So many versions of Copilot – which one do I need/have?

Choices, Choices everywhere. One of the first questions I get asked by those who want to join my Microsoft 365 Fundamentals with AI and Copilot course

Choices, Choices everywhere. One of the first questions I get asked by those who want to join my Microsoft 365 Fundamentals with AI and Copilot course is – do I need a business version of Copilot or will the personal or pro or premium versions be enough and what are all these different versions.

So, this is something that I tackle up front. However, Microsoft are often moving the goal posts as they introduce different versions and price points. The aim is to make AI as accessible as possible to as many people as possible.

Now with all these versions out there I asked Copilot to summarise them for me. However, because AI is updated and learns all the time when new versions are introduced it sometimes just regurgitates what it already knows. As I had a list I knew it was not quite correct as the new Premium version was not listed. So off I went to one of the other AI models – Claude and I asked the same question. Claude told me that he was searching for the most up to date information and this is the list that came back. Much more up to date than Copilot in this instance.

This reinforces the point that I always make in my courses that you must check the information that any of the AI models brings you. Even if you spend a small amount of time checking the content is correct it is still less time that searching and presenting the information by myself.

Listed below is the current lineup of Copilot Packages and Licenses.

Free Version (Microsoft Copilot)

Available at copilot.microsoft.com, in the Copilot app, and in Edge
Offers GPT-4o-powered chat but lacks integration with Office apps, no grounding in your content, and lower usage limits
Recently, Microsoft added free Copilot Chat to Office apps for all Microsoft 365 business users, which helps with basic tasks like drafting documents and analyzing spreadsheets

Microsoft 365 Premium (NEW - October 2025)

$19.99/month for individuals
Combines everything from Microsoft 365 Family and Copilot Pro subscriptions
Includes AI capabilities, access to core productivity applications, and cloud storage
Includes access to Researcher and Analyst reasoning agents and the highest usage limits available
For 1-6 people

Copilot Pro

$20/month per user
Targeted at individual users on Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans
Works with Microsoft's desktop Office apps on Windows and MacOS for Personal/Family subscribers
Microsoft is not discontinuing Copilot Pro, but Premium is the better value

Microsoft 365 Copilot (Business)

$30/month per user (add-on cost)
Built for companies with less than 300 employees
Requires a separate Microsoft 365 license (Business Basic, Standard, Premium, etc.)
Can analyze patterns across your work data, cross-reference historical trends, and surface insights that span your data ecosystem

Microsoft 365 Copilot (Enterprise)

$30/month per user (add-on cost)
For larger organizations (300+ employees)
Requires a qualifying license (E3, E5, Office 365 E3/E5, etc.)
The actual total cost ranges from $42.50 to $87 per user per month depending on the base Microsoft 365 license
Includes advanced features like Copilot Studio for building custom AI agents

Back to the question – which package do I need?

In my course Microsoft 365 Fundamentals with AI and Copilot I address this at the beginning.

The aim of the course is to demonstrate the different models out there, and to improve the fundamental use of the Microsoft 365 applications themselves, like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. So many people have never had any training on the apps themselves, so it is important to improve those basic skills too.

We spend a lot of time on Copilot as it is so built into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem seeing how it can help.

The question I am asked as to which license do people need, well the answer is that almost everything we cover will work in the Free, Premium and Pro versions although I am of course demonstrating how it fits with the Business and Enterprise licenses for those in corporate situations.

Enrolment is now open for the second cohort of Microsoft 365 Fundamentals with AI and Copilot and you can enrol right now at the early bird rate.

Categories: : Copilot