The short answer
For a marketing lead or founder buying AI writing seats for a small team, the number that matters is what one shared workspace costs a month. For 5 people on 13 October 2026, the published prices run from $100 a month (Claude Team or ChatGPT Business, 5 Standard seats billed annually) to $499 (Writesonic Growth with 2 added users). The two general assistants are priced identically: $20 a seat billed annually, $25 billed monthly, so $100 or $125 a month for five.
The surprise is Jasper, the tool Google’s answers recommend for marketing teams. Its $59 price is one Pro seat on yearly billing ($69 monthly), the plan “includes 1 seat”, and Jasper’s own pricing FAQ ties the ability to add teammates to its Business plan, which is custom pricing. We read every price on the vendor’s own page that morning.
| Setup for 5 people | Per month, billed annually | Per month, billed monthly | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Team, 5 Standard seats | $100 | $125 | 2 to 150 people; Standard gives more usage than Pro |
| ChatGPT Business, 5 Standard seats | $100 | $125 | minimum 2 seats |
| Writesonic Basic, 2 included users + 3 at $50 | $349 | not published | 25 AI articles a month; base billed annually |
| Writesonic Growth, 3 included users + 2 at $50 | $499 | not published | 50 AI articles a month; base billed annually |
| Claude Team or ChatGPT Business, 5 Premium seats | $500 | $625 | 5x Standard usage |
| Jasper Business | custom | custom | the plan Jasper names for adding teammates |
One writer, not a team: the single-seat prices
If one person does the writing, the team plans are overkill. These are the individual plans, read on 13 October 2026.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually, per month | What the vendor page states |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Pro | $20 | $17 ($200 up front) | at least 5x Free’s usage per 5-hour session |
| ChatGPT Plus | $20 | not verified | “may include usage limits such as message caps” |
| Jasper Pro | $69 | $59 | 1 seat, 2 Brand Voices, 5 Knowledge assets, 3 Audiences; 7-day free trial |
| Writesonic Starter | not published | $79 | 15 AI articles a month, 1 user |
| Perplexity Pro | not verified | $17 | Max is $167 a month billed annually |
| Rytr Unlimited | not verified | $7.50 | Premium $24.16 a month on the same toggle |
| Grammarly Pro | $12 (billing period not stated) | not verified | 2,000 AI prompts per member a month |
Claude Pro and ChatGPT Plus cost the same $20 billed monthly. Neither publishes a fixed message count: Anthropic says outright there is “no fixed message count”, and limits reset on a rolling five-hour window with weekly limits on paid plans.
Writesonic now sells AI visibility, with articles inside
Writesonic‘s pricing page leads with tracking your brand across ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, and the AI article writer is one line item inside each tier. Divide each plan by its included articles and the entry tier is the cheapest per article: Starter $5.27, Basic $7.96, Growth $7.98. Starter cannot seat a team, though: 1 user and no add-on users listed. Basic takes up to 3 more users at $50 each, Growth up to 2, so both top out at 5 people before Enterprise. If AI-search tracking is what you want, see Best AI SEO tools: what the cheap tiers actually deliver.
Where Google’s answer is off
We captured Google’s AI Overview and AI Mode for “best ai writing tools 2026” on 12 October 2026 and checked them against the vendor pages on 13 October 2026.
| Google says | The vendor’s page says |
|---|---|
| AI Mode: Jasper “~$59/mo”, best for “corporate marketing and team workflows” | $59 is one Pro seat billed yearly ($69 monthly). Adding teammates is the Business plan, custom pricing |
| AI Mode: Claude “Free / $20/mo Pro” and ChatGPT “Free / $20/mo Plus” | Right for one person. A team buys Claude Team or ChatGPT Business at $20 to $25 a seat |
| AI Overview: Writesonic best for “SEO & AI Visibility” | Matches the page. The price buys 15 articles and 1 user at $79 a month, billed annually |
| AI Mode: Novelcrafter “Tiered options” | Four tiers, $4 to $20 a month; AI from Hobbyist up needs your own API key, billed separately |
| AI Mode: Perplexity “Free / Pro tiers” | Pro is $17 a month billed annually, and a $167 Max tier exists |
Free plans, and where they stop
| Tool | Free allowance | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Free | $0, web search, file creation and code execution | no published message count; usage resets every 5 hours |
| Grammarly Free | 100 AI prompts a month | Pro raises it to 2,000 per member |
| Rytr Free | 10K characters a month | Unlimited is $7.50 a month on yearly billing |
| Jasper Pro trial | 7 days | then a paid seat; no free plan is listed |
| Novelcrafter trial | 21 days, no credit card | AI still needs your own key from Hobbyist up |
Fiction tools do not belong in a marketing budget
Google lists Sudowrite and Novelcrafter for novelists, and both price for that job. Sudowrite runs $19, $29 and $59 a month billed monthly, or $10, $22 and $44 billed yearly, metered in credits (225,000 a month on the entry plan). Novelcrafter is $4 to $20 a month ($40 to $200 a year), and from Hobbyist up its AI runs on your own model key, so the subscription is not the whole bill.
