How Much Does Copilot Cost? Understanding the Different Products

"Copilot" is a brand name that Microsoft uses across several AI products that have different prices, different capabilities, and different target users. When someone asks how much Copilot costs, the answer depends entirely on which Copilot they mean. Tools like fenbs give teams a way to keep project context portable across AI tools — so if you change which Copilot product you use, or add one to an existing workflow, the work record follows.

This guide separates the main Copilot products, explains what each one does, and points you to each vendor's pricing page for current numbers. Prices change often, and a guide that quotes specific figures is likely out of date by the time you read it.

The main Copilot products

These are four separate products. A subscription to GitHub Copilot does not give you Microsoft 365 Copilot. Using Microsoft Copilot for free in Windows does not give you Word or Excel AI features. The name is shared; the products are not.

Microsoft Copilot: the free assistant in Windows and Edge

Microsoft Copilot is the general AI assistant built into Windows and available at copilot.microsoft.com. The basic version is free: you can ask it questions, generate images, draft text, and get help with everyday tasks without paying. Microsoft also offers Copilot Pro, a paid tier for individuals that provides faster responses, access to the latest models, and AI features within Microsoft 365 personal apps.

For current details on what is included in the free tier versus paid Copilot Pro, check Microsoft's product page. The features available in the free tier have changed as the product has developed, and the vendor's page is the reliable source.

Microsoft 365 Copilot: AI in Word, Excel, and Teams

Microsoft 365 Copilot adds AI capabilities directly into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. It can draft documents in Word, analyze data in Excel, summarize long email threads, and generate meeting notes in Teams. This is the product most organizations mean when they ask about Copilot for business use.

M365 Copilot requires an eligible Microsoft 365 Business or Enterprise subscription plus the Copilot add-on. It is not available on personal or home M365 plans. For current pricing and which M365 tiers qualify, check Microsoft's M365 Copilot page↗ (opens in a new tab). Pricing for this product is in the per-seat-per-month range and has been adjusted as Microsoft has expanded and updated the product.

M365 Copilot works within the Microsoft 365 environment. It cannot read documents from outside that ecosystem unless they are imported into SharePoint or OneDrive. See Microsoft AI tools for an overview of the broader Microsoft AI product family.

GitHub Copilot: AI for coding

GitHub Copilot is an AI coding assistant that integrates with VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, Neovim, and other editors. It provides inline code completions, a chat interface for asking coding questions, and GitHub Copilot cloud agent — which can take a task description and complete it as a pull request without a developer staying in the loop throughout.

GitHub Copilot is available in individual, business, and enterprise tiers. The individual tier includes a free version with usage limits. For current pricing and which features are in each tier, check GitHub's Copilot page↗ (opens in a new tab) directly. See GitHub Copilot app guide for setup details.

Copilot Studio: building custom AI agents

Copilot Studio is Microsoft's platform for building custom AI agents and chatbots. It is designed for developers and IT teams who want to create AI-powered workflows specific to their organization — customer service bots, internal knowledge assistants, or automated process agents. Copilot Studio is priced separately on a consumption basis and requires an M365 environment.

Copilot Studio is not a tool most individual users interact with directly — it is the platform for building the tools that others use. For current pricing, check Microsoft's Copilot Studio page. See Copilot Studio overview for a deeper look at building agents on the platform.

How to decide which Copilot product you actually need

• If you want a free general AI assistant in Windows or Edge: the free tier of Microsoft Copilot is available without a subscription.
• If you want AI assistance within Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams: M365 Copilot requires an M365 Business or Enterprise subscription plus the add-on.
• If you want AI code completion and a coding agent in your editor: GitHub Copilot has individual, business, and enterprise tiers, including a limited free version.
• If you need to build a custom AI agent for your organization: Copilot Studio is the platform, priced by consumption.
• If you already pay for one Copilot product, check whether it covers the feature you need before adding another subscription.

How to do this with fenbs

1. Create a free account and set up a project for the work you want to use a Copilot product with. This is the shared record that any connected AI can read.
2. Decide which Copilot product fits your need, then connect it to fenbs over MCP from Integrations. GitHub Copilot is listed in the integration guides.
3. Record the project decisions and rules that the AI should follow in Decisions and rules. This keeps the important context available for any Copilot session on that project.
4. When you change AI tools — upgrading from GitHub Copilot individual to business, or adding M365 Copilot — the project record in fenbs does not need to change. The new tool reads the same context.
5. Save progress at the end of each session. The next Copilot session, on any product or device, starts from the current state of the work.