Microsoft Copilot is two products under one name, and knowing which one you have saves a lot of confusion. The free Copilot chat (at copilot.microsoft.com, in Windows, and in Edge) is a general assistant with web search, image generation, and file uploads. Microsoft 365 Copilot is the paid add-on that works inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams and can reason over your company's emails, files, meetings, and chats through Microsoft Graph.
For a professional in a Microsoft shop, the paid version is where the value sits. Ask Outlook to summarize a forty-message thread and draft the reply. Ask Word to turn a meeting transcript into a proposal on your template. Ask Excel to add a column, explain a formula, or build a pivot from a plain-English request. Teams produces recaps with action items even for meetings you missed, and Copilot Chat with the work toggle on searches across all of it.
The limits are real. Results inside the apps are inconsistent, especially in Excel with messy data. Copilot finds anything your permissions allow, which sometimes surfaces files nobody meant to share widely. And the per-seat price makes it a budget decision rather than a personal experiment, so most people meet it only after IT rolls it out.
Best for
- Organizations already on Microsoft 365 that want AI with enterprise data protection
- Summarizing and drafting email in Outlook, and catching up on Teams meetings you missed
- Turning existing documents, transcripts, and notes into new Word and PowerPoint drafts
- Finding what was said or decided across mail, chats, and files with one question
- Excel help for people who know what they want but not the formula
Not ideal for
- Individuals or small teams outside Microsoft 365, where ChatGPT or Claude is cheaper and more flexible
- Heavy creative writing; the in-app drafts tend to be flat and need editing
- Companies with loose SharePoint permissions, until that is cleaned up
Key features
Pricing
The consumer Copilot chat is free with usage limits and is also bundled into Microsoft 365 Personal and Family with monthly AI credits; for work, Microsoft 365 Copilot is a per-user, per-month add-on to business and enterprise plans, while anyone with a work account gets a free Copilot Chat that has data protection but no access to company files.
The Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on has been priced at thirty dollars per user per month since it launched, as of mid-2026; pricing changes often and license bundles keep shifting, so confirm with your reseller or admin.
Pricing changes often. Confirm current plans on the vendor's site before you buy.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Works inside the apps people already use, so adoption needs no new habits
- Answers grounded in your own mail, files, and meetings, with permissions respected
- Commercial data protection that satisfies most IT and compliance teams
- Teams meeting recaps are a real time saver for anyone double-booked
Cons
- Per-seat pricing adds up fast, and the free chat lacks the work grounding that makes it valuable
- In-app results are uneven; Excel and PowerPoint output often needs heavy cleanup
- It surfaces any file you technically have access to, which exposes sloppy permissions
- Two products sharing one name leave users unsure what their license includes
How people use Microsoft Copilot at work
Operations managers: catch up on a missed meeting
Open the Teams recap and ask Copilot what was decided, who owns each action, and whether anything conflicts with last week's decisions, then paste the result into your tracker. Skim the transcript for anything it flattened; recaps miss tone and hedges.
Financial analysts: interrogate a workbook
In Excel, ask Copilot to explain what a legacy formula does, add a variance column against budget, and highlight rows outside a threshold. Keep the source table clean (no merged cells) and check the formulas it writes before anyone relies on them.
HR professionals: update a policy from existing documents
In Word, reference the current handbook and the new state requirement and ask for a redlined update plus an employee-facing summary. Legal review still applies, and employee records should never go into a prompt beyond what your policy allows.
Sales professionals: prep from your own inbox
Ask Copilot Chat with the work toggle for everything about an account across email, Teams, and files from the last quarter, then for a one-page brief. Confirm dates and figures against the source messages before the call.
Getting started
- Find out what you have: open Word or Outlook and look for the Copilot button, or ask IT whether your account carries a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
- In Outlook, pick a long thread, click Summarize, then Draft with Copilot; compare the draft with what you would have written.
- In Copilot Chat, switch on the work toggle and ask a question you already know the answer to about a recent project; see which files it cites.
- Turn on transcription for your next Teams meeting so the recap and action items work, and tell attendees it is being recorded.
Alternatives to Microsoft Copilot
ChatGPT
The general-purpose AI assistant most of your coworkers already use.
Gemini
Google's assistant, strongest when your work already lives in Google Workspace.
Claude
A careful writing and analysis assistant that shines on long documents.
Zoom AI Companion
The meeting notetaker and assistant already built into your paid Zoom account
Frequently asked questions
Is Microsoft Copilot free?
Is Copilot safe for confidential company data?
How is Copilot different from ChatGPT?
Does the free Copilot chat see my work files?
Independent review. Pricing is described in words because plans change often; check the vendor's site.