Choosing business AI subscriptions.

Whoever signs off AI spending in a New Zealand business of up to about 50 people, usually an owner, practice manager or operations lead, should be able to justify the plan they chose. In this lesson you build that case: a shortlist based on where your work lives and how your data is treated, a same-task trial of two tools, and a costed decision that compares prices on the same basis. Allow 30 minutes to shortlist and set up, plus a week of normal work for the trial.

Four questions that narrow the field

1. Where does your work live? If your files, email and meetings are in Microsoft 365, Copilot can work inside them; if they are in Google Workspace, Gemini can. A standalone assistant means more copying and pasting unless you connect it.
2. What are the data terms? Use a plan your business controls. MBIE’s quickstart notes that a tool your business controls is likely to be more secure than a public one (MBIE).
3. Which tasks matter most? Drafting and summarising work well in all of them. Meeting notes, spreadsheets and document search depend more on integration.
4. What will it cost over a year, for how many seats? Include minimum seat numbers and whether you pay for unassigned seats.

What the main business plans cost in NZ

Prices below were shown from a New Zealand connection on 19 October 2026. They change often, and vendors test different pricing pages, so confirm before you buy.

Compare like with like. Microsoft’s NZ$34.00 excludes tax, so it is NZ$39.10 with 15% GST. Claude’s $40 includes GST, so it is about $34.78 before GST. Our full, regularly updated table is at AI tools pricing for New Zealand businesses.

Exercise: run a same-task trial

1. Answer the four questions. Write one line for each and pick two tools to trial. One should usually be the assistant inside your existing software.
2. Choose three real tasks. Pick tasks your team does weekly, with material you are allowed to use in a business trial. Remove client personal information.
3. Write each prompt once. Use the same prompt and the same material in both tools so the comparison is fair.
4. Score every output. Rate accuracy, edits needed and fit with how you work, from 1 to 5 each. Note anything one tool could reach that the other could not, such as your shared drive.
5. Cost the winner for real seat numbers. Convert to the same GST basis and multiply by 12 months and the number of people who will use it heavily.
6. Decide on seats. Buy for the heaviest users first and review usage after a month before adding more.

Worked example: a Hamilton architecture practice

Illustrative example: an eight-person architecture practice in Hamilton runs Microsoft 365 Business Standard. Staff already experiment with personal ChatGPT accounts. The practice manager shortlists the Microsoft 365 Copilot Business add-on and ChatGPT Business, and uses three tasks: summarising a council request for further information on a building consent, drafting a fee proposal cover email, and turning meeting notes into actions. One of the trial prompts:

Summarise the council's request for further information below as a checklist.
For each item give: what the council is asking for, which drawing or document it
relates to, and who in our team would normally answer it (architect, technician or
engineer). Quote the council's item number for each line.
Do not interpret building code requirements; flag anything unclear as "ASK".

[paste the request with the client's name and address removed]

Example output from one tool (illustrative and abridged):

Item 3: Provide cross-section through the new deck showing barrier height.
  Relates to: drawing A-201. Owner: technician.
Item 4: Confirm weathertightness details at the window head flashings.
  Relates to: drawing A-310. Owner: architect. ASK: which window types are included.
Item 7: Producer statement for the steel beam over the garage opening.
  Relates to: engineer's calculations. Owner: engineer.

In this illustrative trial, after a week both tools handled the summary well; Copilot was faster for the email and meeting tasks because it worked inside Outlook and Teams, while ChatGPT produced slightly cleaner first drafts. The practice chose Copilot for three heavy users at NZ$34.00 per user per month excluding tax: NZ$1,224 a year before GST at list price, or NZ$1,049.04 at the first-year promotional rate. Everyone else uses Copilot Chat, and staff stop using personal ChatGPT accounts for client work.

Where subscription choices go wrong

• Buying for everyone on day one. Seats go unused. ChatGPT Business, for example, charges for every purchased seat whether or not it is assigned (OpenAI).
• Comparing headline prices. GST, annual versus monthly billing and minimum seats change the answer.
• Ignoring usage limits. Every plan has them, and heavy users hit them. Check the vendor’s limits page for the tier you choose.
• Assuming local processing. As at 19 October 2026, none of the major assistant vendors we checked offered AI processing inside New Zealand; OpenAI’s data residency list, for example, includes Australia but not New Zealand (OpenAI). See data residency for AI systems.
• Forgetting admin. Offboarding staff, shared chats and connector permissions need an owner; see managing AI subscriptions and access.

For deeper tool detail, see our Microsoft Copilot and Gemini guides and the comparisons of Copilot versus ChatGPT and ChatGPT versus Claude. If you are weighing a subscription against building on an API, read choosing between an API and a subscription. For an independent recommendation across a larger team, our AI consulting has no licences to sell.

Check your decision

• I answered the four questions and shortlisted two tools.
• I ran the same three real tasks with the same prompts in both tools.
• I scored accuracy, edits and fit for every output.
• All prices are on the same GST basis and dated.
• I costed real seat numbers over 12 months, including minimums.
• Staff know personal AI accounts are not for client or customer information.

Next lesson: Training an internal AI champion covers who helps your team get value from the seats you buy.

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