Microsoft Copilot Pricing: the cost to bring AI into your business

The price of Microsoft Copilot varies based on company needs and intended use. Not completely free, some features require payment for full access. Microsoft doesn't provide detailed pricing at launch, usually basing it on factors like usage volume, required features, and access modes.

Companies must carefully consider the added value of Copilot versus its associated costs. For some organizations, the generative assistance provided by Copilot can be a significant advantage in software development, justifying the investment. Additionally, businesses can negotiate personalized pricing with Microsoft according to their specific needs. Therefore, evaluating the benefits against the costs is essential to determine if the price of Microsoft Copilot is appropriate for the company.

Introduction to Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot is an AI product that combines the power of large language models with internal business data generated by Microsoft Graph and Microsoft 365. Using AI and natural language conversations, you can get better answers to your questions and create content from those answers. There are three versions of Copilot:

• Copilot for Microsoft 365: Requires a subscription and offers advanced features integrated into Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams.
• Copilot Pro: A subscription version providing priority access to GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo during high traffic periods.
• Microsoft Copilot: A more general and free version.

It is important to note that Copilot for Microsoft 365 differs from the consumer and small business-oriented Copilot found in Bing Chat or non-enterprise versions of Microsoft 365. These Copilot LLMs are trained on more generalized aggregate data collected from the internet and thus tend to have more generalized results. Copilot for Microsoft 365 relies solely on data generated by your specific company.

Both versions of Copilot are embedded in Microsoft 365 apps, enabling your workers to be more creative, unlock productivity gains, and improve their skills. Additionally, Microsoft 365 Copilot adds AI-enabled Chat (previously called Business Chat) to the productivity suite, which works on your company's specific data like calendars, emails, chats, documents, meetings, and contacts to help your employees communicate more easily and effectively.

As of December 5, 2023, Copilot operated on OpenAI's large language model GPT-4 and the same company's DALL-E 3 image generation model. On March 1, Microsoft Advertising and Web Services CEO Mikhail Parakhin announced that the default free tier of Copilot now uses GPT-4 Turbo. Copilot Pro users can switch back to GPT-4.

As of March 21, 2024, Copilot for Microsoft 365 is available on Windows via the “Work” button (compared to the “Web” button for public Copilot using generally available data). Microsoft also announced two new Surface for Business devices intended for use with Copilot, the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6, both released on April 9. These devices and the new Surface Pro Keyboard have a dedicated Copilot key.

On May 20, 2024, Microsoft revealed new AI PCs built around Copilot at a pre-briefing for the Build conference. The Copilot+ laptops, available in the future from Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, HP, and Asus, will be able to run AI locally.

The price of Microsoft Copilot varies based on your company's specific needs and intended use of the platform. Evaluating the added value of Copilot versus its associated costs is essential to determine if the price of Microsoft Copilot is justified for your company. You may also negotiate personalized pricing with Microsoft according to your specific needs.

Available versions of Microsoft Copilot

As of November 15, 2023, Microsoft unified three versions of Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft Copilot in Windows, Bing Chat Enterprise, and Microsoft 365 Copilot) into two: Microsoft Copilot and Copilot for Microsoft 365. In January 2024, another option was introduced: Copilot Pro.

Microsoft Copilot

It incorporates tools previously known as Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise. Suitable for individual users or small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), it has a uniform visual identity across Bing, Edge, Microsoft 365, and Windows, accessible through the same icon. This version allows the use of generative AI to create and complete tasks within the Windows OS and Windows apps. Copilot is available from the taskbar or with the keyboard shortcut Windows Key + C.

Data protection for business interactions with Microsoft Copilot is applied when you sign in with Microsoft Entra ID. The following licenses allow access to business data protection with Microsoft Copilot:

• Microsoft 365 E3, E5
• Microsoft 365 F3
• Microsoft 365 A3, A5 (for teachers only)
• Business Standard
• Business Premium
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Copilot for Microsoft 365

It represents an extension of the Bing Chat Enterprise platform, ensuring enterprise-level security, privacy, and compliance for internal data processing within Microsoft 365. It is designed to meet the needs of enterprise customers.

