Microsoft Copilot Pricing Explained (2026): Every Plan, and Where Copilot Pro Went

Microsoft Copilot is free in its own app. Paid Copilot comes inside Microsoft 365 from $9.99 a month, and the Copilot Business add-on for work starts at $21 a user a month paid yearly, at US list prices read 12 November 2026. Copilot Pro is no longer sold.

The stickers are easy. Three things decide the bill: offers that cover only your first month or year, Copilot that only the account owner gets, and a usage meter that sits on top of every business seat.

How I read Microsoft's prices

I read Microsoft's US Copilot pricing pages for individuals, business and enterprise in both billing states, its Microsoft 365 plan and product pages, its support articles on AI credits, refunds and cancelling, its licensing and usage-billing docs, and the Copilot app's own page, on 12 November 2026. This post stops at those pages. No account, trial or checkout was involved, so the final total at checkout is not here, and the pages I read do not say whether tax is added. Microsoft's enterprise page warns that its prices "may not reflect the actual list price due to currency, country, and regional variant factors", so treat everything below as the US list.

Microsoft Copilot plans at a glance

The consumer page opens on monthly billing and the business page opens on yearly, so check the toggle before you compare two screenshots. These are the plans on Microsoft's three US Copilot pricing pages (business plans with Teams), as of 12 November 2026:

Microsoft's US Copilot pricing pages for individuals, business and enterprise, the Microsoft 365 Pro product page and the business compare page, read 12 November 2026. US list prices in dollars. Consumer usage words come from the individuals page's compare table; the work rows quote the cards.

Two plans are missing from that list on purpose. Microsoft's consumer compare page says "AI features are not available in Microsoft 365 Basic", and Office Home 2024, a one-time purchase at $179.99 on the same page as of 12 November 2026, lists no Copilot either.

What happened to Copilot Pro?

Microsoft no longer lists Copilot Pro. Its US pricing page for individuals, its consumer compare page and its Microsoft 365 product pages show no plan by that name, as of 12 November 2026.

The old links still work; they just land somewhere else. On 12 November 2026 the Copilot Pro store page opened the Microsoft 365 Premium product page, and the Copilot Pro help page opened a support article titled "Introducing Microsoft 365 Premium". Even the old "Cancel a Copilot Pro subscription" link now shows Microsoft's generic article, "Cancel your Microsoft subscription".

None of the Microsoft pages I read gives a date for the change or says what Copilot Pro used to cost. Older guides print both, and I would not lean on them. People in r/Copilot say Microsoft emailed legacy Copilot Pro subscribers that their plan would not renew.

Now the trap. Microsoft 365 Pro is a separate, current plan at $99.99 a month as of November 2026, with the highest Copilot usage Microsoft sells to individuals. Same word, different product. If you remember paying for Copilot Pro, the plan its links open today is Premium, three sections down.

The free Copilot app: what $0 gets you

The Copilot app asks for a signed-in Microsoft account and $0, as of November 2026. Going by copilot.com and Microsoft's pricing FAQ, you get:

• The assistant itself. copilot.com says Copilot "helps you research, create, and get answers, with some capabilities subject to usage limits and more available through paid plans."
• Limits with no published number. Microsoft's FAQ: "When you hit a limit, you can choose to upgrade to a paid option or come back later." No message count or daily cap appears on any page I read.
• Word, Excel and PowerPoint free on the web.
• New names for old features: Project is now Notebook, Tasks is now Cowork, Deep Research is now Researcher, and Study and Learn mode is now Guided Learning.

Microsoft clearly enjoys a rename. What paying adds first is Copilot inside the desktop apps, plus "Preferred access to AI models during peak times", which Microsoft's compare table ticks for all four paid plans. If the free app never stops you, stay on it.

Personal and Family: Copilot for the account owner only

Copilot belongs to the subscription owner on both plans, and on Personal the owner is the only user anyway. Personal runs $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year as of 12 November 2026, and its card lists 1 TB of storage, sign-in on five devices at once, "Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook desktop apps with Microsoft Copilot" and "All-day video calling and Copilot in Teams".

Family costs $12.99 a month or $129.99 a year and shares the apps and 2 TB of storage with up to five other people. Copilot does not come along. The card says "For 1 to 6 people (AI for subscription owner only)", and Microsoft's FAQ spells it out: "Copilot features in apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook are available only to the subscription owner and can't be shared with other family members."

