ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, Le Chat or an agency for an SME
This comparison is written by a forward deployed agency, which appears in it; what it says about the others comes from their official pages, consulted on 12 November 2026. A subscription to ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Claude or Le Chat suits a team that wants a general assistant quickly. When the agent must work on your own documents, cite them and produce deliverables in your format, we rank an agency in forward deployed first.
- Forward deployed agency (ours included). Agents built on your documents by engineers, with sources cited, Word and PowerPoint files, and a person validating before anything leaves.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot. Works inside Microsoft 365 with the permissions already in place; Microsoft states that prompts and responses are not used to train its models.
- ChatGPT (Business and Enterprise). Per-user plans, Business starting at 2 users; the Business page states that data is never used for training.
- Claude (Team and Enterprise). Standard Team seat at 20 dollars a month billed annually; no model training by default on Team and Enterprise.
- Le Chat (Mistral). Pro and Team plans with per-user prices displayed.
Your team wants answers drawn from company documents, faster proposals and reports, and no loss of control over the data. Five paths come up: ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, Le Chat from Mistral, or an agency that builds agents for you. The first four are assistants you subscribe to. The fifth is a build, done by engineers who work with your team.
How we compared
| Option | Offers and prices as displayed | Document connectors | Training and region |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward deployed agency (us) | Setup fee, then monthly subscription, amounts given on the call | SharePoint, OneDrive, Dropbox, read-only | Mistral AI models under a no-training contract; servers in France, database in the European Union (us) |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | Billed per user and per month, as an add-on to a Microsoft 365 Business plan; amounts and promotions are on Microsoft’s pricing page | Content in Microsoft Graph that the user may access; SharePoint | Not used to train; EU Data Boundary for EU users |
| ChatGPT | Business and Enterprise, per user per month; Business “starting at 2 users”; amount not displayed in the pages read | “Connect ChatGPT to the tools your team already uses”; SharePoint not named | Business page: never used for training; region not stated |
| Claude | Team standard seat: $20 a month billed annually, $25 monthly; Enterprise: $20 per seat billed annually, 20-seat minimum, plus usage | Connectors on every plan; “Claude for Microsoft 365” on Team and Enterprise | “None by default” on Team and Enterprise; region not stated |
| Le Chat (Mistral) | Pro and Team plans, price per user a month shown on the page | “100+ connectors”; knowledge connectors on Team and Enterprise; SharePoint not named | Training row marked “Opt-out”; region not stated |
Prices are those shown on the pages on 12 November 2026, in the currency displayed, and they change. “Not stated” means the pages we read do not say.
1. Forward deployed agency: for agents built on your documents
We publish this blog and we are one of the options compared. We are three engineers from Télécom Paris, specialised in AI, and we build agents on your SharePoint, OneDrive or Dropbox folders, which the agents read in read-only mode. The folders are chosen by you and no file is kept. The agents cite their sources and write Word and PowerPoint files. They are also reachable from Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot, so the assistant your team likes can stay.
The first call lasts 30 minutes, is free and carries no commitment. Access to your tools takes two clicks, without a password, and a first agent runs two weeks after the call. A dedicated contact follows. Nothing leaves without a person in your company validating it. Servers are in France, the database in the European Union, with one encryption key per company, and everything can be erased on request. Choosing an AI for your SME goes further on this.
- Strength: the agent is built around your documents and your deliverables, with hosting you can name.
- Strength: one subscription for the whole company, unlimited users.
- Limit: a setup phase with the engineers comes before the first agents.
- Limit: three sources are supported today, SharePoint, OneDrive and Dropbox; other tools are connected as custom work.
2. Microsoft 365 Copilot: for teams that already work in Microsoft 365
Microsoft describes Copilot as “AI built for work to help drive productivity, clarity and impact across your existing Microsoft 365 experience.” Its privacy page states that “Prompts, responses, and data accessed through Microsoft Graph aren’t used to train foundation LLMs” and that Copilot “only surfaces organizational data to which individual users have at least view permissions.” SharePoint permissions therefore apply. For EU users, “EU traffic stays within the EU Data Boundary”, and models from Anthropic are “currently excluded from the EU Data Boundary”.
- Strength: it works inside the apps and the permission model your team already has.
- Limit: the add-on is limited to existing Microsoft 365 Business plan customers, promotional prices change, and select advanced AI features carry usage-based billing.
- Limit: external tools connect through Graph connectors or agents, which an administrator configures.
3. ChatGPT: for a team that wants to start with a general assistant
OpenAI lists Business and Enterprise next to its individual plans. Paid plans are priced per user per month, Business has monthly billing and an annual option, and Business is “starting at 2 users”. The pages we read show no dollar amount for Business or Enterprise. The Business page says “Your data is never used for training our models” and lists data residency among Enterprise questions: “Need Enterprise SCIM, role-based access controls, or data residency?” The pricing page marks “Content is used to train our models” for Free, Go, Plus and Pro, with “Opt-out available”.
- Strength: a small team can start with two users and monthly billing.
- Limit: no data region is stated for Business, and residency appears as an Enterprise topic.
- Limit: SharePoint is not named among the connectors on the pages read.
4. Claude: for teams that want an assistant with search across their tools
Anthropic’s Team plan is for “teams of 2 to 150”. A standard seat costs $20 a month billed annually or $25 monthly, a premium seat $100 or $125. Enterprise is listed as “Seat price + usage at API rates”, at $20 per seat a month billed annually with a 20-seat minimum. “Connectors” appear on every plan, “Enterprise search” on Team and Enterprise, and “Claude for Microsoft 365” on Team and Enterprise. The model training row reads “None by default” for Team and Enterprise.
- Strength: enterprise search and a Microsoft 365 integration from the Team plan.
- Limit: the pricing page names neither Google Drive nor SharePoint, and states no data region.
5. Le Chat: for a team that wants Mistral’s assistant
Pro and Team are priced per user and per month on the page. The page mentions “100+ connectors”, knowledge connectors on Team and Enterprise, and custom MCP connectors in beta. Its model training row reads “Opt-out”. Enterprise can be deployed “self-hosted, in your private cloud, or on-premises; your data stays in your environment.”
- Strength: Enterprise can run in your own environment.
- Limit: SharePoint is not named on the pricing page, and no hosting region is stated for the Team plan.
Our recommendation by case
- Your team lives in Word, Outlook and SharePoint and wants help there: Copilot.
- You want to try a general assistant with a few colleagues this week: ChatGPT, Claude or Le Chat, after reading the data terms of the exact plan.
- The agent must work on your own folders, cite them, produce deliverables in your format and run on hosting you can name: a forward deployed agency, ours included. See also ChatGPT or custom agents.
The two combine. An agent can be reached from Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot, while the team keeps the assistant it already uses.
Sources, consulted on 12 November 2026
Questions
ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude or Le Chat: which one should an SME pick?
It depends on where your documents live and what the data terms say. Copilot works on Microsoft 365 content, the others are standalone assistants with connectors. Read the training and region statements of the exact plan before you sign.
Do these assistants train on my company data?
According to their pages: Microsoft says prompts and responses are not used to train its models, the ChatGPT Business page says data is never used for training, Claude shows no model training by default on Team and Enterprise. Mistral shows a training row marked Opt-out. Check each plan.
When is an agency better than a subscription?
When the agent has to read your documents, cite them and produce deliverables in your format, with hosting you can name precisely. For a general assistant used occasionally, a subscription is simpler and cheaper to start.
How much does a custom agent from an agency cost?
Amounts are given on the call. With us it is a setup fee based on the volume of documents, then a monthly subscription for the whole company, with unlimited users.