Microsoft Copilot
Visit Microsoft Copilot →About Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft Copilot is the AI assistant Microsoft has woven across Windows, Edge, Bing, and the Microsoft 365 apps. It handles conversational chat, web search with cited answers, image generation, document drafting, and in the paid tiers it works directly inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
The biggest recent change is the model. Copilot has moved off GPT-4 onto the GPT-5 family. GPT-5 became the consumer default in the October-November 2025 rollout, GPT-5.4 Thinking reached Microsoft 365 Copilot in March 2026, and GPT-5.5 is rolling out now. Copilot Chat added GPT-5.2 with an Auto/Instant/Thinking selector, and Anthropic's Claude models (Sonnet 4.5/4.6 and Opus) are now selectable inside Copilot too.
Day to day you get Smart mode and Think Deeper for harder questions, voice conversations, web search that returns answers with citations, and roughly 15 image-generation boosts per day on the free tier. July 2026 also added AI-content watermarking and a rebuilt Copilot Notebooks experience that reached general availability.
Pricing splits into consumer and business. Copilot Free costs nothing and covers chat with the latest GPT models when capacity allows, cited web search, Think Deeper, voice, and the daily image boosts. Microsoft 365 Personal (about $9.99/mo) and Family (about $12.99/mo) raise Copilot usage limits. Microsoft 365 Premium at $19.99/mo replaced the retired standalone Copilot Pro and adds the highest consumer limits, Copilot inside the Office apps, Designer, and up to 6 TB of storage.
For organizations, the Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on is $18.00/user/mo on an annual promo (down from $21) or $25.20 monthly; Business Standard with Copilot runs $23.50 yearly, Business Premium with Copilot $32.00 yearly, and the enterprise add-on lands around $30/user/mo. Copilot Studio for building custom agents is $200/mo. Note the standalone Copilot Pro was sunset in late 2025 and existing subscriptions only work until August 1, 2026.
The main limitations: the free tier throttles priority model access to when capacity allows and caps image generation, the strongest features are tied to a Microsoft 365 subscription, and the tiering across consumer, business, and enterprise SKUs is genuinely confusing. Copilot makes the most sense if you already live in Microsoft 365 and want an assistant that reaches into your documents, mail, and calendar rather than a standalone chatbot.
- Runs on the current GPT-5 family (GPT-5/GPT-5.5 consumer, GPT-5.4 Thinking in Microsoft 365) instead of older GPT-4
- Copilot Chat lets you switch between GPT-5.2 and Anthropic Claude models (Sonnet 4.5/4.6, Opus)
- Genuinely useful free tier with cited web search, Think Deeper, voice, and about 15 daily image boosts
- Deep integration with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook on paid tiers
- Microsoft 365 Premium bundles Copilot, the Office apps, and up to 6 TB of storage for $19.99/mo
- Free tier gives priority model access only when capacity allows and limits image generation
- The best features require a paid Microsoft 365 subscription
- Confusing lineup of consumer, Business, and enterprise SKUs with different prices
- Standalone Copilot Pro was retired in late 2025; old subscriptions stop working after August 1, 2026
- Copilot Studio for custom agents is a steep $200/mo
Choose Microsoft Copilot if…
- You already use Microsoft 365 and want AI inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook
- You want a free assistant with cited web search and daily image generation
- You value being able to choose between GPT-5.2 and Claude models in one place
- Your organization needs a Copilot add-on that respects Microsoft enterprise controls
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