ChatGPT Enterprise vs Microsoft 365 Copilot vs Claude vs Gemini for Google Workspace: data residency in Australia

Data residency for ChatGPT allows customers to keep their in-scope customer content stored at rest in a specific geographic region. When a new ChatGPT workspace is provisioned with data residency, we store customer content in the selected region at rest for the following features:

Note: Australia is in the article's list of data residency regions. Applies to in-scope content in new Enterprise/Edu workspaces provisioned with data residency. Listed features: ChatGPT Memory; Code Interpreter and Data Analysis artifacts; conversations (text, image, voice); Custom GPTs; files; Image Generation inputs/outputs. The article says backups and replicas of in-scope content are also stored in-region.

help.openai.com · checked 2026-10-26

Office 365 Services: If Customer provisions its tenant in Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Japan, Norway, Qatar, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, or the United States, Microsoft will store the following Customer Data at rest only within that Geo: (5) any stored content of interactions with Microsoft 365 Copilot or Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat to the extent not included in the preceding commitments or subject to Data Residency for Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat.

Note: Applies to tenants provisioned in Australia, at no additional cost, for the length of the agreement. "Content of interactions" means the user's prompt and Copilot's response. Microsoft 365 Copilot was added to the Product Terms commitment on 1 March 2024 and Copilot Chat on 1 September 2025. The Learn page quotes the Product Terms and says the Product Terms webpage prevails if they differ. Copilot Cowork has its own listed commitment, which includes Australia. Advanced Data Residency (ADR) and Multi-Geo add-ons also cover Copilot. Microsoft has renamed Microsoft 365 Copilot to "Microsoft Copilot"; the commitment text still uses the old name.

learn.microsoft.com · checked 2026-10-26

Note that data is stored in the US.

Note: The article covers Claude Enterprise and the Anthropic API. The Claude API data residency docs also say "Currently, "us" is the only available workspace geo", and workspace geo controls where data is stored at rest. Separately, AWS Bedrock (AWS, a different vendor) offers Australian geographic inference; that is not an Anthropic-hosted option.

privacy.claude.com · checked 2026-10-26

Your location options are the United States, European Union (labeled Europe in the Google Admin console), or No preference.

Note: Gemini prompts and responses ("Google Workspace with Gemini" and "Gemini app") are covered by data regions at rest on Business Standard and above, but the only regions are the US and Europe. Separately, Google's Australian AI privacy page says customers "can also store an independent copy of their Gemini in Workspace apps data in any country of their choice using local data storage". That is an exported copy in a Cloud Storage bucket the customer owns, and it needs the Assured Controls or Assured Controls Plus add-on. That export is not Gemini storage: it does not move where Workspace itself stores Gemini data, so it does not make Gemini storage Australian.

knowledge.workspace.google.com · checked 2026-10-26

Inference residency for ChatGPT is currently available for the following regions. Inference residency requires data residency to be enabled in the same region:

Note: The inference residency list is Europe (EEA + Switzerland), United States and United Arab Emirates; Australia is not listed. The article also says "Non-GPU processing may still occur globally." OpenAI says it plans to add inference regions over time.

help.openai.com · checked 2026-10-26

Customers outside the EU may have their queries processed in the US, EU, or other regions.

Note: The same page says "Microsoft Copilot calls to the LLM are routed to the closest data centers in the region, but also can call into other regions where capacity is available during high utilization periods." In-country AI processing for Australia is announced but not yet available: Microsoft 365 roadmap item 571886 "Local inferencing" (launching in Australia, India, the UAE, the UK and the US) is "In development" with GA "December CY2026". Microsoft's 3 April 2026 blog update says it is "expected to become available in Australia ... by the end of 2026", replacing the original November 2025 promise of end-2025. Recheck after December 2026.

learn.microsoft.com · checked 2026-10-26

Inference geo: Only "us" and "global" are available.

Note: Anthropic publishes no Australia-only processing option. The default "global" setting means inference "may run in any available geography", and the privacy article says traffic may by default be routed to "select countries in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia", so Australia is possible but not selectable or guaranteed. That default routing can't be chosen by the customer: the only inference geo settings are "us" and "global". Different vendor: AWS Bedrock's "au" geographic inference profiles route among the Sydney and Melbourne regions (AWS docs and blog, opened 2026-10-26). Google's Vertex location table, opened the same day, shows no Claude model in Sydney (australia-southeast1).

platform.claude.com · checked 2026-10-26

Customers can confine Gemini in Workspace data processing to the US or EU.

