Copilot or ChatGPT: What Should a Business Use?
Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT are the two AI assistants most UK small businesses consider first. They overlap heavily, but they are built around different strengths: Copilot works inside Microsoft 365 with your business data, while ChatGPT is a stronger general-purpose assistant. This guide compares what each one actually does, what the business tiers cost, how each handles your data, and how to decide — including when the right answer is both, or neither yet. Licensing and pricing facts were last checked on 28 July 2026 against Microsoft and OpenAI's published documentation.
“Should we use Copilot or ChatGPT?” is one of the most common AI questions we hear from small businesses. It is usually the wrong first question — the right one is “what work do we want an AI assistant to help with?” — but the comparison still matters, because the two products are priced, licensed and integrated very differently.
Last checked: 28 July 2026
Pricing and licensing in this guide were verified against Microsoft's UK pricing pages and OpenAI's published pricing and help documentation on 28 July 2026. Both vendors change prices, tiers and product names frequently — always confirm the current figure before you buy. UK prices exclude VAT.
What each one is
Microsoft Copilot is a family of AI assistants built into Microsoft products. For businesses, the relevant products are Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat (a secure AI chat included with most Microsoft 365 business subscriptions at no extra cost) and the paid Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, which puts the assistant inside Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams and PowerPoint and lets it work with your emails, documents and meetings.
ChatGPT, from OpenAI, is a general-purpose AI assistant used through its own website and apps. For businesses, the relevant tiers are ChatGPT Business (a shared workspace with admin controls, formerly called ChatGPT Team) and ChatGPT Enterprise. It does not sit inside your Office applications, but it is widely regarded as the stronger general assistant for open-ended work such as research, analysis, drafting and problem-solving.
You may already have Copilot Chat
If your business uses Microsoft 365, staff who sign in with their work account already have access to Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat at no additional cost. It offers web-grounded AI chat with enterprise data protection — prompts and responses are protected under your existing Microsoft 365 terms and are not used to train Microsoft's underlying models. It does not work inside your documents and emails the way the paid licence does, but it is a sensible, safer starting point than staff quietly using free consumer tools with business data.
What the business tiers cost
| Product | UK price (ex VAT) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat | Included | No extra cost with most Microsoft 365 business plans; sign in with a work account |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (up to 300 users) | £16.10/user/month | Annual commitment; add-on for smaller organisations — promotional pricing (£13.80) advertised until 30 September 2026 |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot (enterprise add-on) | £23.10/user/month | Annual commitment; the standard add-on at any scale |
| Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot | £18.10/user/month | Bundle: apps plus Copilot in one subscription, paid yearly |
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot | £24.60/user/month | Bundle: apps, advanced security and Copilot, paid yearly |
| ChatGPT Free | £0 | Consumer tier; limited model access; not designed for business data |
| ChatGPT Business | $25/user/month (about £20) | $20/user/month if billed annually; minimum 2 seats; priced in US dollars |
| ChatGPT Enterprise | Custom pricing | Larger organisations; contact OpenAI's sales team |
Two pricing points catch businesses out. First, Microsoft's smaller-business Copilot pricing changed in December 2025: organisations with up to 300 users now have a cheaper Copilot Business plan, so older £24.70-per-user quotes are out of date. Second, ChatGPT business plans are priced in US dollars, so the pound cost moves with the exchange rate. Check the Microsoft 365 admin centre or OpenAI's pricing page for the live figure before budgeting.
How each handles your data
For business use, the data terms matter as much as the features. On the business tiers, the two vendors make broadly similar commitments:
- Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat (signed in with a work account) operate under enterprise data protection: your prompts, responses and business data stay within your Microsoft 365 tenant boundary and are not used to train the underlying models.
- ChatGPT Business and Enterprise do not use your conversations or files to train OpenAI's models by default, and add admin controls, centralised billing and workspace management.
- Consumer tiers are different: personal ChatGPT accounts (Free and Plus) may use conversations to improve models unless the user opts out, and a personal Microsoft account does not get enterprise data protection.
The real risk is unmanaged personal accounts
The biggest data-protection risk is not choosing the wrong vendor — it is staff pasting customer or business information into personal AI accounts that sit outside any of these protections. Whichever tool you choose, make sure staff use business accounts and know the rules.
Where each one is stronger
| If the work is… | Stronger fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Drafting and summarising in Word, Outlook and Teams | Copilot | Works inside the apps, with access to your files, mail and meetings |
| Meeting recaps and catching up on Teams threads | Copilot | Reads your calendar, transcripts and chats directly |
| Open-ended research, analysis and brainstorming | ChatGPT | Generally stronger general-purpose reasoning and longer-form work |
| Writing that does not live in Microsoft 365 | ChatGPT | Not tied to any one suite; works with pasted or uploaded content |
| Building custom AI helpers for repeat tasks | ChatGPT | Custom GPTs and projects are simple to set up and share |
| Keeping business data inside your existing tenant | Copilot | Data stays within the Microsoft 365 compliance boundary you already manage |
The honest summary: Copilot's advantage is where the assistant sits — inside the tools and data you already use. ChatGPT's advantage is what the assistant is — a stronger, more flexible general-purpose helper. Many businesses run both: Copilot Chat (free) or paid Copilot for work grounded in Microsoft 365, and a small number of ChatGPT Business seats for staff whose work is research- or writing-heavy.
How to decide
- Start with the work, not the tool: list the three tasks where staff lose the most time and judge each assistant against those.
- Use what is already included first: if you are on Microsoft 365, trial the free Copilot Chat before paying for anything.
- Trial with a small group: two or three licences for a month tells you more than any comparison article.
- Judge the results, not the demo: measure whether the trial group actually saved time on real work.
- Set the rules before rolling out: business accounts only, clear guidance on what data can be used, and human review of anything important.
Whatever you choose, verify what it tells you
Both assistants can produce confident, wrong answers. Before AI output influences a business decision or reaches a customer, run it through a verification process:
Plain-English Takeaway
There is no single right answer. If your business lives in Microsoft 365, start with the free Copilot Chat, and consider paid Copilot licences for staff who spend their days in Word, Outlook and Teams. Choose ChatGPT Business where the work is open-ended research, analysis and writing. Trial before you commit, use business accounts only, and verify important AI output before acting on it — pricing checked 28 July 2026.
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