Both plans include "AI credits and feature limits", in Microsoft's words, yet no page I read prints a number for them. You check your own balance in your Microsoft account under Services & subscriptions, and once it runs out the feature "may be unavailable until your allowance resets." Microsoft's support article on AI usage rates each feature by plan instead:

Microsoft support, "How AI usage works across Microsoft 365 subscriptions for individuals", marked "Last updated: October 2026", read 12 November 2026; the pricing page's separate compare table calls Personal's overall usage "Higher than free". Cowork is "Currently only available in the US and Canada." Microsoft adds that limits "may also change over time as new AI models become available."

A household that wants AI for two people needs two subscriptions.

Family at $129.99 a year covers the apps and storage for six people and Copilot for one. A second adult who wants Copilot needs "their own eligible Microsoft 365 subscription", in the words of Microsoft's FAQ, so the yearly bills compare like this:

My arithmetic on Microsoft's US list prices, read 12 November 2026, without the first-year offer on Personal.

Premium at $19.99: the plan Copilot Pro's links now open

Researcher and Analyst start here. Premium costs $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year, as of 12 November 2026, and the card's offer cuts the first period by 30%: $13.99 for the first month, or $139.99 for the first year, and then the list price applies. Beyond the usage table above, two details matter:

Storage

2 TB, pooled for new subscribers since 8 October 2026. Existing Family and Premium subscribers move to 2 TB pooled at renewal from 2 May 2027.

Who gets the AI

The owner only, as on Family. Apps and storage are shared with up to five others.

Against Personal, Premium costs $10 a month or $100 a year more at November 2026 list prices (my arithmetic). Microsoft's consumer compare page calls Premium "the recommended choice" for most freelancers, solopreneurs and side business owners. That is Microsoft's recommendation; mine is in the pick-a-plan section.

Microsoft 365 Pro at $99.99: monthly only, highest limits

Of the four paid home plans, Pro alone bills only by the month: $99.99, as of 12 November 2026, with "Monthly billing only." printed on its card. There is no free trial button either: Personal, Family and Premium show "Try free for 1 month", while the Pro card shows only "See monthly plan" and "Buy now".

The card's headline is "Highest usage limits"; the support table above shows Pro moving past Premium on voice, vision and Cowork. Storage rises to 5 TB, shared with up to five people, while the AI stays with the owner, as on Family and Premium. Microsoft lets anyone on Personal, Family or Premium switch to it.

A year of Pro costs $1,199.88, which is $80 a month more than Premium on monthly billing (my arithmetic). I would only move up after Premium's limits on Cowork or voice stop you more than once.

Yearly billing saves about 17%, and the 30% offer covers one period

Microsoft's toggle says "Save up to 17%". The exact figure is 16.6% on all three plans that offer a yearly price:

My arithmetic on Microsoft's US list prices, read 12 November 2026. Microsoft rounds the saving to "up to 17%".

On all three yearly plans, the annual charge costs about ten monthly bills. Keep the plan longer than ten months and yearly wins; leave sooner and monthly was cheaper.

The offer is the other half. Microsoft's banner reads "Save 30% on your first month or year of Microsoft 365." Only Personal and Premium carry it, and only the first billing period changes:

My arithmetic on Microsoft's US list and first-period offer prices, read 12 November 2026. The monthly first year is one discounted month plus eleven at list. Family and Pro showed no offer.

Look at what the headline is worth. The $13.99 first month saves $6 on Premium, once, and the $6.99 first month saves $3 on Personal. The yearly offer saves $60 and $30. Big banner, small money on monthly billing. The rules, from Microsoft's offer terms:

• "Discount on first billing period." After that the plan renews at the regular price for the billing period you picked.
• No end date: "Offer available while advertised."
• Anyone who already used a Microsoft 365 trial is out: "Customers who have redeemed a Microsoft 365 trial offer are not eligible."
• It does not stack with the one-month trial; the card says "Limited-time offer and 1 month trial cannot be combined."

Copilot for work: free Chat, the add-on and the bundles

Work accounts are priced per user, and Microsoft's business page opens on yearly billing. A business on an eligible Microsoft 365 Business plan (up to 300 users) can add the Copilot Business seat to that plan for $21 a user a month, paid yearly.

