Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft’s AI assistant. There is a free Copilot app for Windows, the web and phones, and there is Copilot inside the Microsoft 365 apps, where it drafts documents in Word, analyzes data in Excel, builds decks in PowerPoint, summarizes email in Outlook and recaps meetings in Teams.
For businesses, Microsoft 365 Copilot can search across your emails, chats, files and meetings through Microsoft Graph, so answers are grounded in your own company data while staying inside Microsoft’s security and compliance boundary.
Key features
- Copilot in Word, Excel and PowerPoint to draft, rewrite, analyze data and create presentations from documents.
- Copilot in Outlook and Teams for email summaries, reply drafts and meeting recaps with action items.
- Work grounding that answers questions using your company emails, files and chats (business licences).
- Agents and Copilot Studio to build custom assistants for internal processes.
- Copilot Vision and voice in Windows and Edge to talk about what is on your screen.
- Enterprise data protection so prompts and responses are not used to train the models.
Microsoft Copilot pricing
| Plan | Price | Best for | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copilot app | $0 | Everyday chat | Free chatbot on Windows, web and mobile |
| Microsoft 365 Personal | $9.99/month or $99.99/year | One person | Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, 1 TB storage |
| Microsoft 365 Family | $12.99/month or $129.99/year | Up to 6 people | Personal features for the whole household |
| Microsoft 365 Premium | $19.99/month or $199.99/year | Power users | Highest Copilot usage and advanced features |
| Copilot Chat (business) | Included | Microsoft 365 business users | Secure web-grounded chat with eligible plans |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot Business | $18/user/month annual (promo); $25.20 monthly | Teams under 300 users | Copilot in apps with your work data and agents |
Microsoft 365 Copilot Business is on a promotional price of $18 per user per month on annual billing through December 31, 2026, down from $21. Larger organizations buy Microsoft 365 Copilot through enterprise agreements.
Our experience using Microsoft Copilot
Copilot is most useful where the other chatbots cannot reach: catching up on a long Outlook thread, getting a Teams meeting recap, or turning a Word document into a PowerPoint draft. In Excel it is good at explaining formulas and spotting trends, though it still needs well-structured tables.
As a general chatbot it is solid but not class-leading. For deep writing or coding work, Claude and ChatGPT gave us better results.
Who should use Microsoft Copilot?
Pick Microsoft Copilot if you or your company already pay for Microsoft 365. Home users get the most value from Personal or Family, which now include Copilot in the Office apps. Businesses should start with free Copilot Chat and add Copilot Business licences for the people who live in Outlook, Teams and Excel.
Microsoft Copilot vs alternatives
If your organization uses Google Workspace, Google Gemini is the equivalent choice. For a stronger standalone assistant, compare ChatGPT and Claude. Developers should look at GitHub Copilot, which is a separate product for coding. For notes and project docs, Notion AI is a popular alternative.
See all AI Chatbots and more AI for Business tools.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Microsoft Copilot free?
Yes. The Copilot app is free on Windows, the web and mobile, and Copilot Chat is included with eligible Microsoft 365 business plans.
How much is Copilot in Word and Excel for home users?
Copilot is included in Microsoft 365 Personal at $9.99 per month and Family at $12.99 per month, with higher limits on Premium at $19.99 per month.
How much is Microsoft 365 Copilot Business?
It costs $18 per user per month on annual billing under a promotion that runs through December 31, 2026, or $25.20 per user per month on monthly billing.
Is Microsoft Copilot the same as GitHub Copilot?
No. Microsoft Copilot is a general assistant for Windows and Microsoft 365, while GitHub Copilot is a coding assistant for developers.
Is my data safe in Microsoft 365 Copilot?
Business licences include enterprise data protection, and Microsoft says prompts and responses are not used to train its models.
