OpenAI gives you ChatGPT Business.
I set it up so it does real work.
A done-for-you ChatGPT Business setup for small teams, from $4,500.
ChatGPT Business gives your team a shared workspace with projects, custom GPTs, and apps for Google Workspace, Slack, Microsoft 365, and more. Out of the box it doesn't know which files matter, how your business sells, or what a good reply from you looks like. That's the part I install.
From $4,500, about 2 weeks, roughly 3 hours of your time. Reserve a slot with a $1,500 deposit that's applied in full to the install invoice.
Justin McKelvey
Fractional CTO · I install AI for small businesses
Quick Answer
ChatGPT Business setup is Justin McKelvey's done-for-you install of ChatGPT Business for small teams: from $4,500, about 2 weeks, with a $1,500 deposit applied in full to the install invoice. As of September 2026, OpenAI lists ChatGPT Business Standard seats at $20 per user per month billed annually ($25 billed monthly) for teams of 2 to 200. The seats turn ChatGPT on. The install makes it useful: your workspace and admin settings set up, your apps and company knowledge connected, a business-context project built on how you sell, one workflow pack, training, and 30 days of support.
Author: Justin McKelvey, fractional CTO · OpenAI facts checked September 12, 2026
Your team pays for ChatGPT. Everyone still starts from a blank chat.
The seats are the easy part. Most small teams on ChatGPT are still pasting the same background into every chat, re-explaining the offer, and getting replies that sound like nobody in particular. Five people, five private prompt habits, zero shared setup.
OpenAI built the engine and the workspace. It didn't connect the right files, write down how you sell, or decide which weekly jobs ChatGPT should take off your plate. That's your business, so that part is on you.
The fix isn't a better prompt. It's a setup: the right apps connected, a shared project that knows your voice and offers, and a few workflows your team actually runs every week.
What you get from OpenAI, as of September 2026
Standard: $20 per user per month billed annually, or $25 billed monthly. Premium: $100 billed annually, or $125 monthly, with 5x more usage and no 5-hour limit. Mix seat types; 2 seats minimum, teams of 2 to 200. Enterprise is custom pricing.
ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work, and Codex, plus shared projects, custom GPTs you can share with your workspace, Company Knowledge, workspace agents, and deep research.
Apps for Google Workspace, Slack, GitHub, Microsoft 365, and more. Apps are on by default in Business workspaces, and Company Knowledge only shows each person what they can already see in the connected app.
An admin console with owner, admin, and member roles, SAML or OIDC single sign-on with domain verification, and MFA. OpenAI doesn't train on Business data by default.
The fine print, as of September 2026: only the workspace owner can buy, assign, or change seats. Self-serve Business bills by card, with no invoicing. A standalone Business plan doesn't include SCIM provisioning. ChatGPT Business doesn't include API usage, which OpenAI bills separately. And if you need a BAA for health information, OpenAI points you to a contracted offering, not self-serve Business.
ChatGPT Business set up on your business in about 2 weeks.
I do the setup. You show up to training with it already working on your own files and tools.
ChatGPT Business Setup
- →Discovery call + intake: how your business runs, sells, and sounds
- →Workspace setup with your owner: seats assigned, roles, domain verification and SSO if you use it, app and GPT settings reviewed
- →Up to 5 apps or knowledge sources connected so ChatGPT finds the right files (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Slack, or another supported app), with Company Knowledge on
- →A shared business-context project and custom GPT: your voice, your offers, how you sell
- →One workflow pack (Owner Ops or Client Delivery)
- →60-minute training + plain-language handoff doc
- →30 days of async support
My promise
30 days of support included. If something I set up isn't working, I fix it. No extra invoice.
Starts with a $1,500 deposit, applied in full to the install invoice. Email first, then secure payment on Stripe. ChatGPT seat costs are separate.
Rather talk first? Book a free discovery call.