A paid seat adds Copilot in Teams and the Microsoft 365 apps such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Microsoft's pre-built agents "like Researcher, Analyst, and Facilitator", and "the ability to use assistive custom agents at no additional cost", according to Microsoft's business FAQ. The add-on fits on Business Premium, Business Standard, Business Basic, Apps for business and Teams Essentials, and business plans stop at 300 users. Microsoft's docs shorten the product names to "Microsoft Copilot Business" and "Microsoft Copilot"; this post uses the pricing pages' names.

Copilot Chat comes free with eligible work accounts, grounded in the web.

Copilot Chat costs nothing extra on a work account. Microsoft's enterprise pricing page, read 12 November 2026, says it "is available at no additional cost for all Microsoft Entra account users with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription." It answers from public web data. Microsoft's business FAQ says it does not integrate with "organizational content such as files, emails, or chats", so it will not read your company's documents.

Microsoft says Chat appears in Outlook and the Copilot app, and in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote depending on market and licensing. Agents cost extra: the card offers "Access and use agents, priced on a metered basis", and "An Azure subscription is required to use agents."

The $18 seat is a first-year price for orders placed by 31 December 2026.

The $18 on the add-on card is real, with conditions. Microsoft's footnote, read 12 November 2026, opens with "This discount offer is available between July 1, 2026, and December 31, 2026." Then the line that matters: "An annual commitment is required, and promotional pricing applies to the first year only."

So 31 December closes the window to buy at $18. It does not end anyone's discount: a seat bought in November runs its first year at $18, then renews at $21. Who qualifies, per the same footnote:

• Existing Microsoft 365 customers with an eligible Business plan. New customers without one are out.
• Buyers on an annual commitment, which leaves out the $25.20 monthly subscription.
• Paid subscribers only: "This promotion is not available on trial subscriptions."

The footnote also gives customers a 7-day window to cancel for a prorated refund. Ten seats cost $2,160 for the first year at $18, then $2,520 a year at $21 (my arithmetic). Budget the second number. One loose end: the pricing page sells a $25.20 monthly subscription, while Microsoft's licensing article, updated 3 November 2026, says Copilot Business is "available with an annual commitment". Check the term at checkout. If you are still choosing an assistant at all, start with the work assistants I compared.

Monthly business billing costs exactly 20% more.

All three business cards cost 1.2 times as much on a monthly subscription, to the cent, as of 12 November 2026.

Microsoft's US business pricing page, plans with Teams, read 12 November 2026. The ten-seat columns are my arithmetic at list prices, without the $18 first-year offer. The compare page also lists no-Teams versions of the two bundles at $28.80 and $20.30 a user a month, paid yearly; their monthly prices were not read.

What the extra 20% buys is the exit. Microsoft's business FAQ: "For subscriptions with a monthly commitment payment, there is no penalty for canceling your contract at any time." The yearly side reads differently: "Annual commitment subscriptions that are paid upfront do not receive a refund if canceled prior to the full contract period." Past the 7-day prorated window, a yearly seat is money spent.

Two more details. Microsoft also sells an annual commitment paid monthly, which "may incur some penalties if canceled early", but the cards print no price for it. And on the US business pages I read, Business Standard and Business Premium appear only as "with Copilot" plans. If you do cancel, Microsoft warns: "When a subscription is canceled, all associated data will be deleted", after a 90-day limited-function window for admins.

Large companies pay $30 a seat, or take E7 at $99.

Above 300 users, Microsoft points you to enterprise plans. The Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on costs $30 a user a month, paid yearly, as of 12 November 2026, and "A separate license for a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan is required", such as E3 or E5. That is $360 a user a year on top of the base plan. Microsoft 365 E7 bundles E5, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Agent 365 and Microsoft Entra Suite at $99 a user a month, paid yearly on an annual commitment, or $1,188 a user a year (my arithmetic on both).

The Copilot Credits meter on top of a business seat

The seat price covers everyday AI. Where it stops is spelled out in Microsoft's business FAQ (read 12 November 2026): "Everyday AI experiences, like chat and Copilot in your Microsoft 365 apps, are included with your license. More advanced AI experiences are billed based on usage. Today, these include Copilot Cowork, Code, Autopilot, and the Work IQ APIs."

