Copilot Chat or Microsoft 365 Copilot: what are the differences in 2026?
Comparison published on October 10, 2026, based on official Microsoft documentation (Microsoft Learn, microsoft.com/fr-fr pricing pages, release notes) consulted that day, and our own data from a Microsoft 365 Copilot account in real-world use. Prices are shown excluding taxes.
Copilot Chat or Microsoft 365 Copilot? The first is included at no extra cost in Microsoft 365 with a business account; the second is a paid license, starting at €18,20 per user per month. Both share the same chat window, the same corporate data protection, and web access. The real difference can be summed up in one sentence: Copilot Chat works with what you give it (the web, the files you attach), while Microsoft 365 Copilot also works with what you already have, namely your emails, files, meetings, and Teams conversations, and directly within Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
The verdict in five lines
- To get started and get everyone on board: Copilot Chat, already included in your Microsoft 365 licenses, is all you need to write, summarize, analyze an attached file and search the web.
- To work on your own data: Microsoft 365 Copilot, the only one to read your emails, documents, meetings and conversations via Work IQ.
- For Copilot in Word, Excel and PowerPoint: the license, because since April 15, 2026 these applications no longer offer Copilot to Copilot Chat (Basic) accounts.
- For Researcher, Analyst, and the choice of model (GPT or Claude): License.
- To delegate a complete task with Copilot Cowork : the license, with consumption billed on a usage basis.
The names have changed: who's who in October 2026
Microsoft has undergone numerous name changes in 2026, which only adds to the confusion. Here are the updated guidelines.
- Copilot Chat (formerly Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat): the assistant included for any Entra ID business account with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot : the additional paid license. This is the name to use in a quote or tender.
- The labels displayed under your nameFrom April 2026: "Copilot Chat (Basic)" without a license, "M365 Copilot (Premium)" with a license. Microsoft also documents an intermediate label, "M365 Copilot (Basic)", for unlicensed accounts that retain standard access to applications.
- The application : since August 2026, the Microsoft 365 Copilot app is called "Microsoft Copilot app", and its web address becomes copilot.cloud.microsoft (the old address m365.cloud.microsoft redirects automatically).
Beware of a common pitfall: "Copilot Premium" is not a productTelling a customer "Copilot Premium" creates confusion with Microsoft 365 Premium, the consumer offering that replaced Copilot Pro. In a sales document, write "Microsoft 365 Copilot".
The comparative table of features
| Feature | Copilot Chat (included) | Microsoft 365 Copilot (license) |
|---|---|---|
| Conversation with web search | Yes | Yes |
| Analysis of attachments | Yes | Yes |
| Access your work data (emails, files, meetings, Teams) via Work IQ | No, except for standard access to the mailbox and calendar in Outlook. | Yes, there's a Work IQ button in the conversation. |
| Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote | Not for Copilot Chat (Basic) accounts since April 15, 2026 | Yes, full and priority access |
| Word, Excel, and PowerPoint agents in the conversation | Yes | Yes |
| Copilot in Teams | Copilot Chat application anchored on the web | Meetings, conversations and channels |
| Choice of model | No | Yes: Auto, quick response, deep thinking, advanced reasoning modes; GPT (OpenAI) and Claude (Anthropic) models |
| Researcher and Analyst | No, according to the official price list. | Included |
| Notebooks | Limited version | Included |
| Copilot Cowork (delegate an entire task) | No | Yes, tab Coworkconsumption billed on a usage basis |
| Agent creation (Agent Builder) | Yes | Yes |
| Use of agents on company data | Pay-as-you-go, disabled by default | included |
| Copilot connectors to external sources | Charged based on usage | Included |
| Image generation | Standard access | Priority access |
| Memory, personalization, voice | Yes | Yes |
| Corporate data protection and administrator controls | Yes | Yes |
| Adoption reports for the administrator | Boundaries | Complete |
| Price | Included in Microsoft 365 | €26,00 per user per month (large enterprise, annual commitment); €18,20 for the Business offer |
The decisive difference: your working data
Copilot Chat is an excellent, secure conversational assistant: your exchanges remain within Microsoft's corporate data protection framework and are not used to train models. However, it only knows about your work what you paste or attach to it. To summarize an email thread, you must copy the thread; to prepare for a meeting, you must provide it with the documents.
Microsoft 365 Copilot adds Work IQThe layer that connects the assistant to your emails, OneDrive and SharePoint files, meetings, and Teams conversations, while respecting existing access rights. On a licensed account, a Work IQ button appears above the input field: you can then request, "Prepare the 14 PM meeting for me with the latest discussions on this topic," without attaching anything. It's this change in usage, more than the quality of the responses, that justifies or invalidates the license.
Word, Excel, PowerPoint: what changed on April 15, 2026
Until spring 2026, a Copilot Chat account opened a Copilot panel in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Since April 15, 2026, Microsoft has restricted Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote to license holders; accounts labeled Copilot Chat (Basic) no longer have access. They still have access to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint agents launched from within the chat, which generate a document based on a request, but not the on-the-fly writing assistance within the application.