- • Weekly business pulse from your email, Slack, and spreadsheets
- • Inbox triage with reply drafts for your approval
- • Meeting notes to follow-up email drafts
- • Proposal draft from your notes and offers
- • Project status summary from Slack and shared files
Extra workflow packs and custom GPTs are quoted on the discovery call.
Compared to the alternatives
Same goal: ChatGPT doing weekly work for your team. Different cost, different time, different amount of your attention.
| Path | Time to working setup | Cost | Your time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy seats and hope | never quite | seat cost only | trial and error |
| ChatGPT Business setup install | ~2 weeks | from $4,500 | ~3 hrs |
| Hire an AI agency | 8–12 weeks | $15K–$50K | weekly calls |
| Hire a fractional AI/CTO | ongoing | $5K–$15K/mo | weekly meetings |
Four steps, about two weeks, mostly hands-off
- Discovery call: confirm fit, your ChatGPT Business setup (or the plan to start one), and which workflow pack.
- Intake: a guided interview captures your voice, offers, and how you sell. Once, applied everywhere.
- Build (done for you, remote): workspace settings with your owner, apps and knowledge sources connected, the business-context project and custom GPT built, the workflow pack set up. Admin access from your owner, never a password handoff.
- Train and hand off: a 60-minute session so your team can run it, plus a plain-language guide.
ChatGPT drafts. You approve.
In everything I set up, a person approves anything a customer will see. ChatGPT writes the reply, the recap, the proposal draft. You decide what goes out.
Internal summaries, like your weekly business pulse, can run without a review step. They never leave your team.
Who this is for, and who it isn't
- ✓Solo operator up to a $5M business with repeatable workflows
- ✓Your team already uses ChatGPT, on personal accounts or a workspace
- ✓Already on (or willing to start) ChatGPT Business, which needs at least 2 seats
- ✓Willing to give 4 to 6 hours of intake and training input
- ✓Your workspace owner can grant admin access (you or your IT person)
- ✗Your team lives in Outlook and Teams. The Copilot for Small Business install is the better fit.
- ✗You'd rather run on Claude. That's the Claude for Small Business install.
- ✗You need ChatGPT to handle patient health information (self-serve Business doesn't come with a BAA)
- ✗You want automation nobody on your side owns, or you're shopping on price alone
- ✗Looking for an AI strategy deck. Book the AI Readiness Assessment instead.
I'd rather tell you ChatGPT is the wrong tool than sell you a setup you won't use.
I'm a fractional CTO. 15 years building products, 50+ shipped. I install AI for small businesses on Claude, on Microsoft 365 Copilot, and now on ChatGPT Business.
If your team already reaches for ChatGPT every day, moving everyone into one Business workspace is the shortest path, and this is the setup that makes it earn its seat price. If it's the wrong tool for how you work, I'll say so on the call.
About me · ChatGPT for small business, the honest version · ChatGPT Business pricing, explained
Things people ask before they book
- What is the ChatGPT Business setup?
- It's my done-for-you install of ChatGPT Business for small teams. From $4,500, about 2 weeks, with a $1,500 deposit that's applied in full to the install invoice. The seats turn ChatGPT on. The install makes it useful: your workspace and admin settings set up, your apps and company knowledge connected, a shared business-context project and custom GPT that know how you sell, one workflow pack, training, and 30 days of support.
- What does ChatGPT Business cost?
- As of September 2026, OpenAI lists ChatGPT Business Standard seats at $20 per user per month billed annually, or $25 per user per month billed monthly. Premium seats are $100 per user per month billed annually, or $125 billed monthly, with 5x more usage than Standard and no 5-hour limit. You can mix seat types. A workspace needs at least 2 seats, and OpenAI lists Business for teams of 2 to 200. ChatGPT Enterprise is custom pricing through OpenAI's sales team. Seat costs are paid to OpenAI and are separate from my install fee.
- Does OpenAI train on our ChatGPT Business data?