The Copilot for Microsoft 365 experience includes Microsoft 365 Chat, which analyzes the full range of business data (emails, meetings, chats, documents, etc., along with internet access) to facilitate workplace problem-solving.

Integrated into Microsoft 365 applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and more, Copilot for Microsoft 365 was made available to companies with 1 to 299 seats starting in January 2024. Evaluating if the price of Microsoft Copilot is suitable for specific company needs is crucial for an informed decision.

Copilot Pro

‍A subscription service for advanced users, adding Image Creator from Designer (formerly Bing Image Creator). Accessible via Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote on PC, Mac, and iPad for Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers. Copilot Pro integrates data from various applications for more contextually relevant information, providing access to the upcoming Copilot GPT Builder from Microsoft.

Licenses including Microsoft Copilot

Ensure you have one of the eligible Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription licenses:

• Microsoft 365 E3, E5, A3, or A5
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Premium
• Office 365 E3 and E5, A3, or A5
• Microsoft 365 F1 and F3
• Office 365 E1
• Microsoft 365 Business Basic

Then, purchase the Microsoft Copilot subscription licenses and assign a Copilot license to each user. Evaluate carefully whether the price of Microsoft Copilot fits your organization's specific needs before proceeding with the purchase.

Is Microsoft Copilot free?

The answer to "Is Microsoft Copilot free?" is more complex than it seems. Individual customers have access to various Copilot features for free. The free Copilot experience offers access to all the basic Copilot functionalities, along with business data protection and web anchoring.

The free version includes:

• Image creation in Designer (with limited credits)
• Document and webpage summaries
• Plugin support and Copilot GPTs
• Business data protection with Entra ID (when enabled)

Free users can access Copilot only through certain solutions.

Copilot Mobile App

‍Available on Google Play and the Apple App Store, it allows interaction with Copilot on the go, offering features like conversational search, image creation, text generation, and more.

Copilot Web App

It allows interaction with the generative AI assistant Copilot online. The free tool lets users search for information, ask questions, and customize outputs with various conversational styles. Users also have access to Copilot GPTs like Designer, Vacation Planner, Fitness Trainer, and Cooking Assistant.

The Copilot Web App represents the evolution of Bing Chat. When Microsoft introduced the Copilot ecosystem, it launched Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise as distinct tools. At this year's Ignite event, Microsoft announced that "Bing Chat" and "Bing Chat Enterprise" would now be rebranded simply as "Microsoft Copilot." Despite the name change, the core solution remains free.

Copilot for Windows

Free for all users. If you already have the latest version of Windows, you can access the features at no extra cost. Copilot in Windows simplifies managing your computing ecosystem.

You can drag images from the desktop into a chat box and ask Copilot about them. Additionally, you can interact with a chatbot using natural language (or even your voice) through your computer. Copilot for Windows can adjust PC settings, help with product shopping, or even assist in writing an essay.

Microsoft Copilot for Edge

‍The version integrated into the Edge web browser. To use the service, you need the latest browser version, but it is free for all. This browser solution is powered by GPT-4 and designed to enhance users' online search experience.

Similar to ChatGPT, it can generate images, write stories, teach you new things, and much more. The advantage here is that the entire generative AI experience is integrated directly into your browser.

Microsoft Copilot Pricing: How much does Microsoft's AI cost?

Copilot allows users to interact with an AI bot integrated into fundamental tools like Windows, Edge, Word, and PowerPoint, using "prompts." While specific Copilot functionalities and benefits may vary from app to app, Copilot's goal is to provide each user with a digital assistant. The exact functionalities of Copilot depend on the chosen solution. As of January 2024, Microsoft updated its Copilot strategy based on customer feedback.

