Last updated: 2026-11-02
What changed
Copilot is Microsoft's AI assistant for Windows, Edge and its Office apps, sold in eight tiers that run from a free chat tier up to a full enterprise suite. Work plans ground answers in company data through Work IQ, and Entra ID users on eligible work subscriptions get Copilot Chat at no extra cost.
About Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft Copilot launched as Bing Chat in February 2023 and grew into Microsoft's assistant across Windows, Edge and the Office apps. It runs on OpenAI models, and Microsoft's own pricing page now describes the line-up as the latest OpenAI GPT-5 family with model choice on paid work plans. Microsoft sells it in eight tiers, from a free chat tier through consumer subscriptions to a full enterprise suite, which is why "what does Copilot cost" has no single answer.
A new Copilot arrived on 25 September 2026, adding Home, Code and Autopilot. Home combines Chat and Cowork in one starting point, Code builds small apps and workflows from a description using the same technology as GitHub Copilot (see the best AI coding assistants for the developer side), and Autopilot is a persistent agent that keeps working in the background. Microsoft is rolling the new Copilot out through its Frontier program first. The business pricing page already lists access to Cowork and Autopilot on every Business plan, billed by usage, but Microsoft's own launch post still describes a staged rollout, so check what your tenant actually has before planning around it. Copilot Notebooks is also rolling out to Copilot Chat users, with fewer sources per notebook than paid seats get.
What separates Copilot from a standalone chatbot such as ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude or Google's Gemini is grounding. On Business and Enterprise plans it draws on Work IQ, Microsoft's layer over a user's mail, files and meetings, and it works inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams instead of a separate tab. Copilot Chat itself comes bundled for Entra ID accounts on an eligible subscription, so many organisations already hold a version of it before buying a paid seat.
The other side of that argument is real. The paid seat is an add-on: it needs a separate qualifying work licence, agents are metered and need an Azure subscription, and Cowork, Code and Autopilot run on usage-based billing, so the headline per-user price understates the bill for heavy agent use. Teams that live in Google Workspace get little from it, and anyone who wants one model-agnostic chat window across every app is better served by a standalone tool. The guide on what Copilot is actually for untangles the overlapping product names, and best AI chatbots in 2026 compares it with the standalone options. If you only need one Copilot job done, the cheaper single-feature alternatives may cost less, and small teams can start with the small business assistant roundup. Browse the wider AI chatbots category for more options, and see Notion if your documents live outside Office.
Pricing
Free tier on the web and in Edge, with usage limits. Consumer plans, per Microsoft's individuals pricing page checked 2 November 2026: Microsoft 365 Personal $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, Family $12.99 a month or $129.99 a year, Premium $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year with extensive Copilot usage, and Microsoft 365 Pro at $99.99 a month, billed monthly only, with the highest usage limits; the first three offer a one-month free trial. Business, per user per month: the Microsoft 365 Copilot Business add-on is $21 at list and $18 on a promotion valid from 1 July to 31 December 2026 (first year only, annual commitment, existing customers on an eligible Business plan, up to 300 users), or $25.20 on monthly billing; Business Standard with Copilot is $23.50 paid yearly or $28.20 monthly, and Business Premium with Copilot is $32 paid yearly or $38.40 monthly.
Enterprise: Microsoft 365 Copilot is $30 per user per month paid yearly on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 licence, Copilot Chat is included for Entra ID users, and Microsoft 365 E7 (E5, Copilot, Agent 365 and Entra Suite) is $99 per user per month with Teams or $90.45 without, on an annual commitment. Cowork, Code, Autopilot and the Work IQ APIs are billed by usage on top, and Copilot Studio runs on Copilot Credits. Compare it with ChatGPT before you commit.
| Tier | Monthly price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot (Free) | Free | Copilot chat on the web and in Edge, Usage limits apply |
| Microsoft 365 Personal | $9.99/mo | 1 person, 1 TB OneDrive, Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook with higher usage than free |
| Microsoft 365 Family | $12.99/mo | Up to 6 people, AI for the subscription owner only, 6 TB OneDrive (1 TB per person) |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot Business | $18/mo | Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, Pre-built agents for research and data analysis, Access to Cowork and Autopilot, billed by usage, Adoption and usage analytics |
| Microsoft 365 Premium | $19.99/mo | Extensive Copilot usage, Limited agentic AI, 6 TB OneDrive |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot (Enterprise) | $30/mo | Chat grounded in business data, Copilot in Office apps and Teams, Copilot Studio Standard harness, Enterprise Data Protection |
| Microsoft 365 E7 | $99/mo | E5, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Agent 365 and Entra Suite in one suite |
| Microsoft 365 Pro | $99.99/mo | Highest Copilot usage limits, Highest agentic AI usage, Everything in Premium |
Feature Comparison by Tier
| Feature | Copilot (Free) | Microsoft 365 Premium | Microsoft 365 Pro | Microsoft 365 Copilot Business | Microsoft 365 Copilot (Enterprise) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price per month | $0 | $19.99 | $99.99 | $18 (promo), $21 list | $30 |
| Aimed at | Trying Copilot | Individuals | Heavy individual use | Businesses up to 300 users | Large organisations |
| Copilot usage level | Limited | Extensive | Highest | Per-user licence | Per-user licence |
| Agentic AI | No | Limited | Highest | Pre-built agents, agent usage metered | Agents metered |
| Work IQ grounding in work data | No | No | No | ✓ | ✓ |
| Needs separate Microsoft 365 licence | No | No, includes apps | No, includes apps | Yes | Yes |
Key Features
- Copilot Chat Included for Entra Users: Microsoft bundles Copilot Chat with eligible subscriptions for Entra ID accounts, while agents are billed by use and need an Azure subscription.
