Claude Skills vs ChatGPT plugins vs Copilot agents.

§ 01

How do they compare?

§ 02

What is a ChatGPT plugin?

In ChatGPT, a plugin brings together the tools, knowledge, and reusable workflows you need for a task. A plugin can include skills, connected apps (including a custom MCP server), and reference files. Some plugins include only skills and do not connect to an outside system.

Skills in ChatGPT are available to eligible ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, Healthcare, and Edu users, subject to workspace settings. After a skill is installed, ChatGPT can use it automatically when it is relevant, or you can select it. Workspace admins control who can create, share, publish, and install skills.

This matters if your team still has custom GPTs. OpenAI is retiring custom GPTs on December 11, 2026 (later only for FedRAMP workspaces and Enterprise workspaces with a qualifying, approved deferral). OpenAI’s path is Migrate to plugin: the GPT’s instructions become a skill, knowledge files become reference files, and connected apps carry over. Custom actions and the selected model do not transfer. The new plugin starts private. For the steps, see what to do with the GPTs and Projects you already have.

§ 03

What are Claude Skills, and how do connectors fit?

Anthropic describes skills as folders of instructions, scripts, and resources that Claude loads when they are relevant. Skills are available on Free, Pro, Max, Ultra, Team, and Enterprise plans, and they require code execution to be turned on.

Anthropic draws a clear line: skills teach Claude how to complete a task; MCP connectors give Claude access to external services and data. You can use both together. Claude also has Projects, which hold background knowledge for chats inside that project. Skills can be used across Claude when they are relevant, not only inside one project.

On Team and Enterprise plans, owners can provision skills for the organization, or, on Enterprise, bundle skills into a plugin and assign them to a group. People browse skills, connectors, and plugins in one directory. Anthropic has also published Agent Skills as an open standard. That is a format claim, not a guarantee that one skill file will behave identically in every product. Test each assistant you actually use.

§ 04

What are Copilot agents?

In Microsoft 365, the comparable unit is an agent. Microsoft tells you to choose based on required capabilities, not audience size alone.

• Agent Builder, inside Microsoft 365 Copilot, is a guided, no-code way to configure a declarative agent with instructions and supported Microsoft 365 knowledge. Microsoft says it does not support authoring actions that integrate external services. If you later need those capabilities, you can copy the agent to Copilot Studio; that copy is a snapshot, not a live sync.
• Copilot Studio is the path when you need workflows, tools, connectors, structured environments, or channels beyond a Microsoft 365 chat. Microsoft’s examples include an IT request workflow with approvals, or a support experience that integrates with other systems.

Our honest take

Agents built in your organization can be shared with specific people, or submitted for admin review and, after approval, listed in the Agent Store under “Built by your org.” Licensing and available features depend on the Copilot Studio experience you use, so confirm those with Microsoft.

§ 05

How should you choose?

• If your team already works in ChatGPT Business or Enterprise: build a plugin. Put the repeatable workflow in a skill. If the work needs live data, add a directory app or a custom MCP server. Migrate custom GPTs you still rely on before December 11, 2026, and rebuild any custom actions.
• If your team already works in Claude Team or Enterprise: build Skills for the procedures, and add directory or custom MCP connectors for the systems. Have an owner provision the skills everyone should use, or assign a group-specific plugin on Enterprise.
• If your team already works in Microsoft 365 Copilot, and the knowledge already lives in Microsoft 365: start with Agent Builder when instructions plus approved SharePoint or Teams sources are enough. Move to Copilot Studio when you need connectors, external actions, approvals, or a managed release process.
• If people use more than one assistant, that is common, and it does not require a single vendor for every task. An MCP server can often be added to more than one assistant; see What is an MCP server?. Skills still need to be created or adapted in each product and tested there.

§ 06

Do you need skills, connectors, or both?

A skill (or the instructions inside a ChatGPT plugin or a Copilot agent) teaches the assistant how your team does a recurring job: the outline of a weekly report, the rules for a quote, the tone of a client recap. A connector, app, or Copilot tool gives the assistant access to a system: the CRM, QuickBooks, SharePoint, or an internal database.

A skill with no connector can still be useful if the person pastes the source material, or if the work is mostly writing against files you attach. A connector with no skill can look up a record, but it will not reliably produce the report your team actually sends. Most department work needs both. That is the idea behind department skill packs.

Adjacent tools are not substitutes for that choice. A ChatGPT project or a Claude Project is a good place for background knowledge. Company Knowledge is a ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, and Edu plugin that answers organization-specific questions from connected apps and supported custom MCP sources, using each person’s existing permissions. Use those for context. Use skills, plugins, or agents when you want a reusable procedure that others can install and run the same way.

§ FAQ

Questions we hear