Which AI plan a small shop should pay for

Someone on the crew pasted a customer email into a free login because the paid seat was "the owner's." You do not know if you need another seat, an admin console, or nothing. A blog with dollar figures will be wrong by the time you read it.

The short answer

Pick the plan by seats and admin, then read the live price card. One person testing a job can stay on free until usage or sharing is the bottleneck. A shared workspace with one bill is a team plan. This page does not quote dollars.

Why a remembered price is the wrong input

Plan names, limits, and prices change. Open the vendor page the day you decide. What follows is the shape of the decision: who needs a seat, who must approve connectors, and whether customer files are in play.

Read these before you buy:

• openai.com/pricing — ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise
• anthropic.com/pricing — Claude Free, Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise
• gemini.google/subscriptions — Google AI Pro and Ultra, and what those cards include
• Google AI plans on Google One — the consumer ladder, including Plus beside Pro and Ultra
• workspace.google.com/pricing — Business and Enterprise
• Compare Workspace Business editions

ChatGPT Free, Plus, and Business

Free. One owner testing real jobs: email drafts, SOP outlines, short research briefs. Usage is lower than paid. Confirm the current cap on the pricing page. Weak when several people need the same workspace.

Plus (and Pro, if the live card shows it). One heavy daily user. More usage, and the features listed on that card. Weak when you need shared projects, central billing, or admin control of apps.

Business. Two or more people, one bill, admin controls, and the commercial data terms OpenAI states for that plan. Enterprise is the deeper admin tier. Read the card. Do not infer a compliance badge from the word Enterprise.

Claude Free, Pro, and Team

Free. One person testing. Chat, Artifacts, and a limited number of Projects. Confirm the Project cap in help.

Pro. One daily user. More usage and the productivity features on the current Pro card. Weak when you need shared Projects with permissions.

Team. Two or more people sharing Projects, central billing, and work under the organization rather than a pile of personal logins. Commercial data defaults differ from consumer plans. See data rules.

Enterprise. Deeper admin, retention, and items Anthropic lists only there. Listing a vendor option is not your practice being covered. Read the column with your advisor.

Gemini personal plans and Workspace

Personal Gemini. Free, and the paid Google AI plans on the subscriptions page (Plus, Pro, Ultra as those cards currently read). Fit when one person is testing in Gemini Apps on a personal Google account.

Google Workspace with Gemini. Fit when the files already live in a work account and an admin must turn Gemini on for Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Drive, or Chat. Google Workspace with Gemini is the admin starting point. If the side panel is missing, ask the admin. Do not paste the company drive into a personal Gemini login to get around that.

Which to pick when

• Alone, testing one job → free on the tool you already open
• One heavy daily user, no shared workspace → the individual paid card (ChatGPT Plus or Pro, Claude Pro, or a Google AI plan)
• Two or more people sharing instructions and one bill → ChatGPT Business, Claude Team, or Workspace with Gemini
• Customer files, connectors, or an admin who can turn apps off → the team or Workspace plan, after you read what not to paste
• You are choosing among three paid logos → stop. Pick the tool for the job first. That choice is here.

Also weigh review time, not only the subscription line. A cheap draft you rewrite from scratch costs the hour. See what AI costs a small shop.

Example (illustrative): a 6-person dental office

Problem: three people use three free logins. What was built: one Business or Team seat decision, written down, after reading the live cards. No dollar amount is stored in this example because the cards move. Owner still does: turns connectors on or off. Payoff: not measured.

Mistakes and limits

• Budgeting from a screenshot of last quarter.
• Buying three subscriptions before one job has a keep-or-cancel date.
• A team plan for a person who opens the tool once a week.
• Assuming Enterprise text on a pricing page covers your clinic. It does not, until the contract says so and counsel agrees.
• Letting staff stay on personal free accounts after you "bought the company plan."

Doing this inside the tools you already use

If you would rather have this exact job drafted from the software you already use, with you still approving every send, see how a custom build works.

FAQ

Is Plus the same as Business?

No. Plus is an individual subscription. Business is an organization plan with admin and the data terms OpenAI states for that product. Read both cards. The names move.

Does Claude Team include shared Projects?

Anthropic's help describes project sharing on Team and Enterprise. Confirm the current permissions article before you tell the crew it is shared.

We already pay for Workspace. Do we still need a Gemini subscription?

Maybe not. Gemini inside Workspace is an edition and admin setting, separate from a personal Gemini Apps subscription. Read the Workspace pricing page and the edition comparison before you add a personal plan.

Where are the prices?

On the six links in the section above. This article is not a quote.

Keep these

• Seats and admin decide the plan. A remembered price does not.
• One person testing stays on free until sharing or usage is the wall.
• Two or more people sharing work need the team or Workspace plan.
• Re-read the card on the day you pay.

Sources

• OpenAI pricing
• Anthropic pricing
• Gemini subscriptions
• Google Workspace pricing

Related reading

• Pick the tool by the job
• Is business data safe to paste
• What AI costs besides the subscription