Claude for business or ChatGPT Business: what does each cost a New Zealand team in 2026?

01What do Claude and ChatGPT business plans cost in 2026?

Claude's Team plan and ChatGPT Business have the same list price. A Standard seat costs US$20 per user per month billed annually, or US$25 billed monthly, and both plans need at least two seats. Each also sells a Premium seat with about five times the usage at US$100 annually or US$125 monthly.

The figures come from each vendor's own pages, checked on 16 October 2026. Anthropic's help centre lists Team Standard seats at $20 per member per month billed annually and $25 billed monthly, says these are prices for US customers excluding tax, and sets the plan at two to 150 seats¹. OpenAI's help centre lists ChatGPT Business Standard seats at US$20 billed annually and US$25 billed monthly, with a two seat minimum, and notes that ChatGPT Team was renamed ChatGPT Business on 29 August 2025².

New Zealand visitors see local figures. OpenAI's pricing page, viewed from New Zealand, showed ChatGPT Business at NZ$33 per user per month billed annually and NZ$41 billed monthly³, without saying whether GST is included. Anthropic's pricing page, viewed from New Zealand, showed Team Standard at $40 a seat billed annually and $50 monthly, with the note "Prices include 15% GST"⁴ and no currency code. Exchange rates move, so the NZD price of a USD plan moves with them.

02What does a business plan give you that a personal plan does not?

A business AI plan is a paid workspace from an AI vendor that gives each staff member a seat under one company account, with central billing, admin controls and business data terms that exclude your content from model training by default. Personal plans bill one person, and the training setting is the user's to manage.

That last point matters most for a business. On Anthropic's personal Pro and Max plans, the pricing page lists model training as opt-out. On the Team plan it lists "None by default". OpenAI's comparison table makes the same split: content on individual plans can be used for training with an opt-out available, while Business content is not used. A business plan also gives you an owner and admins who add and remove people from one company account, which keeps access tidy when staff change.

For a sole trader, a personal plan with training switched off can be enough. Once two or more people share client information, the business plan is the safer default.

03What does each plan include?

Both plans include chat, file analysis, connectors to common work tools, single sign-on and a coding agent: Claude Code on the Team plan and Codex on ChatGPT Business. Claude Team adds pooled API credits each month. ChatGPT Business adds image generation. Enterprise tiers on both sides add SCIM provisioning, role-based access, audit logs and custom retention.

Sources for the table: Anthropic's pricing page lists Claude Code, SSO, connector admin controls, no model training by default and up to $500 a month in pooled API credits on the Team plan⁴, and OpenAI's Business overview says a Business subscription does not include API usage². Both plans set usage limits per seat, and both let you buy more on top: Anthropic through usage credits at API rates, OpenAI through workspace credits.

Enterprise is a different purchase. Anthropic lists self-serve Claude Enterprise at US$20 per seat per month billed annually with a 20 seat minimum, plus usage billed at API rates⁴. ChatGPT Enterprise is priced through sales. For a 5 to 50 person business, the Team and Business plans are the realistic starting point.

04What does each plan cost for a 5, 10 or 20 person team?

On Standard seats, a 5 person team pays US$100 a month on annual billing or US$125 on monthly billing, a 10 person team US$200 or US$250, and a 20 person team US$400 or US$500. The numbers are identical for Claude Team and ChatGPT Business. Add GST where it applies, and convert at the day's exchange rate.

The table multiplies the official seat prices above. It applies to both vendors because their list prices match. Viewed from New Zealand, the local prices work out differently:

• ChatGPT Business at NZ$33 annual or NZ$41 monthly: NZ$165 or NZ$205 a month for 5 people, NZ$330 or NZ$410 for 10, NZ$660 or NZ$820 for 20.
• Claude Team at $40 annual or $50 monthly, GST included: $200 or $250 a month for 5 people, $400 or $500 for 10, $800 or $1,000 for 20.

The two local figures are hard to compare directly, because Anthropic's NZ page states that GST is included and OpenAI's NZ page does not say. Check the total at checkout for your own account, and ask your accountant how GST on an offshore subscription applies to your business.

One trap for small teams: Claude's self-serve Enterprise plan has a 20 seat minimum, so a five person business choosing it would pay for 20 seats, US$400 a month billed annually, before any usage. The AI marketing cost guide for Australia and New Zealand sets these subscriptions against freelancer, agency and hiring costs.

05Should you pay monthly or annually?

Pay monthly for the first month or two, while you learn who uses the tool every week, then move to annual billing for the seats you are sure of. Annual billing cuts the Standard seat price from US$25 to US$20 on both plans, a 20% saving, but you commit the seat count for the year.

