ChatGPT Projects vs Claude Projects: what's different

Side by side

From OpenAI's docs and help center and the Claude Help Center, read 5 November 2026; OpenAI's projects help through search-result text, because it blocks automated reads.

A worked example: moving a project across

Illustration: a made-up business. A five-person agency moves from ChatGPT to Claude Team and has a project per client. For each one:

1. Instructions: copied into the Claude project unchanged. They were written as role and goal, audience and tone, can and can't, sources of truth, format with examples, edge cases and hand-off, with nothing tool-specific in them.
2. Files: the brand guide, product list and last quarter's results, uploaded again as project knowledge.
3. Connected sources: the client's shared drive, reconnected through Claude's connectors.
4. Sharing: the two writers on each client get Can view; the account lead keeps Can edit, so the instructions change in one place.
5. Chats: not moved. The first new chat checks the project with a task from last week and compares the answer.

The one change to the instructions: a line that said "check the Sources section" now says "check the brand guide in the project's knowledge".

Choose and set up

1. Use the tool your team already has a business plan for; both team plans keep business data out of training by default.
2. One project per client or piece of work.
3. Write the instructions so they'd work in either: name files by what they are, not by where they sit in one tool.
4. Share for use, edit for one owner.

Next step: the team working the same way

A shared project gives a team the same context, not the same method for each task. Getting your team to use AI the same way covers that step. Each tool on its own: ChatGPT Projects explained and Claude Projects explained.

Questions

What's the difference between ChatGPT Projects and Claude Projects?

They do the same job: instructions, files and chats kept together so every chat starts with the same context. The main differences are sharing (on any ChatGPT plan you can invite people or share a link any signed-in ChatGPT user can join, OpenAI's help says; Claude shares projects on Team and Enterprise), large files (on paid Claude plans, Claude searches project knowledge when it gets large), and folders (ChatGPT's desktop app also has local projects connected to folders on your computer).

Can I move a ChatGPT project to Claude?

Yes, by hand. Copy the instructions into the Claude project's instructions, upload the same files as project knowledge, and reconnect any connected sources through Claude's connectors. Chats don't move; start new ones.

Which is better for a team?

The one your team already has a business plan for. Both team plans keep business data out of training by default and let you share projects. Write the instructions in a shape that works in either, so a switch later is a copy, not a rewrite.