Bing 2026: Microsoft AI Search & Copilot Pricing
Last updated: 2026-07-01
Bing is Microsoft's AI search engine with free Copilot chat. Bing Chat Enterprise is $5 and Microsoft 365 Copilot $30 per user monthly. 2026 pricing review.
Bing is Microsoft's AI-powered search engine, available free at bing.com, with Copilot Search powered by OpenAI's Prometheus model integrated directly into results. As of 2026, Bing reaches over 900 million monthly users and holds approximately 3 percent of the global search market. Enterprise Bing Copilot Chat is included in Microsoft 365 subscriptions starting at $30 per user per month.
About Bing
Bing is Microsoft's search engine, launched June 2009 as a challenger to Google. As of 2025, it holds the #2 global search position with 3.9-4.1% market share and 450+ million daily searches, showing growth driven by AI integration and Copilot adoption. Microsoft has aggressively integrated AI into Bing through Copilot Search, powered by OpenAI's custom 'Prometheus Model 2.0' (a fine-tuned version of GPT-4 optimized for search). Key features include multi-turn search (globally rolled out February 2026), which preserves query context across sequential interactions; Deep Search, which tackles complex questions by expanding into multiple sub-topics and analyzing academic papers; and multimodal search supporting image, text, and voice input. Bing Copilot Search blends traditional and generative search, returning conversational paragraphs aided by imagery and related links, with prominent citations showing the publisher source. Circle to Search, similar to Google's implementation, is available on mobile. In 2026, Microsoft introduced AI Performance in Bing Webmaster Tools, letting publishers see how their content appears in Copilot summaries and which URLs receive citations. Pricing: Bing consumer search and Copilot Search are free with no usage limits. Bing Chat Enterprise (public preview 2025) is offered at no additional cost for Microsoft 365 E3/E5/Business customers and will be available as a standalone product at $5/user/month. Microsoft 365 Copilot (which integrates Bing search into Microsoft apps) costs $30/user/month. Bing Search APIs, deprecated in August 2025, were replaced by developers needing programmatic search access to use alternative services. For enterprise organizations, Bing's competitive advantage lies in its native integration with Microsoft 365 and the ability to search across internal company documents via Copilot, a capability Google cannot match without deep proprietary integration.
Screenshots
Pricing
Consumer Bing search and Copilot Search are free with no usage limits. Bing Chat Enterprise will be $5/user/month (currently free public preview for Microsoft 365 E3/E5/Business). Microsoft 365 Copilot (includes Bing) is $30/user/month.
Feature Comparison by Tier
| Feature | Bing Chat Enterprise | Free Consumer Search | Microsoft 365 Copilot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer Search Access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Copilot Search (Multi-Turn) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Deep Search (Complex Queries) | Yes (Priority) | Yes | Yes (Priority) |
| Enterprise Support | Yes | No | Yes |
| Internal Document Search | Yes | No | Yes |
| Microsoft 365 App Integration | Limited | No | Yes (Full) |
| Usage Limits | Unlimited | Unlimited | Per-seat |
| SLA Uptime Guarantee | Yes 99.9% | No | Yes 99.9% |
Key Features
- Copilot Search with Multi-Turn Conversation: Retains query context across sequential searches within a single session, allowing refinement and pivoting without re-establishing context. Globally rolled out February 2026.
- Deep Search for Complex Queries: Expands multi-part questions into sub-topics and analyzes academic papers, returning structured reports with different perspectives. Takes up to 30 seconds for comprehensive results.
- Prometheus Model 2.0 Reasoning: Custom OpenAI model fine-tuned for search, delivering better reasoning on complex multi-part questions and faster response times than general-purpose LLMs.
- Prominent Citation Tracking: Responses display prominent citations showing the publisher source, with AI Performance tools (2026) letting publishers see URL citation frequency and changes.
- Multimodal Input: Supports search via text, image, and voice input combined in a single query for more expressive information-seeking.
- Microsoft 365 Integration: Enterprise Copilot can search across internal company documents, emails, and files stored in Microsoft 365 — a capability Google cannot match without custom integration.
Pros
- Multi-turn search context preservation (Feb 2026) eliminates the 'lost context' problem that plagues Google Search, reducing query restarts by 40-50%.
- Microsoft 365 integration allows Copilot to search company documents and emails alongside public web results — unmatched by Google without proprietary integration.
- Bing's 3.9-4.1% market share is growing (up from 3.5% in 2024), the only major search engine showing growth, driven by Copilot adoption and SEO professionals optimizing for both search engines.
Cons
- Consumer market share remains 4% vs Google's 90% — Bing's index coverage and freshness lag Google's across many long-tail queries.
- Deep Search (30-second queries) is slower than users expect from search, creating friction for time-sensitive queries.
- Bing Search APIs were sunset August 2025, forcing developers to migrate to Azure Cognitive Search or OpenAI API — no direct replacement maintains feature parity.
Product Information
- Cloud
- Yes
- Self-Hosted
- No
- On-Premise
- No
- Languages
- English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian
- Training
- Official Documentation, Bing Webmaster Tools Guide, Microsoft Support Center, Video Tutorials, Blog and Product Updates
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Bing and what does it do?
Bing is Microsoft's AI-powered search engine, launched in 2009 as a challenger to Google. As of 2025, it holds 3.9-4.1% global market share with 450+ million daily searches. Bing integrates OpenAI's Prometheus Model 2.0 for Copilot Search, delivering conversational AI results with prominent citations, multi-turn context preservation (Feb 2026), Deep Search for complex queries, and native Microsoft 365 integration for searching company documents.
Top Alternatives
- Perplexity: Pick Perplexity if you want a dedicated conversational search experience optimized for research and citations.
- ChatGPT: Pick ChatGPT if you prefer a general-purpose AI assistant for research over a search-engine-first interface.
- Claude: Pick Claude if you need deep reasoning and long-form analysis, though it lacks real-time search integration.