Two products, the same job, different names for almost everything. This guide covers which plan to buy for a company, how to set it up so your data is protected and your team can share what they build, and a translation table so you can read either company's release notes without a headache.
Both have a chat, a way to save instructions and files into a reusable assistant, a side panel that renders documents and code, a coding agent, an agent that works on your files, a browser agent, memory, connectors to Google/Microsoft, scheduled tasks, and a business tier that doesn't train on your data. Pick one. Don't run both.
For a company the answer is Claude Team or ChatGPT Business: about $25 per seat monthly, ~$20 annual, 2-seat minimum. You get admin control, company billing, shared assistants, and a contract that says your conversations aren't training data. A personal $20 plan on someone's own card gives you none of that.
Whichever one your most tech-comfortable person already uses is probably right. If your team lives in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, both connect. If someone on staff will write code or automate, check the coding-agent column below. If nobody will, ignore it.
US list prices as of early September 2026 from the vendors and current pricing roundups. Both companies change plans often — confirm on the pricing page before you buy.
| Tier | Claude | ChatGPT | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free — limited usage, latest models | Free — limited messages; Go $8/mo ad-supported, no custom GPTs or agents | Trying it. Not for company work |
| Individual | Pro $20/mo · Max $100 / $200 (5× / 20× usage, Claude Code included) | Plus $20/mo · Pro $100 / $200 (higher limits, more Codex and Deep Research) | One person. Consumer terms — check the training toggle (below) |
| Company | Team $25/seat mo · $20 annual; Premium seat $125 / $100 (~5× usage, for heavy Claude Code users). 2–150 seats | Business $25/seat mo · $20 annual, 2+ seats. Unlimited GPT-5 messages, no training on your data | Every company in this room. Mix seat types on Claude; everyone's the same on ChatGPT Business |
| Enterprise | Custom — 150+ seats, SCIM, audit logs, data residency, Compliance API | Custom — SCIM, enterprise key management, data residency (7 regions), retention controls, SLAs | Not you yet. Revisit at 150 people or when IT/legal demands it |
Same shape on both products. Do these in order; the first four take an hour.
Read down the "what it is" column first. The names are the least important part, and both companies rename things.
| What it actually is | Claude calls it | ChatGPT calls it | Builder translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ask a question, get an answer | Chat | Chat | Level 1. Where everyone starts |
| Instructions + your files saved as a reusable assistant you can share with the team | Project (shareable in Team) | Project (workspace of chats + files) or Custom GPT (packaged, shareable, can be published to the GPT Store) | Level 2. The thing you build at the workshop — "Selections Chaser," "Bid Leveler" |
| A written procedure the AI follows when the task comes up | Skill (a folder with a SKILL.md plus templates/scripts) | No exact equivalent — closest is a Custom GPT's instructions, or a plugin inside ChatGPT Work | Your SOP, in a form the tool runs |
| Documents, tables, code or a small app rendered in a side panel you can edit | Artifact | Canvas | Where the scope of work or client update appears |
| Agent that works on your files and apps on your computer | Cowork (desktop app, folders, connectors, scheduled tasks) | ChatGPT Work (launched July 2026; cloud or local mode) — grew out of Agent mode | Level 3. "Go read this folder of bids and build me the comparison" |
| Coding agent in the terminal / IDE / cloud | Claude Code (terminal, VS Code/JetBrains, web) | Codex — Codex CLI (terminal), Codex cloud (runs in OpenAI's environment), IDE extension | Only matters if someone writes software or automations. Jock's takeoff tool is built with one of these |
| Agent that drives a web browser | Claude in Chrome (extension in your Chrome) | ChatGPT Atlas (its own browser) / Agent mode | Filling web forms, pulling data out of a portal with no export |
| Hook the AI up to your tools (Drive, Gmail, Outlook, SharePoint, Slack…) | Connectors — built on MCP | Connectors / Apps — also MCP | MCP is the open standard both use, like HDMI. A Buildertrend connector would be MCP |
| Remembers facts about you across chats | Memory (viewable/editable) | Memory (viewable/editable) | On for individuals, off for shared assistants |
| Multi-step web research with citations | Research | Deep Research | "What do lenders in our market require for draw schedules right now" |
| Runs something on a schedule | Scheduled tasks (Cowork / Chrome) | Tasks | Level 4. Monday 7am: draft the week's client updates |
| Team-shared automation with permissions, triggered by chat, schedule or API | Shared Projects + Skills in Team; agents via Claude Code / API | Workspace agents (Business/Enterprise; off by default, admin enables) | Where a company's automations live once they're real |
| Thinks longer before answering | Extended thinking / adaptive reasoning, effort levels | Thinking models / "Think longer" | Turn it up for estimating and contracts, down for emails |
| Design mockups and graphics | Claude Design | Image generation; no design-tool equivalent | Marketing one-pagers, selection boards |
| Chat that saves nothing | Incognito chat | Temporary chat | For the sensitive one-off |
| The models themselves | Claude Fable (top tier), Opus, Sonnet, Haiku (fast/cheap) — version numbers after | GPT-5.x family, GPT-6 "Astra" rolling out (Sept 2026), o-series older reasoning models | You'll rarely choose. Default is fine; pick the biggest for estimating and contract review |
| Programmatic access for developers | Claude API / Claude Platform | OpenAI API | Only if you hire someone to build on it |
The primer from the workshop, mapped to the buttons you'll actually click.