vsChatGPTClaudeShould ChatGPT or Claude write your quotes?
ChatGPT and Claude are general AI assistants. Give them your rates and supplier prices and they’ll draft a quote, then you check the maths, build the document and send it yourself. Sammy is an AI estimator built for tradies: he prices the job from your rates and supplier lists, sends a proposal your client accepts online, then runs the variations, progress claims and invoices. Checked 27 September 2026.
The short answer
Sammy suits you if
- You quote most weeks and want every quote priced from your rates and supplier lists, without pasting them in each time.
- You want your client to accept online, with follow-ups when they go quiet.
- You want variations, progress claims, job costs and invoices tied to the quote, and synced to Xero.
- You want a second check on the money before a change hits your profit.
A chatbot suits you if
- You only quote now and then, and a simple template does the job.
- You want one AI for everything: emails, letters, ads and the odd quote.
- You’re happy to check the numbers, build the document and chase the client yourself.
- You want the cheapest option. Both have free plans, and ChatGPT Go is A$13 a month.
You can use both: a chatbot for everything else, Sammy for the quotes and invoices. The fairest test is to quote the same job in each and see which one you’d send.
Side by side
| Sammy | ChatGPT or Claude | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An AI estimator for tradies. You describe the job and he writes, prices and sends the quote. | General AI assistants for everyday work: writing, answering questions, working with files and code. |
| Where the prices come from | Your rate rules first, then your supplier price lists, then your instructions, then his Australian trade knowledge. | What the assistant knows in general and can find on the web, plus any rates and prices you paste in or save in a project. |
| Describe the job by | Voice note, text, photos, video or PDF plans. | Typing or voice, plus photos and files such as PDFs and spreadsheets. |
| Remembers your business | Your rates, suppliers and standing instructions, and what he’s learned from your past jobs, on every estimate. | Memory and project instructions carry your details from one chat to the next. |
| Checking the money | Every line shows its quantity and rate. A checker writes the profit figure, and big money changes wait for your OK. | Both say their AI can make mistakes and ask you to check important information. |
| The quote your client gets | A proposal with your business name and logo, emailed from the app with a link to view it. | Text in the chat, or a Word or Excel file you download and send yourself. |
| Client accepts online | Yes: accept, decline or ask for changes on any device. Follow-ups by email on days 2, 5 and 10, on Pro and Team. | No. You send the quote and chase it up yourself. |
| After you win it | The job, variations, progress claims, job costs and invoices. Invoices sync to Xero. | Nothing built in. The official Xero connections can read your invoices and P&L, but not create invoices. |
| Where it runs | iPhone and Android apps, and the web. | iPhone and Android apps, desktop apps and the web. |
Where the prices come from
Ask a chatbot to price a job and the numbers come from what it knows in general and what it can find on the web, unless you give it your own. It doesn’t know what your supplier charges you or what you charge an hour until you tell it. Both companies tell you to check the result: OpenAI’s terms say its output “may not always be accurate”, and Anthropic’s say not to rely on Claude’s outputs “without independently confirming their accuracy”.
Sammy starts from your business. When he builds an estimate he uses, in this order:
- your rate rules, the rates you’ve told him to charge
- your supplier price lists, matched to material lines automatically
- your instructions, such as allowances you always add or brands you prefer
- his Australian trade knowledge, only where you haven’t given him anything better
Train him on a past job and he asks whether it came in over, under or on budget, so he learns the prices that worked. His first estimate is still a starting point, and every line is there for you to check. What he adds is a check on the money: if a change he makes would move your profit or job cost by roughly a quarter or more, and at least $250, he asks you to confirm it first.
Getting a better quote out of a chatbot
If a chatbot is enough for now, these make its quotes better and safer to send:
- Put your rates, markup and supplier price list in a project, with instructions on how you quote. ChatGPT and Claude both let you upload documents to a project, so every chat in it starts with them.
- Ask for every line as quantity, unit and rate, with GST added once on the total, so you can check the maths.
- Give it your measurements rather than letting it guess the quantities.
- Check every price against your supplier before the quote goes out.
- Check the training setting before you paste in client details or your pricing. Both can use your chats to train their models unless you turn that off in settings.
- Keep your own quote template with your ABN, licence number, terms and payment details.
Where ChatGPT and Claude differ
For quoting they do much the same job. A few differences are worth knowing:
- Price. ChatGPT has a cheaper Go plan at A$13 a month. ChatGPT Plus is A$30 and Claude Pro is A$34, and both have free plans with tighter limits.
- Making files. Claude makes Word, Excel and PDF files on every plan, including Free. ChatGPT makes Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on Plus and up, with limited use on Free and Go in its desktop app.
- Connections. Both have an official Xero connection that reads your P&L, cash position and invoices, but can’t create invoices. ChatGPT also lists a ServiceM8 app, and a Xero connector from another company that can create invoices. Claude has Intuit’s QuickBooks connector, which can create and send invoices.
- Custom GPTs. OpenAI is retiring custom GPTs on 11 December 2026, so don’t build your quoting setup on one.
What it costs
A chatbot is cheaper. ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro cost about a third of Sammy Pro, and both have free plans. What Sammy’s price covers is the pricing from your own numbers, the proposal your client accepts, the follow-ups, and the job and invoices after the yes.
| Sammy | ChatGPT | Claude | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Basic, with limited features | Free, with limits | Free, with limits |
| Just you | Pro: $99 a month, or $950 a year | Plus: A$30 a month. Go: A$13 a month | Pro: A$34 a month, or A$340 a year |
| 3 people | Team 3: $249 a month flat | Business: A$115.50 a month (A$38.50 each) | Team: A$129 a month (A$43 each) |
Questions tradies ask
Can ChatGPT or Claude write a quote?
Yes. Describe the job and either will draft one, and both can read the photos, PDFs and spreadsheets you give them. The prices are only as good as what you feed in, and both say their AI can make mistakes, so check every line. What they don’t do is send it for your client to accept online, follow it up, or turn it into a job and an invoice.
Is ChatGPT free for quoting?
ChatGPT has a free plan, with limits: free users can upload three files a day, for example. In Australia, Go is A$13 a month and Plus is A$30.
Can I connect ChatGPT or Claude to Xero?
Yes, but the official Xero connection for each only reads your numbers, like your P&L and outstanding invoices. Sammy pushes invoices to Xero as you create them, and payment status comes back when your client pays.
Can I use Sammy alongside a chatbot?
Yes. Use a chatbot for whatever else you need and Sammy for quotes, jobs and invoices. Inside the app, Sammy can also write to a client for you, using your real jobs and quotes, and he won’t make up prices, dates or work you haven’t told him about.