They discovered various "types" of users employing Copilot. Some users include creators, programmers, and researchers accessing the latest AI tools, while others are everyday users of Microsoft 365 applications. Consequently, several "Copilot plans" are now available for each user type, starting with the introduction of Microsoft Copilot Pro. Evaluating the price carefully is essential to determine which plan best fits the company's specific needs.

As we have seen, the basic Microsoft Copilot experience is freely accessible on the web, mobile apps, Windows, and Microsoft Edge. However, if you want to use Copilot with your Microsoft apps and access more advanced features, you will need to choose one of the two available plans.

Microsoft Copilot Pro

‍The first plan introduced in January 2024, intended for those who want access to the most advanced Copilot features to enhance their Microsoft apps. It includes all the functionalities available in the "free" version of Copilot, plus enhancements like priority access to models. With Copilot Pro, you also get web access to Copilot for Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. To use Copilot in your desktop apps, you need a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription.

This means you will pay 22 euros per month per user for Copilot Pro, plus the monthly or annual cost of a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription. For a Personal subscription, you will pay 7 euros per user. Family subscriptions cost 10 euros for up to 6 users. With Copilot added, the price of Microsoft Copilot will range between 27 euros and 30 euros per month.

Copilot for Microsoft 365

‍A plan specifically designed for organizations, available since November 2023. Initially, a minimum of 330 seats was required to purchase Copilot. This meant you had to pay 27 euros per month per user for 300 users to access Copilot (approximately 8100 euros). Additionally, you had to pay for a Microsoft 365 business-oriented account for all your users.

Although "Business Basic" costs only 5.60 euros per user per month, it does not allow purchasing Copilot as an add-on. Users must instead have a Microsoft 365 Business Standard plan (11.70 euros per month per user) or a Business Premium plan (20.60 euros per user). This brings the total cost for a basic Microsoft 365 subscription with Copilot to an imposing 11,730 euros monthly for a company of 300 people.

Fortunately, Microsoft eliminated the 300-seat minimum requirement in January 2024. They also made Copilot available for Office 365 E3 and E5 customers. As an added bonus, you can also purchase Copilot for Microsoft 365 through Microsoft's cloud solution providers.

Benefits of Microsoft Copilot

With Microsoft Copilot, employees can quickly start a project (e.g., email, presentation, report, data visualization) with an AI-generated first draft. From there, they can swiftly move on to refining and iterating a second and final draft, eliminating at least one step from the process. This can make employees more efficient and productive, potentially developing new skills. For Copilot for Microsoft 365, the key to these productivity gains is applying company-specific data to the new project from the start.

Using internally generated company data from emails, documents, calendars, contacts, etc., the project will presumably be initiated with relevant assets. For example, if a Ford employee is creating a presentation that needs to showcase a movement, the AI – if properly trained – should use a Ford-related product rather than a similar product from one of its competitors. An AI trained with internet-collected data might arrive at a different conclusion, defeating the purpose of employing a company-specific generative AI.

Key integrations of Microsoft Copilot

Copilot is integrated into the fabric of all Microsoft 365 applications. When your employees start a Word document, read an email in Outlook, open an Excel report, or update a PowerPoint presentation, Copilot and its generative AI capabilities are ready to assist on demand. As of January 2024, Microsoft added Copilot functionalities to the Microsoft 365 mobile app and launched a dedicated Copilot mobile app. In February 2024, Microsoft redesigned the Copilot homepage and app.

When evaluating the price of Microsoft Copilot, consider the comprehensive integration it offers with all Microsoft 365 applications. Copilot is designed to enhance your employees' efficiency and productivity, providing immediate and contextual assistance.

Here are some examples of commands your company's employees might give Microsoft Copilot:

• Copilot in Word: Using Microsoft Copilot, you can draft a two-page project proposal based on data extracted from a Word document, either the one you are currently working on or a specific one by name, and an Excel spreadsheet. You can also make the third paragraph of the current document more concise and change the document's tone to make it more informal. Finally, you can create a one-page draft based on a rough outline. These advanced features can significantly improve your employees' productivity, allowing them to create high-quality documents in less time.