Those experiences draw Copilot Credits, and "Charges apply only when usage-based experiences are used." Microsoft's usage-billing doc adds advanced work in SharePoint and OneDrive (Copilot license required), Copilot Managed Runtime and Teams Phone Agent to the same meter.

The only Copilot Credit price on the Microsoft pages I read is Copilot Studio's: packs of 25,000 Copilot Credits "priced at $200.00/pack/month", as of 12 November 2026. That works out to $0.008 a credit (my arithmetic). Microsoft prints no cost per task, only that "a varying number of Copilot Credits will be billed depending on the specific usage", so Microsoft's pages do not say what one Cowork job costs.

Licensed users get some Copilot Studio use inside Microsoft 365 at no additional cost; the standalone license is for publishing agents to outside channels, and my guide to AI agents for business covers where agents fit a budget.

How Copilot's prices sit next to ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude

Is Copilot cheaper than ChatGPT? That depends on which plans you line up against each other:

chatgpt.com/pricing, gemini.google/subscriptions with one.google.com's US Google AI plans page, and claude.com/pricing, read 12 November 2026. ChatGPT's page showed no annual prices in the capture.

Microsoft's price also buys the Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook desktop apps and storage: 1 TB on Personal, 2 TB on Premium. My explainers walk through ChatGPT's plans, Google's Gemini plans and Claude Pro and Max in the same detail, and is ChatGPT Plus worth it? takes the one-plan question.

GitHub Copilot is a separate coding product; its plans sit in the pricing table for coding tools, GitHub Copilot included. And if the word itself is the question, this explainer covers what a copilot is, and how it differs from an agent.

Trials, students, cancelling and refunds

Microsoft's rules, from its pricing FAQ, offer terms and support articles, read 12 November 2026:

• Trials: one month on Personal, Family and Premium. "Trial availability, duration, eligibility requirements, and whether payment information is required vary by offer and region." The Pro card shows no trial at all.
• Business trials last a month, convert to paid automatically, and "A credit card is required to sign up."
• Students: Microsoft's student page headline is "Students save 50% on Microsoft 365 Personal", for verified college students on a personal Microsoft account, re-verified every year. Its dollar price did not load when I read it. One of Microsoft's help articles points students to "our discounted version of Microsoft 365 Premium" instead, so check the offer shown after you verify. Students 13 and up on education plans can use Copilot Chat.
• Cancelling: in your Microsoft account under Microsoft 365, "Cancel subscription". App Store, Google Play and retailer purchases cancel where you bought them.
• Refunds: "In most cases, you may receive a refund within 30 days of your initial purchase or before your first recurring billing date (whichever is sooner)". There is also a one-time refund of a renewal charge if you cancel within 30 days of paying it. In the US, Premium and Pro add a prorated refund if you "cancel within 14 days of initial purchase"; Personal and Family get no prorated refunds. "Not all cancellations result in a refund."
• After cancelling: storage falls back to 5GB, and on Family and Premium everyone you shared with drops too. Stay over quota and Microsoft warns, "After 6 months, we may delete your OneDrive and all files within it."

Microsoft decides refund eligibility automatically during cancellation, so budget as if it might say no.

Which Copilot plan should you pick?

My rule, in order, at US list prices as of November 2026:

1. Start with the free app. If its limits never stop you, you are done at $0.
2. Pay for Personal when you want Copilot inside Word, Excel and Outlook. At $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, this is where I would start if you are going to pay.
3. Move to Premium for Researcher, Analyst or Cowork. It costs $100 a year more than Personal.
4. Take Microsoft 365 Pro only after Premium's limits stop you. At $99.99 a month, monthly only, give it one month and check whether you used the headroom.
5. A family pays per AI user. Family covers the apps; each extra Copilot user needs their own plan.
6. A small business already on an eligible Microsoft 365 Business plan should add the Copilot Business seat before 31 December 2026, paid yearly, to lock the $18 first year, and budget $21 from the first renewal.
7. Set a spending policy before anyone touches Cowork.

If Copilot is one of several assistants on your list, you can compare every AI subscription I priced in one guide.

FAQ

Sources