Which AI Should We Pay For? · Lesson 2 of 4

Compare the four business plans

15 minutes. Put the four business plans side by side, on the things a small business actually cares about.

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Every AI vendor has a pricing page full of features. Most of them won't change your decision. Six things will:

• Price per seat per month, paid yearly versus paid monthly
• Seat minimums and maximums
• Whether your data is used for training by default
• Admin controls: can you add and remove people, and cap spending, from one place
• Sharing: can your team share saved instructions and projects with each other
• What's included beyond the chat itself

This lesson compares the business plans of Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Gemini on those six things. Nothing else.

One reminder before the table. This isn't a ranking. All four are capable assistants. The one that fits you depends mostly on Lesson 1: what you already pay for, and where your files live.

Prices change. Check the current price on each vendor's page before you buy.

| | Claude Team | ChatGPT Business | Microsoft 365 Copilot Business | Gemini in Google Workspace | |---|---|---|---|---| | Price per seat, paid yearly | $20 standard seat; $100 premium seat | $20 standard seat; $100 premium seat | $21 list; $18 promotional price for the first year (offer runs July 1 to December 31, 2026) | No separate seat. Included in Workspace Business Starter ($7), Standard ($14) and Plus ($22) | | Price per seat, paid monthly | $25 standard; $125 premium | $25 standard; $125 premium | $25.20 | Workspace flexible plan: $8.40, $16.80, $26.40 | | Seat minimum | 2 | 2 (any mix of standard and premium) | Must already have Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Standard or Premium | Comes with your Workspace users | | Seat maximum | 150 | Check the current limit | 300 | 300 on Business plans | | Training on your data | Not by default | Not by default | Prompts, responses and company data aren't used to train foundation models | Not without your permission | | Admin controls | Single sign-on, domain capture, roles, spending caps per organization and per person | Admin controls for users, roles and access; SAML single sign-on; spend controls | Managed in the Microsoft 365 admin center, with your existing permissions; spending policies for pay-as-you-go features | Managed in the Google Admin console, including Gemini app settings | | Sharing | Share projects with the whole company or with named people, view or edit | GPTs and Projects in a shared company workspace | Agents you build, inside Microsoft 365 | Share Gems with people in your organization (admin can turn this on or off) | | Included extras | Monthly API credits (see below); Microsoft 365 and other connectors | Usage can be extended with ChatGPT credits | Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams; pre-built agents like Researcher and Analyst | Gemini inside Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Meet and the rest of Workspace (Business Standard and up) |

The full list of sources, with links, is in SOURCES.md.

Claude and ChatGPT are standalone

Claude Team and ChatGPT Business are separate subscriptions. They work the same whether you're on Microsoft, Google or neither. You pay per seat, only for the people who get one. Both start at 2 seats, so a 5-person business can buy 3 seats and leave 2 people off.

Both have a standard seat and a much more expensive premium seat for heavy users. Most small businesses never need a premium seat. Start everyone on standard. Lesson 4's 60-day review will tell you if anyone hits the limits often enough to justify the upgrade.

Claude Team now includes monthly API credits. This is new and easy to miss. Each standard seat adds $20 a month, and each premium seat $100, to one shared pool, capped at $500 a month. The credits are for the Claude API: building Claude into your own tools and automations. They don't add chat usage, and they don't cover Claude Code. They don't roll over. An owner has to claim them by linking a developer account. If nobody on your team will build anything, this extra is worth $0 to you, and that's fine. If you have someone technical, or a consultant, it's real money you'd otherwise pay.

Microsoft Copilot is an add-on, or a bundle

On Microsoft 365, Copilot Chat is already included (Lesson 1). The paid upgrade puts Copilot inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, working across your company's email, files and meetings.

You can buy it two ways:

• The add-on, Microsoft 365 Copilot Business, for just the people who need it. $21 list, or $18 for the first year on annual terms if you buy by December 31, 2026. It needs an annual commitment.
• A bundled plan, like Business Standard with Copilot at $23.50, which replaces your existing plan.

Look closely at the bundle math. Business Standard alone is $14.00. With Copilot built in, it's $23.50. That's $9.50 more per user, well under the add-on price. But it's priced per user on the plan, so it makes the most sense when most of your team will use Copilot. Before you switch, ask Microsoft or your IT provider whether you can mix the bundle with plain licenses. Lesson 3 does the math both ways.

One thing to watch: some Copilot features, like Copilot Cowork, are billed by use in "Copilot Credits," on top of the seat price. Microsoft has announced that from December 1, 2026, new Copilot Business licenses bought through a Microsoft partner will have usage billing turned on by default, with a default limit of 4,000 credits per user per month. An admin can lower it. If you buy through an IT provider, ask them to set your limit before anyone starts using it.

Gemini is the plan

On Google Workspace, there's no Gemini seat to add. Gemini is part of the plan. On Business Starter, you get Gemini in Gmail and a basic Gemini app. On Business Standard and up, Gemini works in Docs, Sheets, Meet, Drive and Chat too.

So for a Google business, "paying for AI" usually means moving from Starter to Standard. That's $7 more per user per month on a 1-year commitment. To be safe, price it for your whole team, and ask Google or your IT provider whether you can mix plans before you assume you can.

All four keep business data out of training

On the business plans, all four vendors say they don't train their models on your data by default. That's the single best reason to move your team off personal accounts. Lesson 3 turns that into a rule.

In the Seat-Count Calculator, fill in Part 2. For each option that's realistic for your business, write:

• The price per seat, paid yearly and paid monthly, from the vendor's page today
• Any seat minimum
• One line on what it adds that you don't have now

Cross out the options that don't fit. Northgate is on Microsoft 365, so Gemini was out. Lee kept three: Copilot Business, Claude Team and ChatGPT Business.

Check it worked

• You have current prices for two or three realistic options, checked on the vendors' pages today.
• You know whether your realistic options are "a seat for some people" (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot add-on) or "a plan for everyone" (Copilot bundle, Workspace upgrade).
• You've written down any included extra that matters to you, and any usage billing to watch.

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Next: turn per-seat prices into the real monthly cost for your headcount.

→ Lesson 3: Do the math for your headcount

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