For most small and mid-size businesses, the choice between Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini comes down to where the work already lives. This page compares them for business use and shows how we set up whichever one you pick.
The software you already pay for usually narrows the choice more than any feature list does.
Look at Microsoft Copilot first. It works inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, and it answers from the email, files and chats each person already has permission to open. If your team prefers Claude, its Team and Enterprise plans include Claude for Microsoft 365.
Look at Gemini first. It comes with Workspace business plans: on Business Starter it works in Gmail, and from Business Standard up it also works in Docs, Meet and more. Claude and ChatGPT can both connect to Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Drive, with an admin deciding what is switched on.
Any of the four can draft proposals, reports, policies and replies to long email threads, so the question is where your documents sit and which assistant your people keep using once the novelty wears off. We run the same real documents through the ones you are weighing and let your team compare the drafts.
Then the first question is whether it is on a business plan. ChatGPT Business and Enterprise add admin controls and single sign-on, and OpenAI does not train its models on that data by default. Staying is often the right call. If moving to Claude fits better, the move has its own page.
Moving a team from ChatGPT to Claude? See how that move runs
Health, financial or legal records change the question. Your compliance team decides which vendor plan, if any, may touch that data, working from each vendor's own terms. We set up only what they approve.
This compares business plans only. We would not set up a team on a free or personal plan.
| Assistant | Where it lives | Business plans | Your data and model training | Admin controls | Connects to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ClaudeAnthropic | Its own app, plus Claude for Microsoft 365 and for Outlook on the business plans. | Team and Enterprise. | Not used to train models by default on Team or Enterprise. | Single sign-on, domain capture and central admin on Team. Enterprise adds role-based access and SCIM. | Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Drive once an Owner turns them on, and Microsoft 365. |
| ChatGPTOpenAI | Its own app, in a shared workspace for the team. | Business and Enterprise. | Not used to train models by default on Business or Enterprise. | Controls for users, usage and billing, with single sign-on and multi-factor sign-in on Business. SCIM, role-based access and data residency through Enterprise. | Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Drive, plus plugins for other tools. Admins choose which sources and actions are on. |
| CopilotMicrosoft | Inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. | Sold to Microsoft 365 organizations. Microsoft's plan page lists which subscriptions qualify. | Prompts, responses and your Microsoft 365 data are not used to train the underlying models. | Shows only what each person can already open. Admins choose which agents are allowed and set retention in Microsoft Purview. | Your Microsoft 365 email, files, chats and meetings, plus other tools through Microsoft Graph connectors and agents. |
| GeminiGoogle | Inside Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Meet, Drive and Chat, plus the Gemini app. | Included in Google Workspace business plans. Business Starter gets Gmail; Business Standard and up add Docs, Meet and more. | Company data is not used to train Gemini models or for ad targeting. | Workspace admin controls, including data loss prevention, information rights management and client-side encryption. | Your Workspace mail, files, calendar and meetings. |
Last reviewed 25 September 2026, against each vendor's own pages. Plans and features change often, and prices more often still, so we do not quote them here. Check the vendor's pricing page before you buy: Claude pricing (opens in a new tab), ChatGPT pricing (opens in a new tab), Microsoft Copilot pricing (opens in a new tab), Google Workspace pricing (opens in a new tab).
Some teams add Perplexity Enterprise beside their main assistant. It answers research questions from the web with the sources cited, and it can search your own files through integrations. Perplexity says it does not train its models on enterprise customers' data, and it offers single sign-on, SCIM and audit logs. We set it up as a research tool beside the assistant your team drafts in.
NFCG sets up Anthropic Claude, OpenAI ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini and Perplexity, and plenty of businesses run more than one. For your setup, we tell you which tool is doing what, where it runs and what it can reach.
We look at how work moves through your business and which tools you already pay for. Often that settles the choice.
If it is still open, your team runs the same real tasks through the assistants in question, and we write down what each one got right and wrong.
We configure the business plan and its admin settings, connect the files and tools the work needs, and write the instructions your team will use.
The assistant starts read-only and gets more access one job at a time. Nothing runs on its own until a named person has approved it.
Start with a readiness check, or see the three ways to buy a setup.
A few questions about how work moves through your business, and a plain write-up back from a person on our team. Included with every engagement, and free on its own.
Free, with no lock-in and no sales script.