Note: In-use (processing) coverage needs Enterprise Data Regions (Enterprise Plus, Frontline Plus, Enterprise Essentials Plus or the add-on) or Assured Controls Data Regions; other editions cover data at rest only. Some Gemini features process data globally unless an admin turns them off. No Australian processing commitment is published for Gemini in Workspace. Separate offering, for context only: Google Cloud's Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform (formerly Vertex AI) lists australia-southeast1 ML processing for some models (Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 2.5 Flash 128k, text-embedding-004) on regional endpoints; that is an API product, not Gemini in Workspace. Gemini Enterprise (also separate) lists no Australian location.

workspace.google.com · checked 2026-10-26

The vendor does not publish a statement on this.

Note: The help article does not cover support access. The enterprise privacy page has only a general statement on when authorised OpenAI employees may access conversations, with no location given.

openai.com · checked 2026-10-26

The vendor does not publish a statement on this.

Note: Microsoft does not say where support engineers access Copilot data from. The Customer Lockbox page says "all Microsoft 365 Copilot interactions are covered by Customer Lockbox through the support available for Exchange Online", so when Customer Lockbox is turned on, engineer access to content needs the customer's approval. That covers approval, not location.

learn.microsoft.com · checked 2026-10-26

We may also process data for internal processes (such as safety-related review, product support, or incident response) in countries where we or our affiliates operate.

Note: The countries where Anthropic or its affiliates operate are not listed on this page, so support access locations are not stated.

privacy.claude.com · checked 2026-10-26

You can use Access Management for Google Workspace to limit the Google staff who can take support actions related to your organization's data.

Note: The listed policies are "No preference", "U.S. Google staff in a U.S. location", "CJIS-authorized and IRS 1075-authorized Google staff in a U.S. location" and "EU Google staff in EU locations or, if necessary, non-EU Google staff via virtual desktops in EU locations". No Australian option is listed, and Access Management needs the Assured Controls Plus add-on. Google's update of 2 October 2025 says Access Management covers Gemini App and Gemini in Workspace data. So US-only and EU-only support staff options exist, but where support staff are located by default ("No preference") is not published.

knowledge.workspace.google.com · checked 2026-10-26

Eligible API customers and new ChatGPT Enterprise/Edu customers can choose to have in-scope customer content stored at rest in supported countries. Data residency is included at no additional cost for ChatGPT Enterprise and Education plans.

Note: Requires a ChatGPT Enterprise or Edu plan, with no extra charge on those plans. Eligibility is stated for new Enterprise/Edu customers.

help.openai.com · checked 2026-10-26

Microsoft Copilot is available with Microsoft 365 E7 or as an add-on for eligible commercial, US Government, and education subscription plans.

Note: Copilot itself is a paid licence (E7, the Copilot add-on, or Copilot Business for up to 300 users). The Australian storage commitment is not an extra charge: the Product Terms page says "These commitments are available at no additional cost." Advanced Data Residency and Multi-Geo are optional paid add-ons that extend coverage; ADR must cover 100% of paid licences in the tenant. Copilot Chat (no Copilot licence) is also covered by the Product Terms storage commitment. No plan or add-on gives Australian AI processing today; local inferencing in Australia is on the roadmap (item 571886, GA December CY2026).

learn.microsoft.com · checked 2026-10-26

The vendor does not publish a statement on this.

Note: No Claude plan with Australian residency is published. The only location control published is US-only inference, which the article says "is only available on usage-based Enterprise plans" (not Team or legacy seat-based Enterprise). The API docs list a 1.1x price for US-only inference on Claude 4.6 and later models.

support.claude.com · checked 2026-10-26

Supported editions for this feature: Frontline Starter, Frontline Standard, and Frontline Plus; Business Standard and Business Plus; Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus; Education Standard and Education Plus; Enterprise Essentials Plus.

Note: No edition or add-on offers an Australian data region. Data regions (US or Europe) start at Business Standard (at rest only); in-use processing needs Enterprise Plus, Frontline Plus, Enterprise Essentials Plus, the Enterprise Data Regions add-on, or Assured Controls. Local data storage (an exported copy in a country of choice) needs the Assured Controls or Assured Controls Plus add-on, and Google says "Additional charges for Google Cloud Storage may apply."

knowledge.workspace.google.com · checked 2026-10-26

Certain categories of data may be stored outside the chosen data region. Out of scope: Account data, billing details, high-level usage statistics, logs without content, and other metadata used to operate and secure the service.

