ChatGPT and Claude Can Now Compare Australian Business Costs at Your Size

ChatGPT and Claude can now price Australian business costs from Merchant Compare's comparison tables. Describe your business, ask what card payments, payroll or accounting software would cost, and the assistant answers with providers ranked by estimated monthly cost in Australian dollars. The free plugin is listed as SMB Compare, the name of our US sister site, in both assistants' directories, and any other AI tool that supports MCP can use it by adding one URL. It's read-only and needs no account.

Key takeaways:

• Search for SMB Compare in ChatGPT's plugin directory or Claude's connectors directory.
• In Cursor, VS Code, Claude Code or another MCP client, add the connector URL below.
• Tell it you're in Australia and give it your figures (monthly card sales, average sale, headcount). It prices each provider at that size and links to the full comparison here.

What it looks like in ChatGPT and Claude

An example, with live figures from our payroll comparison. The demo switches between Claude and ChatGPT; the figures are the same in both.

Claude

What's the cheapest payroll software for 10 employees in Australia?

Used SMB Compare: compare

Estimated monthly cost at 10 employees, from Merchant Compare:

1. QuickBooks Online, $93 (Simple Start + Payroll)
2. Employment Hero, $100 (Payroll, monthly minimum)
3. MYOB, $100 (Business Pro + Payroll)

See all 10 on Merchant Compare

Ask anything↑

The assistant words the answer; the prices, plan names and order come from our tables.

Where you can use it

Claude's connectors directory has listed the plugin since 5 October 2026, and ChatGPT's plugin directory added it in late October.

It's an MCP server, the open standard both directories use, so any MCP client can connect. It's also published on the official MCP Registry as com.smbcompare/smb-compare.

How Australian prices reach the assistant

The plugin has two parts. One lists the categories we price in a country and the figures each one needs. The other ranks providers by estimated monthly cost at the figures you give it.

For an Australian business, both read the same tables you see on Merchant Compare, through the same cost engine. For payments, that means each provider's published rates applied to your card sales and average sale. For software, it picks the cheapest plan of each provider that covers your business, so if a provider's entry plan stops at five employees, a twelve-person business is priced on the plan above it.

Leave a figure out and it uses our calculator's default, and the response lists what it assumed. Some providers publish only a starting price, and some point-of-sale systems charge card processing on top; the response marks both, and the assistant is told to say when a figure is partial.

Why your own figures change the ranking

A chatbot answering from memory tends to quote a provider's headline card rate. What you actually pay depends on your volume, your average sale, your in-person and online split and any monthly fee, so two businesses can see the same provider at very different monthly costs.

Software works the same way. Our Australian payroll cost report shows the order changing at each headcount. The plugin prices each provider at your own headcount.

What to ask it

Plain words work, with whatever numbers you know:

• "I run a café in Australia doing about $40,000 a month in card sales, average sale $35. Which payment provider is cheapest?"
• "What would payroll software cost for a 12 person business in Australia?"
• "Compare accounting software for a sole trader in Australia."

Then name a provider you're already looking at, say "What about Zeller?", and the assistant places it in the same ranking.

It works across every category on Merchant Compare, including payment providers, POS systems, payroll and accounting software. Providers that only price on request show as a quote. A new category here is available in the plugin the day it goes live.

MYOB has its own Claude and ChatGPT integration, which reads your books; this one prices providers. Our MYOB article covers the MYOB side.

How to add it

Claude

Add it once on a computer, at claude.ai or in the Claude desktop app, and it's then in the Claude app on your phone too. Anthropic says adding connectors from the phone app is still in beta.

1. Go to Customize, then Connectors.
2. Click + next to Connectors, search for SMB Compare and click Connect. There's no account to set up.
3. Start a new chat and ask your question. If Claude answers without it, click +, open Connectors and switch SMB Compare on.

You can also open our listing in Claude's directory. On a Team or Enterprise plan, an owner needs to enable it for your organisation first.

ChatGPT

On your phone:

1. Open the menu and tap Explore, then Plugins.
2. Search for SMB Compare and tap Connect.

On a computer:

1. Click Plugins in the sidebar.
2. Search for SMB Compare, select it and click Install plugin.

Then start a new chat and ask your question. ChatGPT uses the plugin when it fits, and you can call it directly by typing @SMB Compare. You can also open our listing in the plugin directory.

Other AI assistants and MCP clients

In Cursor, VS Code or any client that supports remote MCP servers, add a new server named SMB Compare, set the transport to Streamable HTTP (some clients call it HTTP), choose no authentication, and paste this URL:

In Claude Code, one command does it:

The same URL also works as a custom connector in Claude. Our AI assistants page keeps the current steps for each.

Asking from outside Australia

The plugin tells the assistant to ask for your country if it doesn't already know it. Mention Australia in your question and it goes straight to Australian dollars.

A US business gets US dollar prices from SMB Compare, and a UK one gets pounds from our UK site, SME Compare. Each answer links only to the site for that country. Anywhere else, it uses our US prices and says so before the results, because a provider may charge differently there or not operate at all.

What it will not do

The plugin can't sign you up for anything or send a quote request on your behalf.

Your name, email address and phone number never reach us through it. It sees the country, the category, the business figures you give the assistant and any provider you name, and what you type into the assistant itself is covered by that company's privacy policy.

How we compare providers explains the method. Because the assistant writes its own answer around our numbers, check the linked comparison page before you decide.