The plans a UAE company actually chooses between
ChatGPT Team was renamed ChatGPT Business on 29 August 2025. Prices below are from OpenAI's help centre, checked on 13 October 2026, converted at AED 3.6725 to the dollar. OpenAI notes that prices may vary by country and currency, so confirm the number at checkout.
| Plan | Price | In AED | Who controls the account | Training on your data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plus | USD 20/month | ~73 | The individual | Personal plan; user manages data controls |
| Business, Standard seat | USD 25 monthly or USD 20/month annual | ~92 / ~73 | The company (admins, roles, SSO) | Not by default |
| Business, Premium seat | USD 125 monthly or USD 100/month annual | ~459 / ~367 | The company | Not by default |
| Enterprise | Quote only | — | The company, plus SCIM, role-based access, key management | Not by default |
A Business workspace needs at least 2 seats, Standard or Premium in any mix. API usage is not included in any of these plans and is billed separately.
What Business gives you that Plus doesn't
- The company owns the workspace. When an employee leaves, their chats, custom GPTs and projects stay with you. On Plus they leave with the person.
- No training on your data by default. OpenAI states that it does not use inputs or outputs from Business, Enterprise and the API to train models unless you opt in.
- Admin controls. Multi-factor authentication, SAML SSO, member/admin/owner roles, control over third-party GPTs and basic usage analytics.
- Shared knowledge. Projects, company knowledge and apps connected to your internal tools, with each user authenticating separately.
Enterprise adds what regulated companies ask for: data retention controls, SCIM, enterprise key management and data residency.
Your data and UAE law
Where data sits. OpenAI lets eligible Enterprise, Edu, Healthcare and API customers keep customer content at rest in ten regions including the UAE. Business is not on that list. A Business workspace stores your data outside the UAE.
The PDPL on transfers abroad. Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 allows personal data to leave the UAE to countries with adequate protection, or under Article 23 exceptions such as the person's explicit consent or a transfer needed to perform a contract with them. The list of adequate countries has never been published, and the executive regulations were still not issued in autumn 2026. The regulator is now the Federal Authority for AI and Data, created in June 2026. DIFC and ADGM companies follow their own data protection laws.
Health data is stricter. Federal Law No. 2 of 2019 says health data related to services provided in the UAE may not be stored, processed or transferred outside the country unless the health authority issues an exemption. For a clinic, that rules out pasting patient records into ChatGPT Business.
What to do in practice:
- Sign OpenAI's Data Processing Addendum (OpenAI says it supports customers in signing one).
- Write a one-page AI policy: what staff may paste (public info, drafts, anonymised data) and what never (Emirates ID numbers, passports, health and bank details, client contracts under NDA).
- Mention AI tools as processors in your privacy notice; see PDPL for websites.
- Turn off public GPT sharing in the admin console unless you need it.
What to automate first
Start with work that is internal, reversible and easy to check.
| Task | Risk | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Drafts of proposals, emails, job ads | Low | A person edits and sends |
| Summaries of meetings and long documents | Low–medium | Remove personal data first |
| SOPs and onboarding guides from your notes | Low | Becomes company knowledge |
| Ad and social copy in English | Medium | Advertising law still applies to the result |
| Arabic copy | Medium | Consumer ads must be in Arabic; have a native speaker review it (rules) |
| AI images of real people, landmarks or state symbols | High | NMA restrictions apply; see AI-generated content rules |
| Anything with health, bank or ID data | Do not | Law and policy, above |
Worked example: five people, one year
| Setup | Calculation | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Standard seats, annual | 5 × USD 20 × 12 = USD 1,200 | ~AED 4,407 |
| 4 Standard + 1 Premium (heavy user), annual | (4 × 20 + 100) × 12 = USD 2,160 | ~AED 7,933 |
| 5 Standard seats, monthly billing | 5 × USD 25 × 12 = USD 1,500 | ~AED 5,509 |
Annual billing saves 20% on Standard seats. Prices exclude any VAT charged at checkout.
What nobody tells you
ChatGPT Business does not talk to your customers. It is a staff workspace. A bot that answers leads on WhatsApp is built on the API or a messaging platform, and Meta restricts general-purpose assistants on WhatsApp since 15 January 2026. See AI sales agent in the UAE.
Seats used by personal accounts leak data. If staff keep using personal Free or Plus accounts for work, your policy is fiction. Buy enough seats and say which account is for work.
Usage limits exist on Business too. Standard seats include baseline access; heavy users hit limits and need Premium seats or workspace credits.
The output is your advertisement. If AI writes an ad that breaks UAE content standards, the advertiser is liable, not the model. Our AI content rules guide covers what the regulator expects.
