ChatGPT and Copilot Alternative for Businesses
AI assistants for writing, analysis and questions about your documents, with European models or entirely on your own servers.
ChatGPT by OpenAI and Copilot by Microsoft are the best-known AI assistants. Both providers are based in the US. Whatever employees enter, from customer data to draft contracts, is processed on their systems.
There are European alternatives: Mistral AI from Paris offers an assistant and an API, and open models can run on your own servers. That keeps company knowledge within the company.
BARNICOM sets up AI assistants, connects them to your documents and systems and runs them. More about our AI services: AI in everyday work.
Why companies look for alternatives
Access under US law
The US CLOUD Act requires US providers to hand over data to US authorities on request, even when it is stored in Europe (CLOUD Act explained).
Company knowledge in other hands
Entering contracts, quotes or customer data into an AI assistant transfers them to the provider. Which data is stored and for how long is governed by its terms.
Per-user costs
AI assistants are usually billed per user and month. Your own assistant incurs server costs, but no per-head license.
What replaces what
Typical use cases and European solutions for them. Which option fits your company is something we work out together.
| Area | OpenAI | Microsoft | European alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chat assistant | ChatGPT Enterprise | Microsoft 365 Copilot | Le Chat by Mistral AI or your own assistant on your own serversFrance, self-hosted |
| Questions about your documents | Custom GPTs | Copilot with SharePoint | Your own assistant with access to your file storage, wiki or ERPself-hosted |
| AI in your own applications | OpenAI API | Azure OpenAI | Mistral API or open models on your own serversFrance, self-hosted |
| Speech recognition and minutes | Whisper API | Teams Premium | Open speech recognition models, run locallyself-hosted |
Origin refers to the vendor’s headquarters. Open models can run on your own hardware without any connection to the vendor.
How the switch works
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Assessment
Which tasks should the AI take on, which data does it need and who may see what?
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Pilot
One concrete use case is implemented, for example questions about manuals or draft quotes.
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Integration
The assistant gets access to approved data sources, with the same permissions as in your systems.
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Operations
We take care of updates, monitoring, backup and support, with a service level agreement on request.
When the alternative is not a fit
European and open models cover many tasks, but not all. We point out limitations beforehand, for example with:
- highly demanding tasks where the largest US models currently lead
- deep integration into Word, Excel and Outlook as offered by Microsoft 365 Copilot
- very few users, where your own GPU servers do not pay off
Frequently asked questions
Can AI run entirely on our own servers?
Yes. Open language models run on servers with suitable GPUs in your data center or in a German data center. The data does not leave that environment.
Are open models as good as ChatGPT?
For summaries, drafts, translations and questions about documents they are usually sufficient. For very demanding tasks, the largest US models are sometimes ahead.
What is Mistral AI?
Mistral AI is an AI company headquartered in Paris. It offers the Le Chat assistant, an API for applications and open-weight models that can be self-hosted.
Can the assistant access our documents?
Yes. The assistant searches approved file storage, wikis or databases and answers with sources. Access follows your existing permissions.
What does the switch cost?
It depends on the use case, the number of users and the computing power required. You receive a proposal after the assessment.
More alternatives for workplace and collaboration
Find the right way into AI
We review your use cases and tell you which solution fits and what it costs.