Copilot vs ChatGPT for New Zealand businesses.

How do Copilot and ChatGPT compare in October 2026?

The first thing to know is the name. Microsoft has renamed Microsoft 365 Copilot to Microsoft Copilot, and Copilot Chat to Microsoft Copilot Chat, with terms unchanged. The second is that Copilot comes in two forms: free Copilot Chat and a paid licence. ChatGPT Business is the fair comparison for the licence.

Where is each one stronger?

Copilot is strongest where the work already sits in Microsoft 365. Summarising a long Outlook thread, recapping a transcribed Teams meeting or drafting from last quarter’s proposal in SharePoint needs no export. Microsoft says licensed users also get its pre-built Researcher and Analyst agents. Xero announced a Microsoft 365 Copilot integration at Xerocon London in July 2026. More in our Microsoft Copilot guide.

ChatGPT is strongest as a general workbench: drafting, analysing uploaded spreadsheets and PDFs, deep research with sources, and longer agentic tasks in ChatGPT Work. It is not tied to one office suite, so it suits firms on a mix of Microsoft 365, Google Drive and Slack, and it connects to ServiceM8. See our ChatGPT guide.

How do you test Copilot and ChatGPT on the same work?

Use Microsoft’s one-month free trial, which converts to a paid subscription unless cancelled, or five add-on licences, and ChatGPT Business with the Outlook and SharePoint apps connected for the same five people. Run each task in both for two weeks.

1. Inbox catch-up. Ask both to list emails from the last two working days that need a reply, grouped by client, with deadlines and prices flagged. Check against the inbox: count missed emails and wrong groupings.
2. Proposal from past work. Ask for a proposal section drawn from three past proposals and the current rate card in SharePoint. Look for which version of the rate card each one used, and whether either surfaced a file the user should not have seen.
3. Excel analysis. Export a profit and loss report from Xero to Excel and ask for the three biggest movements against last year, with figures. Every number must match the spreadsheet; note which tool shows its working.

Then compare minutes saved per person per week against the licence price. Our lesson on evaluating an AI pilot covers reading the results honestly.

What do Copilot and ChatGPT cost over a year?

Worked example for a 10-person firm already on Microsoft 365 Business Standard, at list prices on 19 October 2026. Microsoft prices exclude tax; ChatGPT’s GST treatment is not stated.

Licence prices are close, so the decision turns on usage and the costs that come later:

• Permission clean-up. Copilot only surfaces what users can already open, which makes fixing over-shared SharePoint sites a prerequisite. Budget staff time for it; see AI and SharePoint.
• Metered agents. Copilot Chat users can use your custom agents only on a metered basis, which needs an Azure subscription.
• Residency add-ons. Microsoft’s Advanced Data Residency add-on covers Copilot data at rest, but must be bought for every paid licence in the tenant.
• Idle seats. ChatGPT Business bills every purchased seat each cycle.
• Promotion expiry. The NZ$29.14 rate applies to the first year only.

Which should you choose?

Choose Microsoft Copilot if

• Most of your work happens in Outlook, Teams, Word and SharePoint.
• Your SharePoint permissions are in good order, or you will fix them first.
• You want agents built in Copilot Studio for staff who already hold licences.
• You want data at rest in Microsoft’s New Zealand region.

Choose ChatGPT if

• Staff mainly draft and analyse documents they already have in hand.
• Your files are spread across Microsoft 365, Google Drive, Slack and other tools.
• You use ServiceM8, which has an approved ChatGPT plugin.
• You want one assistant for research, writing and spreadsheet analysis in a single place.

Where do both fall short?

• Oversharing. Both show users anything their permissions allow. A salary spreadsheet on a site shared with everyone years ago becomes searchable in seconds. See understanding AI tool permissions.
• Stale files. Grounding finds old price lists as readily as current ones. Archive superseded documents.
• Web searches. Copilot’s web queries to Bing fall outside Microsoft’s Data Protection Addendum, and Microsoft acts as an independent controller for them. Keep client names out of prompts that will search the web.
• Offshore processing. Microsoft’s in-country roadmap names Australia, India, the UAE, the UK and the US, not New Zealand. ChatGPT processes offshore on every plan. Under the Privacy Act 2020 you stay responsible for the security of what you send, so record both in your privacy assessment.
• Systems outside Microsoft. Job, CRM and accounting data stays invisible to both unless someone connects it; see AI and Microsoft 365 for the options.

Licences that nobody uses well are the most common waste here. Our AI training for business teams is built around the tool you choose.

Written by the Levy Street team in Wellington. Last updated 19 October 2026.