Comparison · AI assistants

ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini for UK small businesses (2026)

Published 19 October 2026 · Checked 19 October 2026, prices change

How we research: this comparison is based on each vendor’s official pricing pages, help centre and privacy documentation, read on 19 October 2026. We haven’t tested these tools hands-on for this page, and we haven’t been paid to include any tool. Where a vendor doesn’t publish something, we say “not stated”. Checked 19 October 2026, prices change.

ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are the three general-purpose AI assistants most UK small businesses start with: for drafting emails and proposals, summarising documents, brainstorming and quick research. All three have a free plan and a team plan, so the real differences are price per seat, whether VAT is included, whether your chats are used for training and where your data goes. Here’s how they compare on each vendor’s own published pages.

Our verdict

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is the best all-round starting point for most UK small businesses: the free plan offers unlimited text chats (subject to abuse guardrails), and ChatGPT Business costs £15 per seat a month billed annually (£18 monthly) for teams of 2 or more, with no training on your business data by default. Visit ChatGPT ↗

Pick Gemini instead Gemini if your business already runs on Google Workspace: Gemini is built into Gmail, Docs and Meet on the Workspace business plans, so you may already be paying for it. Pick Claude Claude if most of your work is long documents, reports and careful writing; its UK prices are shown including 20% VAT (Pro £18 a month, or £15 a month billed annually).

ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini at a glance

	ChatGPT	Claude	Google Gemini
Free plan	Free £0: unlimited text chats (subject to abuse guardrails); limited uploads, image creation, voice and deep research	Free £0: web, desktop and mobile; web search, file creation, memory and connectors	£0 with a Google Account: image generation and editing, Deep Research, Gemini Live, 15 GB storage
For one person	Go £7 a month (may include ads); Plus £20 a month; Pro from £89 a month	Pro £18 a month, or £15 a month billed annually (£180 up front); Max from £90 a month	Google AI Plus £4.49 a month; Google AI Pro £18.99 a month; Ultra from £79.99 a month
For a team	Business: Standard seat £15 per seat a month billed annually, £18 monthly; for teams of 2 to 200	Team: Standard seat £18 per seat a month billed annually, £22.50 monthly; for teams of 2 to 150	Included in Google Workspace: Business Starter £5.90 and Business Standard £11.80 per user a month (see note)
VAT	Not stated on the pricing page	“Prices include 20% VAT”	Not stated on the Gemini or Workspace pricing pages
Trains on your chats?	Personal plans: yes, with an opt-out. Business: no training on business data by default	Free, Pro and Max: only if you leave the training setting on. Team: no training on your content by default	Personal: used to improve Google AI unless you turn off Keep Activity; some chats are human-reviewed. Workspace: not used for training without permission
Where data is stored	Servers outside the UK, including the US. UK data residency for eligible Enterprise and Edu customers	United States (Anthropic’s commercial products); personal-plan data is transferred to servers in the US	Google data centres around the world; data regions are listed as a Workspace Enterprise feature. UK storage for Business plans: not stated
Works inside	Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Google Sheets extensions (limits vary by plan)	Claude for Microsoft 365 and Outlook (Pro and above)	Gmail, Docs, Meet and other Google apps (paid plans)

Prices as shown in pounds for a UK visitor on chatgpt.com/pricing, claude.com/pricing, gemini.google/subscriptions and Google Workspace pricing, checked 19 October 2026. Google’s Workspace page marks its listed prices as introductory prices for new customers, for the first 20 users and 12 months, after which standard pricing applies; the standard price is not stated on that page. Google Workspace Business plans are for up to 300 users. VAT: UK VAT (standard rate 20%, see GOV.UK) may be added at checkout unless the vendor says otherwise; if you’re VAT-registered, check how the supplier invoices you and ask your accountant how to record it.

1. ChatGPT: best all-rounder for most teams

ChatGPT’s free plan includes unlimited text chats, subject to abuse guardrails, with limited uploads, image creation, voice chats and deep research (ChatGPT pricing). Go is £7 a month and may include ads; Plus is £20 a month and adds advanced reasoning models, projects, scheduled tasks and custom GPTs. For a business, ChatGPT Business has a Standard seat at £15 per seat a month billed annually or £18 billed monthly, and a Premium seat with 5x more usage at £75 billed annually or £90 monthly. Business is for teams of 2 to 200 and includes SSO, central billing and connections to Google Workspace, Slack, GitHub and Microsoft 365.

On data, OpenAI’s pricing page says content on personal plans is used to train its models, with an opt-out, and that Business has no training on your business data by default (OpenAI business data). OpenAI says it processes and stores personal data on servers outside the UK, including in the United States (OpenAI privacy policy); storing data at rest in the UK is offered to eligible ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu customers, not Business.

Pick ChatGPT if…

You want one assistant for everything: emails, proposals, spreadsheets, images and quick research.
You want a team plan from £15 per seat a month billed annually.
You work in Excel, Word or PowerPoint and want the ChatGPT extensions.

2. Claude: best for long documents and careful writing

Claude’s free plan works on web, desktop and mobile and includes web search, file creation, memory and connectors (Claude pricing). Pro is £18 a month, or £15 a month with an annual subscription (£180 billed up front), and adds more usage, projects, Claude Code and Claude for Microsoft 365. Team has a Standard seat at £18 per seat a month billed annually or £22.50 monthly, for teams of 2 to 150, with SSO, central billing and no model training on your content by default. Claude’s pricing page says prices include 20% VAT, the only one of the three to say so.

