The Copilot System: Explained by Microsoft
Published by Microsoft 365Watch on YouTube
Updated Oct 4, 2026
AI Assistants
Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft's AI assistant, standalone and inside Microsoft 365 apps
From $16.67/mofree trial
Microsoft Copilot at a glance
from our research
Microsoft's assistant inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, plus a standalone chat app
Works in the open file or meeting, using Excel's own formulas, charts and PivotTables
The Business add-on needs a qualifying Microsoft 365 Business plan as well, paid for separately
Copilot Business is $21 per user a month billed yearly, or $25.20 month to month
Overview
What is Microsoft Copilot?
Microsoft Copilot is the AI assistant from Microsoft Corporation, the American company founded in 1975, and it comes in two forms. The Copilot app is a chat assistant on the web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and in the Edge browser. It answers with web search and helps with writing and summarizing. The free version works without an account; signing in adds chat history, image creation, longer conversations and voice. Copilot is also built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote and Teams, where it works on the document, workbook, inbox or meeting in front of you.
In Excel you describe the change and Copilot makes it with Excel's own tools, such as formulas, charts and PivotTables, so the result stays editable. In Teams it summarizes a meeting, including who said what, and suggests action items. With a paid business license, Copilot draws on Work IQ, Microsoft's layer over an organization's Microsoft 365 content, such as files, email and chats, plus outside data brought in through connectors, and it shows each person only content they already have permission to view. Researcher and Analyst agents take on longer research and data analysis.
Households get Copilot through Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Microsoft 365 Premium, which replaced Copilot Pro, covers up to six people, but only the owner gets the AI features. Organizations with an eligible Microsoft 365 work subscription get Copilot Chat, a web-grounded assistant, at no extra cost, and the full Copilot is a per-user add-on that requires a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan.
Our verdict on Microsoft Copilot
Updated Oct 4, 2026Pricing checked Oct 3, 2026
Copilot earns its place in organizations that already run on Microsoft 365. It works inside the files and meetings people use: Excel changes are made with real formulas, charts and PivotTables, and Teams meetings get summaries with speakers and suggested action items. Because Copilot only surfaces content a user can already open, and Microsoft says prompts, responses and data reached through Microsoft Graph are not used to train its foundation models, IT keeps its existing permissions and compliance setup. Every eligible work subscription also includes Copilot Chat at no extra cost, so a company can start there before buying seats.
That reliance on existing permissions cuts both ways. Copilot will find any file a user can technically open, so over-shared SharePoint sites can show up in its answers. The pricing is layered, too: the Business add-on needs an eligible Microsoft 365 Business plan billed separately, Enterprise needs a qualifying enterprise plan, and on home plans only the subscription owner gets AI features. The consumer app has also shed features. Deep Research, Podcasts and Group Chat were retired on August 18, 2026, and the new Cowork agent is a preview limited to Premium and Pro.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Business costs $21 per user a month billed yearly, or $25.20 month to month, on top of the Business plan; a promotion through December 31, 2026 cuts the first year to $18 per user a month on yearly billing. Bundles are simpler: Business Standard with Copilot is $23.50 per user a month billed yearly ($28.20 monthly) and Business Premium with Copilot is $32 billed yearly ($38.40 monthly), both for up to 300 users. Enterprises pay $30 per user a month, paid yearly. For individuals, Microsoft 365 Premium costs $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year, and Microsoft 365 Pro is $99.99 a month for the highest usage.
Choose Copilot when your company already licenses Microsoft 365 and people spend their days in Excel, Outlook and Teams, and add seats where the in-app features earn them. Companies on Google Workspace should look at Gemini, which is a core service in Workspace's Business editions. For one assistant outside any office suite, ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month covers file creation, image generation and coding.
Written by Lokesh Kapoor
Pros & cons
Microsoft Copilot pros and cons
What it does well
- Copilot Chat comes at no extra cost with eligible Microsoft 365 work plans
- Teams meeting summaries show who said what and suggest action items
- Work prompts, responses and Graph data aren't used to train foundation models
- Bundles put Copilot, the Office apps and business email on one per-user bill
Where it falls short
- Surfaces any file a user can open, so over-shared SharePoint content can show up
- Microsoft 365 Premium covers up to six people, but its AI features stay with the owner
- The consumer app dropped Deep Research, Podcasts and Group Chat in August 2026
Editor's assessment from vendor documentation and published pricing
Pricing
Microsoft Copilot pricing
Microsoft Copilot's paid plans start at $16.67/month, right at the $16.67 median across the 5 tools in our AI Assistants ranking. A free plan is available, and a free trial is available.
Copilot Free
$0
Free plan
For one person
- Limited free version of Copilot
Usage: Subject to available capacity and limits.
Microsoft 365 Premium
$16.67/mo
per month ($199.99 a year)
or $19.99/mo billed monthly
For one person
- Everything in Microsoft 365 Family
- Advanced Copilot chat with extensive usage
- Limited agentic research and analysis
- Up to 6 people; Copilot for the owner only
- 6TB storage (1TB each)
Usage: Replaced Copilot Pro. Copilot AI features are for the subscription owner only. One-month free trial.
Microsoft 365 Pro
$99.99/mo
per month
For one person
- Everything in Microsoft 365 Premium
- Highest Copilot chat usage
- Highest agentic research and analysis usage
Usage: Monthly billing only.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Business
$21/mo
per user, per month (add-on)
or $25.20/mo billed monthly
Up to 300 users
- Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams
- Researcher and Analyst agents
- Adoption analytics
- Choice of AI model
Usage: Add-on to an eligible Microsoft 365 Business plan, which is billed separately. Promotion: $18 per user a month on yearly billing for the first year (offer runs Jul 1 to Dec 31, 2026).
Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot
$23.50/mo
per user, per month (bundle)
or $28.20/mo billed monthly
Up to 300 users
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard
- Copilot in the Office apps
- Business email
- 1TB storage per user
Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot
$32/mo
per user, per month (bundle)
or $38.40/mo billed monthly
Up to 300 users
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium
- Copilot in the Office apps
- Advanced identity and threat protection
- 1TB storage per user
Microsoft 365 Copilot
$30/mo
per user, per month, paid yearly (enterprise add-on)
- Copilot in Teams, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel
- Agents with Copilot Studio
- Enterprise-grade security and compliance
Usage: Requires a qualifying Microsoft 365 enterprise plan, billed separately. A pay-monthly option exists but its price isn't shown.
Checked against Microsoft Corporation's pricing page on October 3, 2026 · see the full breakdown
Capabilities
Microsoft Copilot features
Checked against the same feature list as every other tool in its category.
Platform
- Included:Developer APIThe same models available programmatically for building your own applications.Microsoft 365 Copilot license
Reasoning & Modes
- Included:Custom assistants & agentsSave a reusable assistant with its own instructions, files and tools.
- Included:Extended reasoning modeA slower mode that thinks through multi-step problems before answering, for maths, analysis and planning.
- Not included:Long context windowAccepts book-length input in a single conversation without losing earlier detail.
- Included:Persistent memoryRemembers your preferences and context across separate conversations.
Knowledge & Sources
- Included:App connectorsConnects to Drive, SharePoint, email or a code host so the assistant can use your own data.
- Included:File & document analysisReads uploaded PDFs, spreadsheets and images and answers questions about them.
- Included:Inline source citationsLinks each claim back to the page it came from so answers can be checked.
- Included:Live web searchSearches the web during an answer rather than relying on training data alone.
Multimodal
- Included:Code execution & data analysisRuns code in a sandbox to analyse data, make charts and verify its own answers.
- Included:Image generationCreates and edits images from a text description inside the same conversation.
- Included:Voice conversationReal-time spoken conversation with interruption, not just dictation.
Team & Governance
- Included:No training on your dataBusiness tiers exclude your conversations from model training by default.
- Included:Team admin & SSOCentral billing, seat management and single sign-on for organisations.
Ecosystem
Microsoft Copilot integrations
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Teams
- Outlook
- SharePoint
- Power Automate
Videos
Watch Microsoft Copilot in action
Product walkthroughs from Microsoft Copilot's own YouTube channel.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat - Customer service agent demo
Published by Microsoft 365Watch on YouTube
Alternatives
Top Microsoft Copilot alternatives
Tools that do the same job, from the same category.
Fit check
Will Microsoft Copilot fit your team?
Support
- Email support
- Live chat
- Phone support
- Knowledge base
- Community forum
Training
- Live online
- Webinars
- Documentation
- Video tutorials
- In person
Deployment
- Web
- iOS
- Android
- Windows
- macOS
Typical users
- Mid-size companies
- Enterprises
FAQs
Microsoft Copilot FAQs
Written by our editorial team.
Is Microsoft Copilot free?
Yes. A limited free version runs on the web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and in Edge, subject to capacity and usage limits. You can use it without signing in, but a Microsoft account adds chat history, image creation, longer conversations and voice. Copilot inside the Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook desktop apps needs a Microsoft 365 subscription, and organizations with an eligible work plan get Copilot Chat at no extra cost. See Microsoft Copilot pricing.
What happened to Copilot Pro?
Microsoft stopped selling it, and support for existing subscriptions ended on August 1, 2026. Microsoft 365 Premium replaced it at $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year. Premium includes the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote desktop apps with Copilot, extensive chat and image usage, and the Researcher and Analyst agents. Up to six people can share its apps and storage, but only the subscription owner can use the AI features.
Do you need a Microsoft 365 plan to buy Microsoft 365 Copilot Business?
Yes. Copilot Business is an add-on for organizations with an eligible Microsoft 365 Business plan, which is billed separately, and it covers up to 300 users at $21 per user a month billed yearly or $25.20 month to month. Companies without a plan can buy a bundle such as Business Standard with Copilot at $23.50 per user a month billed yearly. Enterprises pay $30 per user a month, paid yearly, on top of a qualifying enterprise plan.
Does Microsoft Copilot use your data to train its AI models?
Not for work accounts or for Copilot inside the Microsoft 365 apps. Microsoft says prompts, responses and data reached through Microsoft Graph are not used to train the foundation models behind Microsoft 365 Copilot, and for home subscribers, prompts, responses and file contents used with Copilot in the Microsoft 365 apps aren't used for training either. Copilot only surfaces organizational content a user already has at least view permission for, so file permissions decide what it can see.
What can Copilot do in Excel and Teams?
In Excel, Copilot edits sheets, writes formulas across sheets, builds charts and PivotTables linked to the source data, and answers questions about your data, leaving everything editable; files must be saved to OneDrive with AutoSave on. In Teams, it summarizes meetings with who said what and suggests action items, and live transcription is needed to ask about a meeting afterward. For a comparison with Google's assistant, see Gemini vs Microsoft Copilot.
Sources & methodology
Product details come from Microsoft Corporation's public website and documentation (United States). Every plan and price was checked against the vendor's pricing page on October 3, 2026. We haven't tested this product hands-on; the verdict is a desk assessment. How we research and rank tools
- Founded 1975
- 9 languages supported
- microsoft.com
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