AI assistants · by Microsoft
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft 365 Copilot is a paid add-on that puts AI into the Office apps and Teams and grounds answers in work data through Microsoft Graph. It includes prebuilt agents such as Researcher and Analyst, and Copilot Studio for building custom agents. A free Copilot Chat experience is available to eligible Microsoft 365 business users. Consumers get Copilot features through Microsoft 365 Personal, Family and Premium instead.
- Paid plans from
- $9.99/mo
- Free plan
- Yes
- Data portability
- easy
- Last reviewed
- Oct 13, 2026
Plans & pricing
The business add-ons require a separate qualifying Microsoft 365 license, so the true cost is the base plan plus Copilot. Microsoft 365 Family ($12.99/month) also exists, but AI features apply to the subscription owner only. Microsoft 365 Basic has no AI features.
| Plan | Price (USD) | Highlights | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat | $0/seat/mo No additional cost for Microsoft Entra account users; requires an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription. |
| Verified· Oct 13, 2026Source |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (add-on) | $21/seat/mo billed annually · $25.20 per user per month on monthly billing. Promotional $18.00 yearly price for existing Microsoft 365 Business customers from July 1 to December 31, 2026, first year only. For up to 300 users; requires a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan. |
| Verified· Oct 13, 2026Source |
| Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot (bundle) | $23.50/seat/mo billed annually · $28.20 per user per month on monthly billing. Includes the Office apps, Teams and 1 TB storage per user. A no-Teams version is $20.30 yearly. |
| Verified· Oct 13, 2026Source |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot (enterprise add-on) | $30/seat/mo billed annually · $31.50 per user per month paid monthly with an annual commitment. Requires a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan. |
| Verified· Oct 13, 2026Source |
| Microsoft 365 Personal (consumer) | $9.99/mo $99.99 per year. One person. |
| Verified· Oct 13, 2026Source |
| Microsoft 365 Premium (consumer) | $19.99/mo $199.99 per year. |
| Verified· Oct 13, 2026Source |
What Microsoft 365 Copilot does
12 capabilities mapped. Click one to compare every tool that does it.
| Capability | Fit | Quality | Ease | Precision | Team | Plans | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ask questions across company documents | Core feature | — | — | Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (add-on), Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot (bundle), Microsoft 365 Copilot (enterprise add-on) | Weaker for content stored outside Microsoft 365 unless connectors are set up · Results reflect messy permissions; oversharing in SharePoint shows up in answers | ||
| General-purpose AI assistant | Strong | — | — | All plans | Free Copilot Chat does not reason over your Microsoft Graph data the way the paid add-on does · Requires a Microsoft 365 subscription | ||
| Write marketing and business copy | Strong | — | Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (add-on), Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot (bundle), Microsoft 365 Copilot (enterprise add-on), Microsoft 365 Personal (consumer), Microsoft 365 Premium (consumer) | Creative marketing copy is less distinctive than top standalone assistants · Brand voice depends on the reference documents you point it at | |||
| Write documents and notes | Strong | — | Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (add-on), Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot (bundle), Microsoft 365 Copilot (enterprise add-on) | The document tools themselves come from the base Microsoft 365 plan | |||
| Create presentation decks | Strong | — | — | Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (add-on), Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot (bundle), Microsoft 365 Copilot (enterprise add-on), Microsoft 365 Premium (consumer) | Layouts often need manual polish · Design quality is below dedicated presentation tools | ||
| Analyse data and spreadsheets | Strong | — | Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (add-on), Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot (bundle), Microsoft 365 Copilot (enterprise add-on), Microsoft 365 Premium (consumer) | Works best on clean, well-structured tables · Verify formulas before relying on results | |||
| Transcribe and summarise meetings | Strong | — | — | Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (add-on), Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot (bundle), Microsoft 365 Copilot (enterprise add-on) | Teams use requires a Teams license · Meetings on Zoom or Google Meet are not covered natively | ||
