Side by side
Prices are in US dollars, quoted from each vendor's own page and checked on October 17, 2026. Plans change, so follow the links in Sources before you buy.
| Row | ChatGPT (OpenAI) | Claude (Anthropic) |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes. Text chats, with limits on uploads, images, voice and deep research. | Yes, $0. Chat on web, desktop and mobile, web search, files, memory and connected apps. |
| One person, paid | Plus: $20 a month. | Pro: $20 a month, or $17 a month on the annual plan ($200 billed up front). |
| Team plan, standard seat | Business: $25 per user a month, or $20 on the annual plan. At least 2 seats. | Team: $25 per seat a month, or $20 on the annual plan. For teams of 2 to 150. |
| Team plan, heavy-use seat | Premium seat: $125 a month, or $100 on the annual plan. 5x the usage of a standard seat. | Premium seat: $125 a month, or $100 on the annual plan. 5x the usage of a standard seat. |
| Training on your content | Business: OpenAI says it will not train on your workspace data. Plus: conversations may be used, and you can opt out. | Team: no training on your content by default. Free, Pro and Max: Anthropic lists model training as opt-out. |
| Invoices, ACH, signed health-data terms | Not on self-serve Business. OpenAI points to a contracted plan for invoices, ACH and BAAs. | Not on the individual plans. Anthropic lists a HIPAA-ready offering under Enterprise. |
| Which one answers better on your tasksWhere I say no | I will not name a winner. Both vendors change their models often, and a table cannot tell you. | Same answer. Run five of your real tasks through both and compare the results yourself. |
| A team of more than 150Where I say no | Business is self-serve. For a larger deployment OpenAI points to Enterprise, through sales. | Team is for 2 to 150. Beyond that is Enterprise, through sales. I work with small businesses, not at that size. |
| Having someone set it up for your week | Neither plan comes with setup. You get an empty chat box and a settings page. | Neither plan comes with setup. You get an empty chat box and a settings page. |
The shaded rows are where the honest answer is not a name. Prices exclude tax.
Who should pick which
Pick ChatGPT if
You or your team already use it and like it, and your work leans on its image, voice or custom GPT features. Switching costs you time for little gain.
Pick Claude if
You want it inside Microsoft 365 and Chrome, which Anthropic's page lists on the Pro plan, or your team already prefers how it answers.
Pick neither, yet, if
You have not tried the free plan of either on a real task from this week. Do that first. It costs nothing.
Pick me if
You have a plan and an account, and the hours are not coming back. I look at your week and set up the one you already pay for.
What neither plan does for you
Both products give you a capable assistant. Neither one knows how your week runs, which tasks eat the hours, or what is safe to hand over. That gap is why many owners say they tried AI and it is not saving them time. If that is you, the fix is rarely a different chatbot. It is deciding which task goes first and setting the tool up for it.
Sources
- Claude pricing (Anthropic), checked 2026-10-17
- ChatGPT Business overview and seat prices (OpenAI Help Center), checked 2026-10-17
- ChatGPT Plus (OpenAI Help Center), checked 2026-10-17
- ChatGPT plans and pricing (OpenAI), checked 2026-10-17