Microsoft Copilot review

What Microsoft Copilot is

Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft’s AI assistant. On its own, at copilot.microsoft.com and in the Copilot apps, it’s a chatbot that helps you research, create images and get answers—free with a Microsoft account. With a Microsoft 365 subscription, Copilot also shows up inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, where it can draft, summarize and analyze your own documents and email.

For organizations, Microsoft 365 Copilot adds work-grounded AI with enterprise security, adoption analytics and model choice. Microsoft is also rolling out Copilot Notebooks to Copilot Chat users.

Key features

Copilot chat

Ask questions, brainstorm and research. Paid consumer plans raise usage limits, and Premium adds advanced Copilot chat with extensive usage.

Copilot in Office apps

Draft and rewrite in Word, analyze data and build formulas in Excel, turn outlines into PowerPoint decks, and summarize threads in Outlook and meetings in Teams.

Visual assistance

Get help from what’s on your screen or camera, with higher usage on Premium.

Image creation

Generate images in Copilot, with higher usage than free on paid plans.

Business controls

Business plans add identity and access management, analytics to measure adoption and impact, and LLM model choice.

Pricing breakdown

From Microsoft’s US pricing pages, checked October 16, 2026.

Individuals and families

Plan	Price	Copilot highlights
Copilot (free)	$0	Chat, images, research with usage limits
Microsoft 365 Personal	$9.99/mo	Copilot with higher usage than free, Office apps
Microsoft 365 Family	$12.99/mo	1–6 people; AI for owner only
Microsoft 365 Premium	$19.99/mo	Advanced Copilot chat, extensive usage
Microsoft 365 Pro	$99.99/mo (monthly only)	Highest usage, agentic AI, 5 TB storage (not available in all markets)

Annual billing on consumer plans saves up to 17%.

Business (per user/month, paid yearly)

Plan	Price
Microsoft 365 Copilot Business	From $18 (promotional; originally $21)
Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot	From $23.50
Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot	$32

Monthly billing options cost more; free trials are available on some plans.

Best use cases

• Office workers: draft reports in Word and summarize long email threads.
• Analysts: explain and chart Excel data.
• Managers: get Teams meeting recaps and action items.
• Households: plan, write and create images with the free app.

How to get started

1. Go to copilot.microsoft.com and sign in with a Microsoft account.
2. Try chat and image creation for free.
3. If you have Microsoft 365, open Word or Excel and click Copilot.
4. Upgrade to Premium if you hit usage limits.
5. Businesses can start a trial of Copilot Business.

Tips and tricks

• Reference files in Microsoft 365 (“summarize /Q3 report”).
• Ask for structure: tables, bullet summaries, slide outlines.
• Iterate on drafts instead of starting over.
• Check numbers in Excel analysis before sharing.

Example prompt:

Using the attached sales spreadsheet, find the three regions with the biggest quarter-over-quarter decline, chart them, and draft a five-bullet summary for my manager.

Pros and cons

👍 Pros

• Free tier with a Microsoft account
• Deep integration with Office apps
• Enterprise security and compliance on business plans
• Consumer plans bundle Office apps and cloud storage
• Available on every major platform

👎 Cons

• Plan names and limits are confusing
• Best features need Microsoft 365
• Family plan's AI is for the owner only
• Business pricing adds up per seat

Who should (and shouldn't) use Microsoft Copilot

✅ A good fit if you…

• Use Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook daily
• Want AI with enterprise data protection
• Already pay for Microsoft 365

⛔ Look elsewhere if you…

• Work mainly in Google Workspace (consider Gemini)
• Need cited research answers (consider Perplexity)
• Want a coding agent (consider GitHub Copilot)

Microsoft Copilot alternatives

• ChatGPT — OpenAI's AI assistant for chat, research, writing, coding, images, voice and agentic work. (from $8/mo (Go); Plus $20; Pro $100–$500)
• Google Gemini — Google's AI assistant for chat, research, image and video generation, built into Gmail, Docs and Android. (from $4.99/mo (Google AI Plus))
• Claude — Anthropic's AI assistant for writing, analysis, research, coding and long-running work, with Claude Code included on paid plans. (from $17/mo (Pro, annual; $20 monthly); Max from $100)
• GitHub Copilot — AI pair programmer with code completion, chat, a cloud coding agent, code review and access to third-party agents. (from $10/user/mo (Pro))
• Notion AI — AI built into your Notion workspace: Notion Agent, Custom Agents, AI Meeting Notes and enterprise search. (from $20/seat/mo (Business, includes full Notion AI))

FAQ

Is Microsoft Copilot free?

Yes. Copilot is free with a signed-in Microsoft account, with some capabilities subject to usage limits and more available through paid plans.

How much does Copilot cost for individuals?

Microsoft 365 Personal is $9.99/month, Family is $12.99/month and Premium is $19.99/month, each including Copilot with increasing usage. Microsoft also lists a Microsoft 365 Pro plan at $99.99/month (monthly billing) with the highest usage, though it showed as unavailable in our market.

How much is Copilot for business?

Microsoft 365 Copilot Business starts at $18 per user/month paid yearly (shown as reduced from $21). Business Standard with Copilot starts at $23.50 and Business Premium with Copilot is $32 per user/month paid yearly.

Does Copilot work in Word and Excel?

Yes. Paid Microsoft 365 plans add Copilot in apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams.

Can my family share Copilot?

Microsoft 365 Family covers 1 to 6 people on up to 5 devices each, but its AI features are for the subscription owner only.

What's the difference between Copilot and GitHub Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot is a general assistant and Office companion; GitHub Copilot is a coding assistant for developers. See our GitHub Copilot review.

Sources

This is an editorial review based on research of official Microsoft Copilot pages and documentation, not hands-on benchmark testing. Prices are in USD and were checked on October 16, 2026; vendors change plans often, so confirm on the official pricing page before buying.

1. Microsoft Copilot for individuals (plans)
2. Microsoft 365 Copilot business pricing
3. Microsoft Copilot pricing