| Research a topic on the web with citations | Strong | — | — | Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (add-on), Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot (bundle), Microsoft 365 Copilot (enterprise add-on), Microsoft 365 Premium (consumer) | Citation checking still needed | ||
| Run AI agents that complete multi-step tasks | Strong | — | — | Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (add-on), Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot (bundle), Microsoft 365 Copilot (enterprise add-on) | Advanced agents and heavy usage may incur extra Copilot Studio costs not covered here · Setup often needs IT involvement | ||
| Proofread and improve writing | Partial | — | — | Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (add-on), Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot (bundle), Microsoft 365 Copilot (enterprise add-on), Microsoft 365 Personal (consumer), Microsoft 365 Premium (consumer) | Only inside Microsoft apps | ||
| Generate images from text | Partial | — | Microsoft 365 Personal (consumer), Microsoft 365 Premium (consumer), Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (add-on), Microsoft 365 Copilot (enterprise add-on) | Not a focus of the business product · No fine editing or brand control | |||
| Extract data from documents and PDFs | Partial | — | — | Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (add-on), Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot (bundle), Microsoft 365 Copilot (enterprise add-on) | No batch pipeline or validation queue · Scanned documents may extract poorly |
Fit and scores (1–5) are editorial judgements. How we score
Why people pay for it
- AI drafting and summarising directly inside Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and Excel
- Answers grounded in the organisation's email, files, meetings and chats
- Prebuilt Researcher and Analyst agents with advanced reasoning
- Copilot Studio for custom agents on work data
- Enterprise-grade privacy and admin controls that IT already manages
Reasons to keep paying
The honest case for Microsoft 365 Copilot. If these matter to you, don't switch.
- Access to company data in Microsoft Graph with existing permissions
- Works where staff already write, meet and email, so adoption needs little training
- IT, security and compliance teams have already approved the Microsoft stack
- Meeting summaries tied to Teams recordings and transcripts
Risks to know about
- mediumsecurity
Copilot surfaces anything a user can access. Over-shared SharePoint or OneDrive content can leak to people who should not see it; audit permissions before rollout.
- mediumvendor lock in
Value depends on staying in Microsoft 365; agents and grounding do not move to other suites.
- lowfunctionality loss
Removing the add-on keeps files but loses in-app AI, agents and meeting summaries.
- mediumreliability
Summaries and Excel analysis can be wrong; review before sharing.
- data portability: easy
Copilot output is saved as normal Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook files in your tenant, so removing Copilot keeps all documents. Custom agents built in Copilot Studio do not transfer to other platforms.
Get more from Microsoft 365 Copilot
Workflows where Microsoft 365 Copilot replaces something else you pay for.
- Drop Grammarly when you already pay for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or CopilotIf you already pay for an AI assistant, prompts handle rewrites, tone and careful proofreading, and built-in checkers (Google Docs, Microsoft Editor, Apple Writing Tools) cover everyday spelling and grammar. What you genuinely lose is Grammarly's real-time underlines everywhere you type, plus plagiarism checks, AI detection and team style guides on paid plans.easy30–45 minutes$0 extrauses
- Stop paying for Otter: use the transcription and AI notes already in Meet, Teams or ZoomMany business plans already include meeting transcripts and AI notes: Google Meet transcripts and 'Take notes for me' on eligible Workspace editions, Teams transcription (with AI notes via Teams Premium or Microsoft 365 Copilot), and Zoom's built-in meeting summaries on eligible paid plans. Check what you have, fill gaps with a transcript-to-action-items prompt, and handle recording consent properly.easy30–60 minutes$0 extrauses
Overlaps with
Tools that share capabilities with this one — the first place to look for duplicate spend.
Sources & freshness
- Microsoft 365 Copilot for business — accessed Oct 13, 2026 · Read through the r.jina.ai text reader after direct fetches timed out.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot for enterprise — accessed Oct 13, 2026 · Read through the r.jina.ai text reader.
- Compare Microsoft 365 plans — accessed Oct 13, 2026