financial information should use a business plan, even when the team is small.

Note that the Australian figures of the two vendors are not directly comparable: Anthropic states that its Australian prices include 10% GST, while OpenAI's Australian page does not say so. If your business is registered for GST, you can usually claim the GST back as an input tax credit; confirm this with your accountant. Sources: Claude pricing, Claude Team plan, ChatGPT pricing, What is ChatGPT Business (ChatGPT Team was renamed ChatGPT Business in August 2025).

What happens to your data

This is the question we are asked most often, and the answer depends far more on the plan than on the vendor. That is, a business plan from either vendor is set up so that your conversations are not used to train models by default, while the personal plans of both vendors are "opt-out", which means data can be used for training unless each person switches it off.

Additionally, if you need Claude to run inside Australia, it is available in Australian regions through AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex AI and Microsoft Foundry; however, those are routes for building your own software on the API, not the Claude chat app your staff would use. Sources: Anthropic on model training, Anthropic data retention, Claude regional compliance, OpenAI enterprise privacy, ChatGPT data residency.

Admin and security controls

For a small business, the controls that matter most are single sign-on (so a leaver loses access the moment their Google or Microsoft account is disabled) and an admin who can see and manage members. Both business plans provide these; the more advanced controls are reserved for Enterprise on both sides.

Integrations and features

Both products connect to the tools a small business already runs, be it Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 or Slack, and both support reusable "skills" – written instructions and templates that turn a repeat task into one request. The practical differences are in the details:

• Claude: add-ins for Microsoft 365 and Outlook, Claude in Slack, shared Projects, organisation-wide skills that an owner can provision for the whole team, and open-standard (MCP) connectors to other business systems. Claude Code is included in the paid plans for teams that write software.
• ChatGPT: native image generation, voice with video, custom GPTs shared in the workspace, workspace agents, "company knowledge" search across connected sources, and Codex for software teams.

Note that connecting an assistant to accounting or job-management systems (Xero, MYOB, ServiceM8 and the like) usually needs configuration beyond the built-in connectors, and it should be done with read-only access first, so that the assistant can draft but not change anything until you decide otherwise.

Which one fits your team

In most cases, both will do the day-to-day work – emails, quotes, summaries, reports – well, hence the decision usually comes down to the team rather than to the model. The rule of thumb we use on setup calls is as follows:

• Choose Claude if your team writes a lot, works with long documents such as contracts, tenders or policies, or needs the assistant to follow detailed procedures to the letter. Professional services and admin-heavy offices often fall here.
• Choose ChatGPT if your team wants images and voice, or already uses ChatGPT privately and values one familiar tool. Marketing and customer-facing teams often fall here.
• Consider Enterprise (either vendor) if you need audit logs, automatic provisioning or, with ChatGPT, data stored in Australia – for example in health or financial services.

Whichever you choose, the value comes from the setup around the assistant: the right plan, the right permissions, the right connections and instructions that match your work. Unfortunately, that is exactly the part most teams skip, and it is the part we do in our AI enablement plans.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Claude pricing and What is the Team plan (Anthropic)
• Is my data used for model training? and Regional compliance (Anthropic)
• ChatGPT pricing and What is ChatGPT Business (OpenAI)
• Enterprise privacy and Data residency for ChatGPT (OpenAI)

Claude is a trademark of Anthropic. ChatGPT is a trademark of OpenAI. Tech Bureau is an independent consultancy and is not affiliated with either vendor.