Understanding the different Microsoft Copilot experiences

Microsoft Copilot is an artificial intelligence (AI) technology developed with the intent of helping you accomplish tasks and activities faster and more efficiently. You can find Microsoft Copilot integrated into many of Microsoft's products and services such as eligible Microsoft 365 subscriptions. If you don't have a Microsoft 365 subscription check out Microsoft Copilot at no cost.

Note: AI benefits are only available to the subscription owner and can't be shared with others.

Learn more about your options:

Microsoft Copilot (free)

Copilot in Microsoft 365 subscriptions • Microsoft 365 for home • Microsoft 365 for business

Privacy

Microsoft Copilot (free)

Microsoft Copilot is available at no cost at copilot.microsoft.com, through the Copilot app available on Windows and macOS, or your mobile device (iOS and Android), or from the header in Microsoft Edge.

Microsoft Copilot is your AI companion designed to inform, entertain, and inspire. Copilot understands your questions and requests, provides direct answers, assists with writing, and even creates images. Sign in isn't required to use Microsoft Copilot, but signing in with your personal account gives you access to chat history, image creation, longer conversations, voice interactions, and other Copilot features.

Microsoft Copilot (free) allows you to:

Chat with AI for help with writing, brainstorming, summarizing, and more.
Get real-time answers based on web search.
Use Copilot in Edge for webpage summarization and insights.

Screenshot showing free version of Copilot for user not signed in

For additional help, see Getting started with Microsoft Copilot.

Tip: For information about regional and language support with this free version of Copilot, see Supported regions and languages in Microsoft Copilot.

Copilot in Microsoft 365

Copilot is available in eligible Microsoft 365 subscriptions such as:

Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, and Premium (associated with a Microsoft account)
Eligible Microsoft 365 for business and enterprises (associated with work or school account (Entra ID)

Some Copilot features, such as agents and advanced AI are limited by subscription and only available to the subscription owner or requires an add-on license. See the following to understand what's included with your Microsoft 365 plan.

Copilot in Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, and Premium (home plans)

The Copilot features available in Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, or Premium depend on which subscription you have and for Microsoft 365 Family and Premium, you must be the subscription owner.

Tip: If you have Microsoft 365 Family or Premium through sharing, you can access Chat at microsoft365.com. Sign in with the Microsoft account associated with your subscription. Other AI benefits, such as Copilot in the desktop apps are limited to the subscription owner.

Screenshot showing microsoft365.com home page when signed in with a Microsoft account that has a Microsoft 365 (home) subscription

Subscription owners of Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, or Premium have access to Copilot in the Microsoft 365 desktop apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. AI usage limits apply. Learn more at Understanding AI Credits.

Examples of Copilot features for the subscription owner are:

Chat and voice support

Agents that bring specialized skills and knowledge into Microsoft 365 Copilot
Embedded directly in Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and the Microsoft 365 apps

Image generation and editing in Designer, Create, Paint, Photos, and Microsoft 365 web and desktop apps
Pages for organizing content

Audio Overview in Notebooks, Podcasts

Exclusive benefits for Microsoft 365 Premium subscription owners: The subscription owner of Microsoft 365 Premium also has access to:

Advanced AI features
Agents like Actions, Analyst (coming soon), Researcher, and Photos Agent (coming soon)
Extended usage allowance (see Understanding AI Credits)

Learn more about Microsoft 365 Premium.

Tip: Not sure what subscription you have? To view and manage your subscription including your monthly AI credits, do the following:

Go to the Microsoft account dashboard and sign in with the Microsoft account associated with your subscription.
Select Subscriptions. Here you’ll see:

The name of your plan (Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, or Premium).
Subscription owners can see their monthly AI credit balance.

Important: Copilot features in Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, and Premium subscriptions are subject to limits and can be used by subscription owner only. See Understanding AI Credits.

Learn more about Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, and Premium features and pricing.

Copilot Chat in Microsoft 365 business subscriptions

Copilot Chat is great for quick AI help in your work apps and is included in eligible Microsoft 365 business plans. Work or school account users with the Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat add-on license can access all the features in Copilot Chat along with advanced AI benefits.

Copilot Chat offers web-based AI chat with enterprise data protection to help you with your work. It’s available on web, desktop, and mobile in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app and in other apps like Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Microsoft Edge.

Examples of what you can do without the Copilot Chat add-on license:

Engage with your open content (like files and emails) when using Chat in Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote
Ask questions and do research
Summarize documents and web pages
Perform data analysis
Create images
Create collaborative Copilot Pages from Chat responses
Use pay-as-you-go agents for task automation

Advanced AI features are only available with a Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on license.

Examples of what you can do with a Copilot Chat add-on license

In addition to Copilot Chat, the Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on license gives you deeper AI integration across your organization’s Microsoft 365 apps. It works on desktop, and mobile.

With the add-on license you get everything included in Copilot Chat plus additional value including:

AI-powered Chat that can respond using your work data like files, emails, chats, people, and more.
Included access to agents based on your work data and to reasoning agents like Researcher and Analyst
Advanced features both in-app and in Copilot Chat in Microsoft 365 apps
Meeting summaries and recaps in Microsoft Teams
Premium AI search and creation functionality
More security, privacy, and compliance features for IT admins

If you have a Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on license a Work and Web toggle appears at the top of your Chat page. Responses are grounded in data from either web, work, or a combination of both.

Screenshot showing Work and Web tabs on Copilot Chat page