On Free, Pro and Max, Anthropic uses your chats to train new models only if you leave the model training setting on; you choose when you sign up and can change it in your privacy settings, and if you allow training the data is kept for five years rather than 30 days (Anthropic consumer terms update). Anthropic says data for its commercial products is stored in the US (Anthropic: where are your servers located?), and its privacy policy says personal data is transferred to its servers in the US; Anthropic Ireland, Limited is the controller for UK users (Anthropic privacy policy).

Pick Claude if…

Your work is long reports, contracts, tenders or policies that need careful reading and rewriting.
You want UK prices shown with VAT included, so there’s no surprise at checkout.
You’ll check the training setting on personal plans, or use Team.

3. Gemini: best if you already use Google Workspace

Gemini is free with a Google Account and includes image generation, Deep Research, Gemini Live and 15 GB of storage (Google AI plans). Google AI Plus is £4.49 a month, Google AI Pro is £18.99 a month with Gemini in Gmail, Docs and other Google apps plus 5 TB of storage, and Ultra starts at £79.99 a month. For a business, Gemini comes with Google Workspace: Business Starter includes the Gemini assistant in Gmail and the Gemini app, and Business Standard adds Gemini in Docs, Meet and more (Google Workspace pricing). Google also sells Gemini Enterprise, for building and running AI agents, from US$21 per seat a month.

For personal accounts, Google uses Gemini chats to improve its services, including its AI models, depending on your Keep Activity setting, and human reviewers read some chats; Google asks you not to enter confidential information you wouldn’t want a reviewer to see (Gemini Apps Privacy Hub). For Workspace, Google says it doesn’t use customer data, including prompts, to train models without the customer’s permission (Gemini for Workspace privacy FAQ). Google says it operates data centres around the world (Google privacy policy); its Workspace pricing page lists data regions under the Enterprise plan.

Pick Gemini if…

Your business email and files are already in Gmail and Google Drive.
You want AI inside Gmail, Docs and Meet without another subscription.
You use it through Workspace rather than a personal Google account for client work.

Privacy note for UK businesses

Anything you paste into an AI assistant about customers, staff or clients is personal data under UK GDPR. For business use, choose a business plan (ChatGPT Business, Claude Team or Gemini in Workspace), because those are the plans where each vendor says it doesn’t train on your content by default and where you get a data processing agreement and admin controls. If you do use a personal plan, turn off training: in ChatGPT’s settings, in Claude’s privacy settings, or with Gemini’s Keep Activity setting. All three transfer data outside the UK on their standard plans; see the ICO guidance on international transfers and the ICO guidance on AI and data protection. This is general information, not legal advice.

FAQ

Which is best for a UK small business: ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini?

For most small teams we’d start with ChatGPT: it has a free plan with unlimited text chats, subject to abuse guardrails, and a Business plan from £15 per seat a month billed annually that doesn’t train on your business data by default. If your business already runs on Google Workspace, use the Gemini that comes with it first. Pick Claude if most of your work is long documents and careful writing.

Are ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini free?

Yes, all three have a free plan. ChatGPT Free is £0 with unlimited text chats, subject to abuse guardrails, and limited uploads, image creation and deep research. Claude Free is £0 and includes web search, file creation, memory and connectors. Gemini is £0 with a Google Account and includes image generation, Deep Research and 15 GB of storage. Free plans have usage limits.

How much do ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini cost in the UK?

For one person: ChatGPT Plus is £20 a month, Claude Pro is £18 a month, or £15 a month billed annually, and Google AI Pro is £18.99 a month. For teams: ChatGPT Business is £15 per seat a month billed annually (£18 monthly), Claude Team is £18 per seat a month billed annually (£22.50 monthly), and Gemini is included in Google Workspace business plans, with Business Standard listed at £11.80 per user a month.

Do the prices include VAT?

Claude’s pricing page says its prices include 20% VAT. ChatGPT’s pricing page and Google’s Gemini and Workspace pricing pages don’t say whether VAT is included, so check the total at checkout. If you’re VAT-registered, ask your accountant how to treat the invoice.

Do ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini train on my business data?

On their business plans, all three say no by default: ChatGPT Business says there’s no training on your business data by default, Claude Team says there’s no model training on your content by default, and Google says Workspace doesn’t use customer data to train models without permission. On personal plans it’s different: ChatGPT says content is used to train its models with an opt-out, Claude Free, Pro and Max chats are used for training if you leave that setting on, and Gemini uses your activity to improve Google AI unless you change the Keep Activity setting.

Where do ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini store data?

OpenAI says it processes and stores personal data on servers outside the UK, including in the United States; UK data residency is offered to eligible ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu customers. Anthropic says data for its commercial products is stored in the US. Google says it operates data centres around the world, and lists data regions as a Workspace Enterprise feature; a UK storage location for the Business plans is not stated.

Have you tested these tools?

No. This comparison is based on each vendor’s official pricing pages and documentation, checked on 19 October 2026. Prices change, so check the vendor’s page before you buy.

Sources

Official pages read on 19 October 2026. Checked 19 October 2026, prices change — always check the vendor’s own page before you buy.