Copilot Chat, Copilot Pro, Microsoft 365 Copilot: the License Jungle 2026
Copilot Chat, Copilot Pro and Microsoft 365 Copilot explained simply: differences, costs, and what changed as of July 1, 2026.
What Copilot Chat, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio cost, every figure with a Microsoft source, plus a calculation example for 40 employees.

Microsoft 365 Copilot costs 26.00 euros net per user per month under the enterprise plan when billed annually, Copilot Chat is included at no extra cost in eligible Microsoft 365 subscriptions, and Copilot Studio is billed not per user but according to consumed Copilot Credits. Anyone planning the costs of Copilot licenses needs to keep these three pricing logics apart. This article adds them up. As of: September 2026, all prices net according to the linked Microsoft pages.
Copilot Chat costs nothing extra. Microsoft 365 Copilot costs per head, in the Business tariff regularly 18.20 euros per month. Copilot Studio costs based on usage: 25,000 Copilot Credits per month for 173.30 euros or 0.01 US dollars per credit.
Copilot Chat is included for users with an eligible Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription and costs no additional license. This is stated in the Microsoft Learn overview of licenses and costs.
Costs arise as soon as agents in the chat access shared company data, for example SharePoint or Copilot connectors. According to the same page, Microsoft bills this usage in Copilot Credits via Copilot Studio. Simple agents that work only with instructions or public websites remain free.
A Microsoft 365 Copilot license costs small and medium-sized businesses with up to 300 users regularly 18.20 euros per user per month, for larger organizations 26.00 euros. It is an add-on to a suitable Microsoft 365 plan. The prices in detail:
With the license, Copilot works directly in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams and accesses your own emails, files and meetings. For many teams, that is the real difference from the free chat.
Copilot Studio is billed based on Copilot Credits, meaning based on what your agents actually do. There are two common approaches:
How many credits an agent consumes depends on its actions. According to the billing rates on Microsoft Learn a pre-authored response costs 1 credit, a generative response 2 credits, an agent action 5 credits, and access to company data via Microsoft Graph 10 credits. Important for planning: if employees with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license use an internal agent with their own sign-in, this usually incurs no cost. Exceptions, according to the same page, include for example computer-using agents and agent flows with other triggers.
How the credits work in detail is explained in our article on Copilot Studio and Copilot Credits.
A calculation example using the list prices above, without the promotional discount: A business with 40 employees has Microsoft 365 Business Standard. Ten people who work daily in Outlook, Word and Excel get Microsoft 365 Copilot Business at 18.20 euros each. The remaining 30 use Copilot Chat.
The agent thus costs almost as much as the ten licenses. Whether you should buy more licenses or more credits depends on who uses the agent and how often. This calculation is worth doing before ordering for all employees.
The most expensive license is the one nobody uses. Three steps help:
In practice, it is less about the license and more about whether people know what to do with it. That is what the Copilot launch and Copilot training days are for. If you want to keep discussing licenses, agents and usage with someone on an ongoing basis, the AI Sparring fits. We build our own agents in the Copilot Studio Agents area.
Yes, for users with an eligible Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription, Copilot Chat is included with no additional license. Costs only arise once agents in the chat access shared company data such as SharePoint. Microsoft bills this usage in Copilot Credits.
For businesses with up to 300 users, Microsoft 365 Copilot Business regularly costs 18.20 euros net per user per month with annual billing, and 15.60 euros for existing customers in the first year until the end of 2026. The plan for large enterprises costs 26.00 euros. A suitable Microsoft 365 plan is always required in addition.
For agents used by customers or employees without a Copilot license, you need Copilot Credits, either as a capacity pack with 25,000 credits per month or on a usage basis via Azure. Employees with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license usually use internal agents with their own sign-in at no extra cost.
Often. In 2026 alone, Microsoft introduced new permanent Business bundles on July 1 and extended a promotional price until the end of the year. Always check prices on the current Microsoft pricing page before ordering.
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Copilot Chat, Copilot Pro and Microsoft 365 Copilot explained simply: differences, costs, and what changed as of July 1, 2026.
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We work through with you who needs a license, who is fine with Copilot Chat, and what an agent would cost in credits. That way you don't order on a guess for all employees.