The rules on changing seats differ. OpenAI's billing article says seats added on an annual ChatGPT Business plan stay committed through the end of the term, reductions take effect at the next billing cycle, and you are charged for every seat whether or not it is assigned⁵. Anthropic's pricing table lists adding seats mid-term on Team, with card payment only. Neither self-serve plan offers invoicing; that sits with the Enterprise tiers.

A sensible pattern for a 10 person business: buy monthly seats for the four or five people who will use the tool daily, run a four to six week trial, then add seats and switch to annual once usage settles.

06Which plan suits which job?

Pick by the work your team does most. For drafting and research, both are strong, so trial each on your own material for a week. For scripted work across files and connected tools, compare Claude Code and Codex directly. For image creation inside the same workspace, ChatGPT Business includes it.

The data residency point comes from OpenAI's business data page, which says eligible ChatGPT Enterprise, Edu and API customers can store content at rest in regions including Australia⁶. OpenAI's own pricing table marks data residency as unavailable on Business.

Some teams run both. A common split gives everyone one tool for daily drafting and buys a second plan for the one or two people doing scripted or technical work. If your marketing runs from files and connected tools, the notes on running a marketing function on Claude Code show what that setup looks like week to week.

07Is your data used for training, and what does the NZ Privacy Act expect?

Both vendors say business plan content is excluded from model training by default. That covers the vendor's side. Under the Privacy Act 2020, your business remains responsible for any personal information staff put into either tool, so you still need rules on what goes in and who can use it.

On the vendor side, OpenAI's business data page says it does not use data from ChatGPT Business or Enterprise, including inputs or outputs, for training by default⁶. Anthropic's privacy centre says it will not use inputs or outputs from its commercial products for training by default, that feedback such as a thumbs rating can be used, and that Team and Enterprise owners can turn rating off⁷. If you want nothing used, switch that setting off on day one.

On your side, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner says the Privacy Act applies to everyone using AI tools in New Zealand, recommends a privacy impact assessment before you start, and advises that if in doubt you do not use AI tools to handle personal information⁸. The same office says that in most circumstances you remain responsible for personal information you put in the cloud⁹. Customers notice, too: the Commissioner's 2026 privacy survey of 1,245 New Zealanders, run in March and April 2026, found 82% want more say in how their information is collected and used¹⁰.

A short policy covers most of it: which client data may go into the tool, which may not, who reviews AI output before it reaches a customer, and who owns the workspace settings. The guide to AI marketing and privacy law in NZ and Australia covers the Australian rules and the contract questions to ask.

08Why do setup and adoption cost more than the seats?

For a 10 person team, US$200 to US$250 a month is small next to the hours it takes to make the tool useful. Someone has to set up the workspace, connect the right tools, write the shared instructions and templates, train staff and check the output. Those hours decide whether the seats pay back.

Skills are the gap. KPMG and the University of Melbourne's 2025 global study, surveyed over summer 2024-25, found only 24% of New Zealanders have formal or informal training in AI, and 51% of New Zealand employees have relied on AI output at work without evaluating its accuracy¹¹. A paid seat in untrained hands produces generic work and unchecked mistakes.

A first month that tends to work:

1. Pick one plan, buy monthly seats for the daily users, and switch off feedback rating if you want no content used for training.
2. Write a one-page brief the whole team shares: your business, your customers, your tone, and what never goes into the tool.
3. Turn two or three repeated jobs into saved instructions or templates, such as a proposal first draft or a weekly report.
4. Connect one work tool, read-only first, and check what the assistant can see.
5. Agree a human in the loop rule: a named person reviews anything that reaches a customer.
6. After four to six weeks, count who uses it weekly, then set the seat count and move to annual billing.

The free agent templates give you starting instructions to adapt, and the comparison of AI marketing tools and AI marketing services helps if you are deciding how much of the setup to do yourself.

09Where Flow AI fits

Flow AI provides AI marketing services for businesses in New Zealand and Australia. Amber Lan, an AI marketing engineer in Auckland, builds the AI agents that run search, content, outbound and reporting with your team, then hands them over. Amber runs her own work on Claude Code, so judge both plans on your own trial.

If you choose Claude and want the setup done properly, the page on working with a Claude Code consultant explains how a build runs. Each build starts with a written scope and is priced per project. Companies hiring can reach Amber through the hiring page.

10The short version

Claude Team and ChatGPT Business both list US$20 per user per month on annual billing and US$25 monthly, with a two seat minimum and a Premium seat at five times the usage. A 10 person team pays US$200 to US$250 a month before GST and exchange rate movement.

Choose by the work your team does, start monthly, switch feedback rating off if you want no content used, and spend your effort on setup and training, where most of the value sits.

To plan the setup for your team, talk to Amber.