To see in concrete terms what the license brings to each application, our three step-by-step tutorials were created using a Microsoft 365 Copilot license: Copilot in Excel, Copilot in Word et Copilot in PowerPoint.
What we found on a licensed account
On an account labeled M365 Copilot (Premium), accessed on October 10, 2026 in the Microsoft Copilot web application, the interface shows what the license adds:
- Two tabs at the top of the sidebar, Chat and Cowork. The tab Cowork opens a task space: new task, task tracking, automations and customization.
- A Work IQ button to anchor the response to the working data.
- A model selector with four modes (Auto, quick response, deep thinking, advanced reasoning in experimental version) and explicit choice of model: Claude Sonnet 5, Sonnet 5.5 and Opus 5.5 on the Anthropic side, GPT-5.6 Sol and GPT-6.1 Sol on the OpenAI side.
- Researcher and Analyst, the two long-term research and data analysis agents, pinned by default.
- A catalogue of agents including agents for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Planner and Learning, plus Frontier previews such as App Builder and Workflows.
- An Agent Builder linked to the work data : to feed an agent, you can select cloud files, Outlook, Teams, Copilot connectors, web search and attachments, and add Skills to it.
Agents: free or charged per use?
This is the most misunderstood point. A Copilot Chat user can create and use agentsHowever, only those that rely solely on instructions and public websites are free of charge. As soon as an agent reads shared company data (a SharePoint library, a connector), its usage is billed on a pay-per-use basis, and this billing is disabled by default: the administrator must connect it to an Azure subscription.
Microsoft charges in Copilot Credits $0,01 per credit on a pay-as-you-go basis, or a pack of 25,000 credits for $200 per month per tenant. A generative response consumes 2 credits, a response anchored to tenant data 10 credits, and an agent action 5 credits. Microsoft gives the example of 100 users consuming approximately 4,800 credits per day, or nearly $48. For Microsoft 365 Copilot license holders, agent usage by collaborators is included.
Prices in France
| It offers | Price excluding taxes |
|---|---|
| Copilot Chat | Included in eligible Microsoft 365 subscriptions |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot (large enterprise) | €26,00 per user per month, annual commitment |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (up to 300 users) | €18,20 per month with annual payment, €21,84 with monthly payment |
| Business promotion from July 1st to December 31st, 2026 | €15,60 for the first year, annual subscription |
| Business Standard + Copilot | €20,36 per month annually, €24,43 per month |
| Business Premium + Copilot | €27,73 per month annually, €33,28 per month |
Should you get the license? Our decision guide
| Your situation | Our recommendation |
|---|---|
| You are discovering generative AI in business | Copilot Chat for everyone, with training in good prompts |
| Your teams spend their days in Outlook, Teams, and meetings | Licensing for these profiles: the gain comes from Work IQ |
| You produce a lot of Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents | License for Copilot in applications |
| You want agents who can read your SharePoint | License, or Copilot Chat with pay-as-you-go billing for a few targeted agents |
| You want to delegate complete tasks in several stages | License, with Copilot Cowork |
| Limited budget, several hundred employees | Copilot Chat for everyone, licenses reserved for profiles that use it daily |
The most common model among our enterprise clients is a hybrid one: Copilot Chat for all employees, and licenses allocated to teams with proven daily usage, measured by usage reports in the administration center. An unused license costs up to €312 per year per workstation. To train these two groups, see our Copilot training in companiesIf you're still hesitating between Copilot and another assistant, check out our comparison. Claude or ChatGPT and the page Which AI tool should I choose? complete this overview.
F.A.Q
Is Copilot Chat really free?
It is included at no extra cost for any business account with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription. Only certain advanced uses, such as agents that read company data or connectors, are billed on a pay-per-use basis if the administrator enables them.
How do I know if I have Copilot Chat or Microsoft 365 Copilot?
Open copilot.cloud.microsoft and look under your name at the bottom of the sidebar: "Copilot Chat (Basic)" means without a license, "M365 Copilot (Premium)" means with a license. With a license, you also see the Chat and tabs. Cowork and the Work IQ button.
Is the Copilot for my personal Microsoft account Copilot Chat?
No. With a personal Microsoft account (Outlook.com, Hotmail), the interface displays "Personal" under your name and offers an upgrade: this is the consumer version of Copilot, without the corporate data protection. Copilot Chat requires a work account managed by your organization, labeled "Work".
Is my data protected in Copilot Chat?
Yes, with a business account: Copilot Chat benefits from the same corporate data protection as Microsoft 365 Copilot, and your conversations are not used to train models. The difference isn't security, but access: Copilot Chat doesn't read your work data, while Microsoft 365 Copilot reads it only within the limits of your permissions.
Can the two be combined in the same company?
Yes, that's actually the most common scenario. All employees have Copilot Chat, and the administrator assigns the Microsoft 365 Copilot license on a user-by-user basis.
Are Researcher and Analyst available without a license?
Microsoft's official pricing table restricts them to the Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Some regional help pages still mention standard access without a license: check with your own tenant, as Microsoft deployments are happening in phases.
Sources
- Microsoft, Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing and comparison for large businesses, accessed October 10, 2026.
- