ChatGPT Enterprise or Business? ChatGPT for business in the UK

Short answer: a business that wants to use ChatGPT should choose ChatGPT Business or ChatGPT Enterprise rather than personal subscriptions. With both, your company data is not used to train OpenAI's models by default, and you get a shared workspace with admin controls and sign-in through your company account. Business suits most small and medium-sized firms. Enterprise suits larger organisations that need advanced security, custom retention rules and data stored in the UK.

Business or Enterprise?

ChatGPT Team was renamed ChatGPT Business on 29 August 2025, with no change to price or features (OpenAI). This is how the plans compare according to OpenAI's pricing page (OpenAI):

Prices are in dollars and VAT is added in the UK. Do not use the personal Plus or Pro plans for work. They have no shared administration, and you have no control over who has access to what.

What happens to your data?

OpenAI commits not to train its models on inputs or outputs from ChatGPT Business, Enterprise and the API by default. Data is encrypted with AES-256 at rest and TLS 1.2 or higher in transit, and OpenAI holds certifications such as SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 (OpenAI). OpenAI also offers a data processing addendum (OpenAI).

Since October 2025, OpenAI says that ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT Edu and the API can store data in the UK, with the Ministry of Justice among the first customers (OpenAI). Data residency is an Enterprise and Edu feature, not part of ChatGPT Business (OpenAI). If keeping data in the UK is a requirement, Enterprise is the plan you need.

UK GDPR, the ICO and AI regulation

The UK has no AI Act. The government's approach is to let existing regulators apply existing rules to AI (GOV.UK), and its AI Opportunities Action Plan from January 2025 focuses on adoption and growth (GOV.UK). For a business using ChatGPT, the rules that matter most are UK GDPR and the ICO's guidance:

• You are responsible. Your organisation remains the controller for personal data you put into the tool. The ICO's guidance on AI and data protection covers accountability, lawful basis and transparency (ICO).
• Do a DPIA before using generative AI on personal data, especially customer or employee data.
• Accuracy counts. After its consultation series on generative AI, the ICO kept its position on purpose limitation, accuracy and controllership (ICO). AI output about real people must be checked.
• Sign a data processing agreement and check where the data is processed.

If you sell into the EU, the EU AI Act may also apply to you. Since 2 February 2025, it bans certain uses of AI and requires organisations to work on AI literacy among staff who use it (European Commission). For most businesses using ChatGPT for writing, analysis and customer service, this means training and clear guidelines, not heavy compliance.

Copilot and Gemini as alternatives

Microsoft 365 Copilot is built into Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams and works with your company's documents and email. It suits businesses that already live in Microsoft 365 and is bought as a per-user add-on.

Gemini in Google Workspace has been included in Workspace Business and Enterprise plans since January 2025 at no extra cost, with Gemini in Gmail, Docs and other apps (Google).

ChatGPT is independent of your office suite and connects to both Microsoft 365 and Google Drive. Our advice is to start from the systems you already have. If you live in Microsoft 365, Copilot is often the natural choice, while ChatGPT Business or Enterprise suits many others.

How to roll out ChatGPT in your business

1. Start with tasks, not the tool. List three to five recurring tasks where AI can save time, such as first drafts of proposals, meeting summaries or answers to common customer questions.
2. Choose a plan and sign the agreements. Business or Enterprise, plus a data processing agreement.
3. Write a short policy. What can be entered, for example no National Insurance numbers or sensitive customer data, and that a person always checks the output.
4. Train everyone. An hour on how to write good instructions and where the tool falls short does more than any feature.
5. Build shared GPTs and templates for your most common tasks, so everyone gets the same quality.
6. Measure and review after a month: which tasks are faster, and where do people need more support?

When chat is no longer enough and you want AI to carry out whole workflows in your systems, the next step is automation and AI agents. Tools like n8n connect AI to the rest of your stack.

What it actually delivers

UK businesses are adopting AI fast. According to the Office for National Statistics, AI use among firms with ten or more employees rose from around 12 percent to around 35 percent between late 2023 and mid-2026, and larger firms are more likely to have adopted it (ONS).

The most cited study of the effect was carried out with 758 consultants at Boston Consulting Group. On tasks well within AI's capabilities, consultants using AI completed 12.2 percent more tasks, 25.1 percent faster and with more than 40 percent higher quality. But on a task outside AI's capabilities, they were 19 percentage points less likely to reach the right answer (Dell'Acqua et al.). The conclusion: ChatGPT makes skilled people faster, but someone has to know when the answer cannot be trusted.