Note: May be stored outside the region (list "may not be limited to"): external integrations such as Apps & MCP and Web Search, if enabled; transient or processing steps; workspace metadata; workspace name; billing information; user logins. Features not eligible for data or inference residency: Apple Intelligence (including Xcode "Code Intelligence"); features that are not generally available; third-party GPTs; Codex Web; ChatGPT Sites features outside the supported scope. Sites: new Sites use the workspace region only for US or EU data residency; the article says for other regions "that regional residency setting does not currently apply to Sites storage and hosting", so Australian data residency does not cover Sites storage and hosting. Data residency workspaces also cannot share GPTs with "Anyone".

help.openai.com · checked 2026-10-26

Anthropic models deployed in Microsoft offerings such as Microsoft Copilot, Researcher, Copilot Studio, Power Platform, and Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps are currently excluded from the EU Data Boundary, and when applicable, in-country processing commitments.

Note: Anthropic models are on by default for commercial tenants outside the EU, EFTA and UK, so this applies to Australian tenants unless an admin turns Anthropic off. "Anthropic models with Data Retention" are off by default; if enabled, Anthropic stores data under its own terms, outside Microsoft's Product Terms and DPA. Web search: queries sent to Bing are handled with Microsoft as controller, and the web search page says "The Microsoft Products and Services Data Protection Addendum (DPA) doesn't apply to the use of generated web search queries"; web search is on unless an admin turns it off. Agents and connectors: Microsoft says to check each agent's own privacy statement and terms. Cowork workspace files and custom skills follow the SharePoint/OneDrive residency terms.

learn.microsoft.com · checked 2026-10-26

When Claude works with a connected service like Slack or Google Drive, that service processes data on its own infrastructure, which may be located outside the US.

Note: The same article says "Where your organization's data is stored is separate from where inference runs." The privacy article says internal processes (safety review, product support, incident response) may happen in other countries. The Trust Center subprocessor list shows cloud infrastructure (GCP, AWS, Azure) as "Worldwide".

support.claude.com · checked 2026-10-26

Data Regions is not supported for Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM), or logs or cached content.

Note: Data regions cover only "Prompts and responses" for Gemini. The advanced settings page says "Some Google Workspace features rely on services that process data globally"; for Gemini these include image generation, Vids content, Meet note-taking and Audio Overviews, which stay on unless an admin turns them off (Enterprise Data Regions only).

knowledge.workspace.google.com · checked 2026-10-26

The vendor does not publish a statement on this.

Note: Neither the enterprise privacy page nor the data residency help article mentions IRAP. The trust portal (trust.openai.com, checked 2026-10-26) lists SOC 2, ISO/IEC 27001/27017/27018/27701/42001, CSA STAR, PCI DSS, FedRAMP 20x and TX-RAMP, and has no IRAP entry.

openai.com · checked 2026-10-26

An Australian Government Protected Infosec Registered Assessors Program (IRAP) assessment of Microsoft 365 with Microsoft Copilot is in the scope of assessed services and is available at Microsoft Service Trust Portal.

Note: Marked unclear: Microsoft's ANZ Copilot blueprint page (quoted) says Copilot is in the scope of the Microsoft 365 IRAP assessment, and that Copilot Chat "is also covered by the same IRAP assessment", but the IRAP report itself was not readable (it sits behind a Service Trust Portal sign-in), so the exact Copilot scope and assessment date are not confirmed. Microsoft published its 2026 IRAP assessments of Microsoft 365 (assessor Neon Cloud, up to PROTECTED) on 26 March 2026. Microsoft's separate IRAP compliance-offering page lists Office 365 in-scope services without naming Copilot.

learn.microsoft.com · checked 2026-10-26

The vendor does not publish a statement on this.

Note: The Trust Center lists HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001:2022, ISO/IEC 42001:2023, FedRAMP High and UK Cyber Essentials; no IRAP assessment appears there or on claude.com/regional-compliance. Any IRAP coverage of AWS Bedrock would be an AWS assessment, not Anthropic's, and was not checked.

trust.anthropic.com · checked 2026-10-26

An independent third-party assessor evaluated Google Cloud and Google Workspace against OFFICIAL and PROTECTED ISM controls, and found both to be strongly aligned with PROTECTED level control requirements.

Note: Marked unclear: Google's IRAP page lists "Gemini for Workspace" and "Gemini {Google Workspace Enterprise}" among the Google Workspace products in scope, but the IRAP report itself (via Compliance Reports Manager) was not readable, so the assessment date and exact scope are not confirmed.

cloud.google.com · checked 2026-10-26