- Not by default. As of September 2026, OpenAI says it does not use ChatGPT Business data, including inputs and outputs, to train its models by default, and it does not use information accessed through connected apps to train models by default for Business customers.
- What can ChatGPT Business connect to?
- As of September 2026, OpenAI lists apps for Google Workspace, Slack, GitHub, Microsoft 365, and more on the Business plan. Apps are enabled by default in Business workspaces, and admins can disable an app, control which actions it can take, and limit which account domains members can connect. The Company Knowledge plugin answers from your connected sources and only shows each person what they already have access to. Custom apps built with MCP work when your workspace allows them. The install covers up to 5 apps or knowledge sources, and we confirm your stack on the discovery call.
- Does ChatGPT Business include SSO?
- Yes. As of September 2026, OpenAI includes single sign-on and domain verification with ChatGPT Business, supporting SAML and OpenID Connect. A workspace owner sets it up after verifying an email domain. A standalone Business plan does not include SCIM or automatic directory provisioning; that's ChatGPT Enterprise.
- Can we put patient health information in ChatGPT Business?
- Not on self-serve Business. As of September 2026, OpenAI says organizations that need a BAA should use a contracted offering instead of self-serve ChatGPT Business, and it offers a BAA to ChatGPT for Healthcare and API healthcare customers. I don't set up workflows that touch protected health information on a Business workspace.
- What do I need in place before the install?
- A ChatGPT Business workspace with at least 2 seats, or a willingness to start one. The workspace owner needs to be available, because as of September 2026 only owners can buy, assign, or change seats. If you want SSO, you need to be able to verify your email domain. Self-serve Business bills by card; OpenAI doesn't offer invoicing on it. If you're not set up yet, we sort it out in week one.
- How long does the install take?
- About 2 weeks from discovery call to trained team, and roughly 3 hours of your time: a discovery call, an intake interview, the build, then a 60-minute training session and a plain-language handoff doc.
- What does the install cost?
- From $4,500. You can reserve a slot with a $1,500 deposit, and the deposit is applied in full to the install invoice. Extra workflow packs and custom GPTs are quoted on the discovery call. ChatGPT seat costs are separate.
- Do you take my passwords?
- No. Your workspace owner gives me admin access for the setup, and removes it when we're done. You keep your own credentials.
- Will ChatGPT send things to my clients on its own?
- Not in anything I set up. ChatGPT drafts, and you approve anything a customer will see. Internal summaries, like a weekly business pulse, can run without a review step because they never leave your team.
- Should I use ChatGPT, Claude, or Copilot?
- If your team already lives in ChatGPT, the ChatGPT Business setup is the shortest path. If your team lives in Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint, the Copilot for Small Business install is usually the simpler fit. If you want Claude, the Claude for Small Business install is the one. Same price, same timeline. I'll tell you which one on the call.
OpenAI prices, plans, and features on this page come from OpenAI's own pages, checked September 12, 2026. OpenAI changes these, so check the source before you buy seats.
- ChatGPT Business pricing (OpenAI)
- ChatGPT Business overview (OpenAI Help Center)
- Managing billing and seats in ChatGPT Business (OpenAI Help Center)
- Company knowledge in ChatGPT (OpenAI Help Center)
- Apps in ChatGPT (OpenAI Help Center)
- Setting up SSO for ChatGPT Business (OpenAI Help Center)
- Business data privacy, security, and compliance (OpenAI)
Related reading
ChatGPT for Small Business
What actually works, and the 20-minute setup you can do yourself first.
ChatGPT Business Pricing
Standard vs Premium seats, the seat math, and when Enterprise makes sense.
Copilot for Small Business
The done-for-you install for teams that live in Outlook and Teams.
AI Readiness Assessment
Not sure which tool yet? Get a written plan first.
Make the ChatGPT seats earn their price.
Reserve a slot with the deposit, or book a free call first and I'll tell you straight whether ChatGPT is the right tool for your business.
From $4,500, starting with a $1,500 deposit that's applied in full to the install invoice.