ChatGPT Tier Breakdown
OpenAI offers four tiers, and the privacy implications change at each level. Here's what you're actually getting:
Free
ChatGPT Free trains on your conversations by default. There is no opt-out. There are no admin controls. OpenAI explicitly states that free-tier data may be used to improve their models. Anything your employees type (client names, financial figures, internal strategies) could end up influencing future model outputs.
WARNING
ChatGPT Free trains on your conversations by default with no opt-out. Anything your employees type (client names, financial figures, internal strategies) could end up influencing future model outputs.
Plus ($20/month)
Plus gives you GPT-4o access, faster response times, and DALL-E image generation. On the privacy side, it still trains on your data by default. There is an opt-out buried in Settings > Data Controls > "Improve the model for everyone," but here's the problem: it's per-account, and there's no way for IT to enforce it.
If one employee forgets to toggle that setting, or a new hire doesn't know it exists, their conversations are being used for training. You have zero visibility into who has opted out and who hasn't.
Team ($25/user/month, billed annually)
This is where the privacy story changes. ChatGPT Team excludes all business data from model training by default. No per-user settings to worry about. You get an admin console for managing users, a shared workspace for collaboration, and SOC 2 compliance.
Team also includes higher usage limits, longer context windows, and the ability to create and share Custom GPTs within your organization.
Enterprise (custom pricing)
Everything in Team plus: SSO/SCIM integration with your identity provider, advanced admin controls, a BAA for HIPAA compliance, a dedicated Data Processing Agreement, unlimited GPT-4o access, and priority support. Enterprise also gives you a dedicated instance, meaning your data is further isolated from other customers.
Free & Plus
Trains on your data
- ✗ Data used for model training by default
- ✗ Plus opt-out is per-user and unenforceable
- ✗ No admin console or user management
- ✗ No compliance certifications
- ✗ No way to audit training settings across team
Team & Enterprise
Data excluded from training
- ✓ Training excluded at the organizational level
- ✓ Admin console with user management
- ✓ SOC 2 compliance (Team+)
- ✓ SSO/SCIM and BAA available (Enterprise)
- ✓ Shared workspace for Custom GPTs
The Training Opt-Out Trap
This is the single biggest issue we see with businesses using ChatGPT. A company buys Plus licenses for their team, assumes they're protected, and nobody checks the training settings.
We've audited companies where 100% of employees had Plus accounts and 0% had disabled training. Months of client data, financial projections, and internal communications, all feeding OpenAI's training pipeline.
Here's the reality: on ChatGPT Plus, every individual user must manually navigate to Settings > Data Controls and disable "Improve the model for everyone." There is no admin-level toggle. No way to audit who has it on or off. No notification system.
100%
Of Plus users at one client had training enabled
0%
Had manually disabled the training toggle
$5
Per user/month to eliminate the risk entirely
BOTTOM LINE
The Team plan at $25/user/month eliminates this risk entirely. Training is disabled at the organizational level. No individual settings to manage.
Cost by Team Size
| Team Size | Free | Plus | Team | Enterprise* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 employees | $0 | $100/mo | $125/mo | ~$250+/mo |
| 15 employees | $0 | $300/mo | $375/mo | ~$750+/mo |
| 50 employees | $0 | $1,000/mo | $1,250/mo | ~$2,500+/mo |
*Enterprise pricing varies. Estimates based on typical per-seat ranges.
Look at the 15-employee row. The difference between Plus (trains on your data, no admin controls) and Team (no training, full admin) is $75/month. That's $5 per person. For many businesses, a single data leak or compliance finding would cost more than a decade of that difference.
Custom GPTs and Data Privacy
Custom GPTs are a powerful feature, but they introduce a nuance that catches people off guard. When you build a Custom GPT on a Team or Enterprise plan, the data you upload to it (knowledge files, instructions) follows your plan's privacy rules, so it won't be used for training.
However, if you publish that GPT to the public GPT Store, anyone using it on a Free or Plus account is interacting with it under their tier's rules. The GPT's knowledge files themselves remain private, but the conversations users have with it may not be.
WARNING
If you publish a Custom GPT to the public GPT Store, external users on Free or Plus accounts interact with it under their tier's rules, meaning their conversations may be used for training. Keep business GPTs within your Team workspace.
Who Should Use Which Tier
Here's the decision framework we walk clients through:
Solo professional, non-sensitive work
Plus is fine if you manually disable training. Set a calendar reminder to verify the setting monthly.
Any business with 2+ employees
Team. The admin controls and guaranteed training exclusion are worth the $5/user premium. No question.
Healthcare, legal, financial services
Enterprise with a BAA. Don't deploy without it. See our HIPAA-Compliant AI guide for implementation details.
Businesses with SSO requirements
Enterprise. Team doesn't support SAML/SSO or SCIM provisioning.
For any business with 2+ employees, ChatGPT Team at $25/user/month is the right call. The admin controls and guaranteed training exclusion are worth the $5/user premium over Plus. No question.
Not sure which tier fits? Our AI Readiness Assessment will give you a personalized recommendation based on your industry, team size, and data sensitivity. Or compare ChatGPT against other providers in our Provider Privacy Matrix.