Each tool, priced
Claude
Free $0, Pro $20 monthly or $17 a month yearly, Team Standard $20 / $25 a seat, Team Premium $100 / $125 a seat. Team covers 2 to 150 people.
ChatGPT
Plus $20 a month. Business Standard $20 a seat billed annually or $25 monthly, Premium $100 / $125, minimum 2 seats per workspace.
Jasper
Pro $69 a seat monthly or $59 yearly, 1 seat included, 7-day trial. Business is custom pricing and carries the teammate, API and governance features. Five separate Pro subscriptions would be $295 to $345 a month, but that is five workspaces, not one team.
Writesonic
Starter $79, Basic $199, Growth $399 a month billed annually, Enterprise custom. Built around AI-search visibility tracking, with 15 to 50 AI articles a month.
Rytr
Free with 10K characters a month, Unlimited $7.50 and Premium $24.16 a month on yearly billing. The cheapest paid plan with AI included in this comparison; Novelcrafter’s $4 Scribe tier lists no AI.
Perplexity
Pro $17 and Max $167 a month billed annually. A research engine with citations rather than a drafting tool.
Grammarly
Free with 100 AI prompts a month, Pro shown at $12 with 2,000 prompts per member a month, Enterprise with unlimited prompts. The page text did not state whether $12 is monthly or annual billing.
Which plan fits
- A 5-person team drafting long-form copy: Claude Team or ChatGPT Business, $100 a month billed annually ($1,200 a year), $125 billed monthly.
- A team whose goal is showing up in AI answers: Writesonic Basic with 3 added users, $349 a month, 25 articles included.
- Brand-voice governance across writers: Jasper Business, but budget for a sales call, not $59 a seat.
- One person on a tight budget: Rytr Unlimited at $7.50 a month, or Claude Free and Grammarly Free at $0.
Writing is rarely the only seat a small team buys; see what AI email assistants cost and what AI note takers cost per year. If the same people also write code, AI coding assistant pricing for a 5-developer team.
How we checked
On 13 October 2026 we opened each vendor’s pricing page, plus OpenAI’s help center for ChatGPT Plus and Business, in a rendered browser, clicked each monthly or yearly toggle by its own label, and saved the text of every state. Every number in this article is quoted from those saved pages, and a script fails the build if a quoted string is missing. Team totals are our arithmetic: seat price times five, or plan price plus listed add-on users. We did not sign up for any plan and did not test output quality, so this is a price check, not a writing test.
Questions people ask about AI writing tools
Can you use AI for content writing?
Yes, and the cost question is seats. For one writer, Claude Pro and ChatGPT Plus are $20 a month billed monthly. For a 5-person team, Claude Team or ChatGPT Business Standard costs $100 a month billed annually. Checked 13 October 2026.
Is Claude or GPT better at writing?
On price they tie: Pro and Plus are $20 a month, and the team seats are both $20 billed annually or $25 monthly. We did not test writing quality, so we make no quality claim.
Is ChatGPT still the best AI?
Not on price alone. ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro both cost $20 a month, and their team plans are priced the same per seat. Neither publishes a fixed message count.
How much does Jasper cost for a team?
Jasper Pro is $69 a seat a month, or $59 billed yearly, and includes 1 seat. Jasper’s FAQ ties adding teammates to the Business plan, which is custom pricing. Checked 13 October 2026.
What is the cheapest AI writing tool?
Of the paid plans we read with AI included, Rytr Unlimited at $7.50 a month on yearly billing. Free options: Rytr (10K characters a month), Grammarly (100 AI prompts a month) and Claude Free.
How much does Writesonic cost?
Starter $79, Basic $199 and Growth $399 a month billed annually, with 15, 25 and 50 AI articles. Extra users are $50 a month on Basic and Growth.
Which is the best AI for coding in 2026?
That is a different budget. Our AI coding assistant pricing article compares Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code, Devin and Codex for a 5-developer team.
Related reading
- Best AI SEO tools: what the cheap tiers actually deliver
- AI coding assistant pricing for a 5-developer team
- Best AI email assistants, priced
- Best AI note takers: what each one really costs per year
Sources
- Claude pricing, read 13 October 2026.
- OpenAI Help Center, What is ChatGPT Plus?, read 13 October 2026.
- OpenAI Help Center, ChatGPT Business overview, read 13 October 2026.
- Jasper pricing, read 13 October 2026.
- Writesonic pricing, read 13 October 2026.
- Rytr pricing, read 13 October 2026.
- Grammarly plans, read 13 October 2026.
- Sudowrite pricing, read 13 October 2026.
- Novelcrafter pricing, read 13 October 2026.
- Perplexity Pro, read 13 October 2026.
- Google AI Overview and AI Mode for “best ai writing tools 2026”, our capture, 12 October 2026.
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