ChatGPT vs. Claude: which one to choose for work?

In brief

Both cover the essentials: drafting, summarizing, reading your files, searching the web. ChatGPT is the more general-purpose one (images, voice, unlimited writing even without paying); Claude is better suited to long documents and polished Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files. The recommended plan costs $20 per month with either one: try both for free on a real task before you pay.

What they both do

ChatGPT, made by OpenAI, and Claude, made by Anthropic, are two assistants you write to as you would to a colleague. Both are available on the web, on desktop, and on your phone. For most office requests, you will get a useful result from either one.

Draft and rework a text: shorter, firmer, warmer.
Read a PDF, a Word document, or a spreadsheet, and answer your questions about it.
Search the web and give the links so you can check.
Connect to your tools (email, calendar, files) to look up information there.
Carry out a complete job while you do something else, with a paid plan.

Both can also be confidently wrong about a figure, a date, or a reference. What you send to a customer or to your management gets reviewed, whatever the tool.

What sets them apart

The differences come down to the limits of the free plan, the files produced, and what each paid plan unlocks. Prices and plans checked on October 3, 2026 on the vendors’ pages.

Criterion	ChatGPT	Claude
Without paying	Writing is unlimited. Files, images, voice, and deep research have a limit. Ads may be shown.	Chat, web search, file creation, memory, and connectors. The usage limit resets every five hours.
Recommended plan	Plus, $20 per month	Pro, $20 per month ($17 if billed yearly)
For a team	Business, $25 per user per month ($20 billed yearly), two people minimum	Team, $25 per user per month ($20 billed yearly)
Files returned	With “Work” mode: a document, a spreadsheet, a presentation, or a report	Real Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or PDF files, from the free plan
Inside Word, Excel, and PowerPoint	On all plans, with limited usage on the free plan	From Pro up
Handing over a complete job	“Work” mode: from Plus up, limited access on the free plan on desktop	Cowork: from Pro up
Images	It creates and edits them in the conversation	It reads your photos and screenshots. To create an image, ChatGPT is the right choice
Voice	Spoken conversation, limited on the free plan	A voice mode on all plans

Both vendors publish their prices in dollars. On the French App Store, we recorded €22.99 per month for ChatGPT Plus and €22.00 for Claude Pro. The exact price is shown at checkout.

Which one for which use

There is no winner in absolute terms. The right choice depends on what you do most often.

You do a bit of everything (an email, a search, an image, a spoken question): ChatGPT. It is the first tool to try when you are starting out, and writing is not metered.
You read and produce documents (contracts, reports, memos, decks): Claude. It returns a file ready to open, where others return text to copy.
You work in Excel: both open a panel in the spreadsheet. ChatGPT offers it on all its plans, Claude from Pro up. See what AI can do in a spreadsheet.
You handle company data: neither one in a personal account. Choose Business with ChatGPT or Team with Claude, where your content is not used for training by default.

If your company already lives in Microsoft 365 or in Gmail and Google Docs, look first at Copilot or Gemini: they are often already included in your subscription. And if you want a European vendor, Mistral Vibe, made in France, covers the same basic needs.

The privacy setting to change in both

On personal plans, the rule is not the same with the two vendors. With ChatGPT, your conversations can be used to train the AI, unless you turn that setting off. With Claude, they are used only if you agree. In both cases, check the setting on day one.

In ChatGPT: profile icon, “Settings,” “Data controls,” then turn off “Improve the model for everyone.”
In Claude: “Settings,” then “Privacy.” If you decline, your conversations are kept for 30 days; if you agree, for up to five years.
For a sensitive, one-off question: a temporary chat in ChatGPT, an incognito chat in Claude. Neither is used for training.

These settings do not replace your company’s rule. Before you put a customer file or a contract into either one, read what not to share with AI at work.

The test to run before you pay

Both free plans are enough to form an opinion. Take a task you really have to do this week, and give it to both.

Choose a document with no sensitive data: a set of meeting notes, a sales export, a memo to rewrite.
Write a single prompt, with the reader, the expected result, and the format. See how to write a good prompt.
Send the same prompt and the same file to ChatGPT and to Claude.
Compare: which one understood the first time, which one returns the result closest to what you would have sent, which one got something wrong.
Keep the one that needs the fewest corrections. Pay only on the day its free limit stops you several times a week.

What Nova brings

Nova is subscription software that shows what these tools can do in your job. You will find the up-to-date pages for ChatGPT and Claude (plans, prices, check date), demos to recreate step by step with the prompt ready, and a “Free or paid?” screen to know when to pay. Try the interactive demo.

Frequently asked questions

Can you use ChatGPT and Claude at the same time?

Yes: the two free plans complement each other. ChatGPT for quick requests and images, Claude for long documents and files to download. After that, a single paid subscription is enough, for the tool you use every day.

Which one writes better?

Both write well. Claude is valued for polished writing and long texts. The safest approach is still to give them the same text to rewrite and compare: your tone matters more than the tool.

Do you need to pay $20 per month from the start?

No. Start for free. With ChatGPT, move to Plus when you hit the limits every week or if you want “Work” mode everywhere. With Claude, choose Pro if the limit stops you several times a week, or for Cowork and Claude in Excel.

Which one should a team choose?

The prices are the same: $25 per user per month, $20 if billed yearly, for ChatGPT Business as for Claude Team. In both, your content is not used for training by default. Choose based on the team’s main use, after a trial run on your real documents.

My company has Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace: do I need either one?

Not necessarily. Copilot Chat is included in eligible Microsoft 365 subscriptions, and Gemini is included in Google Workspace. First check what your company has already turned on: with a work account, your work data is not used to train the AI there.

Sources

ChatGPT pricing, OpenAI
Claude pricing, Anthropic
Chat, Work, and Codex, OpenAI, help center
Data controls FAQ, OpenAI, help center
Is my data used for model training?, Anthropic, privacy center

ChatGPT or Claude: which one to choose for work?