• Copilot in Excel: Using Microsoft Copilot, you can break down sales data by type and channel and then insert a table. You can project the impact of a variable change on this data and generate a chart for better visualization. Additionally, you can model how a change in a variable's growth rate would affect the gross margin. These advanced capabilities allow you to analyze and visualize data more efficiently, improving decision-making within your company.

• Copilot in PowerPoint: Using Microsoft Copilot, you can create a five-slide presentation based on a Word document and include relevant stock photos. You can then consolidate this presentation into a three-slide summary. Additionally, you can reformat three points in a specific PowerPoint presentation into three columns, each with an image. These advanced features offered by Microsoft Copilot enable you to create professional presentations quickly and efficiently, improving the quality of work produced by your teams.

• Copilot in Outlook: With Microsoft Copilot, you can summarize emails received during the previous week's absence and highlight any important items. You can draft a response thanking the senders of an email and asking for further details on their second and third points. Additionally, you can shorten a draft email and make its tone more professional. Finally, you can invite everyone to a lunch and learn about new product launches, mentioning that lunch is included.

• Copilot in Microsoft 365 Chat: You can summarize conversations, emails, and documents related to the topic being discussed. You can identify the next milestone for a project, pinpoint risks, and generate a list of potential mitigations. Additionally, you can draft a new planning overview in the style of a specified document, incorporating the timeline from a different document and including the project list from this person's email, specifying the user's name.
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• Copilot GPTs: With Microsoft Copilot, you can use existing specific prompts in natural language to create your assistants.
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• Copilot in Designer: You can create images based on prompts and edit the generated images according to your needs.
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• Copilot for Finance, Sales, and Service: On February 29, Microsoft announced Microsoft Copilot for Finance, Sales, and Service. Microsoft Copilot for Finance can create reconciliation summaries to quickly identify missing transactions or invoices, directly access customer and ERP system records in Microsoft Outlook, draft emails to customers, analyze variances, and better understand root causes. Microsoft Copilot for Sales can sync with Outlook and CRM platforms to analyze customer and opportunity data. Copilot for Service can connect to Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Zendesk, allowing navigation and updates to CRM records in Outlook and adding contacts directly to a CRM. Additionally, it can assist in creating and deploying personalized copilots (small chatbots) to agents.
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• Copilot for Security: It is a security dashboard and generative AI chatbot that integrates with other Microsoft cybersecurity products and platforms.

Conclusion

Microsoft Copilot offers a wide range of innovative and advanced features designed to enhance efficiency and productivity across various business sectors.

While the cost of Microsoft Copilot may vary depending on the version and user needs, its availability on multiple platforms and ability to integrate with other business tools make it a valuable investment for organizations seeking to optimize their operations and improve cybersecurity. With the launch of new versions and features, Microsoft Copilot continues to demonstrate its value in the corporate technology landscape.

FAQ on Microsoft Copilot's pricing and features

What is Microsoft Copilot?

‍Microsoft Copilot is an AI tool integrated with Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, and Outlook. It leverages GPT-4 to enhance productivity by assisting with tasks like content creation and data analysis.

How much does Microsoft Copilot cost?

• Microsoft Copilot Pro: €22/month per user, plus Microsoft 365 subscription costs (€7-10/month).
• Copilot for Microsoft 365: €27/month per user, with additional costs for a Microsoft 365 business account.

Is Microsoft Copilot free?

‍Yes, a basic version of Copilot is available for free on platforms like Windows, Edge, and mobile apps, but with limited features.

What are the key benefits of Microsoft Copilot?

‍Copilot helps automate tasks, increase productivity, and improve decision-making by integrating company-specific data into Microsoft 365 applications.

Which licenses are required to use Microsoft Copilot?

‍Eligible licenses include Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard, Business Premium, and others.

How does Copilot integrate with Microsoft 365?

‍It is embedded in Microsoft 365 apps, offering contextual AI assistance across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.