- Office App Integration: Works in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote and Teams on paid plans, with the Teams features requiring a Teams licence.
- Work IQ Grounding: Business and Enterprise plans ground chat in work data through Work IQ, Microsoft's intelligence layer over mail, files and meetings.
- Pre-Built Agents: Researcher, Analyst and Facilitator ship as pre-built Microsoft agents on the Business and Enterprise plans.
- Copilot Cowork: Cowork runs delegated, multi-step tasks end to end and is billed on a metered, usage-based basis rather than by the seat.
- Home, Code and Autopilot: Home joins Chat and Cowork, Code builds small apps from a description, and Autopilot is a persistent agent now in private preview.
- Copilot Studio Agents: Build agents on Copilot Credits with a pre-purchase plan or pay-as-you-go, and publish to external channels on a standalone Studio plan.
- Model Choice: Paid work plans list model choice, with the newest OpenAI GPT-5 family models named on Microsoft's pricing pages.
Pros
- Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so nothing needs a separate chatbot tab.
- Copilot Chat costs nothing extra for Entra ID users on an eligible subscription.
- Work IQ grounds answers in a user's own mail, files and meetings on Business and Enterprise plans.
- A free tier and modest consumer plans give individuals a low-cost way in.
- Enterprise Data Protection, management and compliance controls come with the work plans.
Cons
- The work seat is an add-on and needs a separate qualifying licence.
- Agents, Cowork and Autopilot are metered, so heavy agent use can exceed the per-user price.
- The lower Business price is a first-year promotion that ends this year, so plan for the list price.
- Product names overlap across Copilot, Premium, Pro, the work seat and Studio, which makes plan choice slow.
- Value drops for teams on Google Workspace or those wanting one model-agnostic assistant.
Product Information
- Cloud
- Yes
- Self-Hosted
- No
- On-Premise
- No
- Languages
- English, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Vietnamese
- Training
- Official Documentation, Microsoft Learn Paths, Copilot Studio Academy, Video Tutorials, Community Forums
Data Handling
- Compliance
- SOC 2 Type II · HIPAA (with BAA for Microsoft 365 Copilot) · ISO 27001 · ISO 27018 · ISO 27017 · ISO 20000-1 · GDPR · FedRAMP · HITRUST CSF · CSA STAR
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Microsoft Copilot's pricing plans in 2026?
Copilot has a free tier, consumer Microsoft 365 plans at $9.99, $12.99, $19.99 and $99.99 a month, and work plans priced per user: the Copilot Business add-on at $18 on promotion (list $21), the Enterprise seat at $30 and the E7 suite at $99. Paying monthly instead of yearly on Business plans costs about a fifth more, and agent work is metered on top.
Does Microsoft Copilot have a free plan?
The free tier gives you Copilot chat on the web, in Edge and in the mobile apps, with lower usage limits than any paid plan. Work accounts on an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription also get Copilot Chat with enterprise data protection at no extra charge, though it uses web data and open documents only and has no Copilot inside Teams.
What should you use instead of Microsoft Copilot?
ChatGPT is the closest general assistant and is not tied to one office suite. Gemini is the natural pick for a company that runs on Google Workspace. Claude suits long-document writing and agentic research outside Office, and Notion AI fits teams whose documents live in Notion.
Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT: which should you pick?
Copilot lives inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams and grounds work-plan answers in company mail, files and meetings through Work IQ. ChatGPT is a standalone assistant with a broader app ecosystem that is not tied to one office suite. Choose Copilot if your team already pays for Microsoft 365, and ChatGPT if it does not.
How do you get started with Microsoft Copilot?
Individuals can open copilot.microsoft.com or the mobile app and sign in with a Microsoft account to use the free tier, then try a paid Microsoft 365 plan free for one month. Businesses sign in with a work account to try Copilot Chat, then an admin assigns Copilot Business or Enterprise seats in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Top Alternatives
- Claude: Pick Claude for cutting-edge reasoning and standalone use; pick Copilot if your team is deeply integrated with Microsoft 365.
- ChatGPT: Choose ChatGPT for the broadest third-party plugin ecosystem; choose Copilot if you want AI native to Word, Excel, and Outlook.
- Gemini: Pick Gemini if you are on Google Workspace; pick Copilot if Microsoft 365 is your productivity hub.
Hokai guides covering Microsoft Copilot
- Best AI Assistant for Office Work in 2026: Which AI assistant fits an office in 2026? Compare Microsoft 365 Copilot, Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude Team and email and meeting tools with real seat prices.
- The AI Tools That Do One Microsoft Copilot Job, Cheaper: Microsoft 365 Copilot bundles five jobs into one $30 seat. See which single-purpose AI tools beat that price per job, and when stacking them costs more.
- Is Microsoft Copilot Worth It? It Depends Which One You Mean: Microsoft sells four unrelated products called Copilot at four prices. Here's what changed in 2026, who it helps, who it hurts, and the real promo deadline.
- Best AI Tools for Writing Excel Formulas and Data Analysis in 2026: Microsoft Copilot and Gemini already cover most Excel formula work. Re-checked 8 Nov 2026: Better Analyst repriced, Rows AI winding down, Julius AI added.
- Best AI Assistant for Small Business in 2026: Six AI assistants worth paying for in 2026: Microsoft Copilot, Lindy, Timeless, MagicForm, HyperWrite and Grammarly, priced from each vendor's own pricing page.
- How to Choose an AI Assistant: ChatGPT vs Claude vs Copilot vs Grok vs Poe: ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Grok or Poe? Plans and prices read from each vendor on 27 Oct 2026, plus three questions to settle which assistant fits you.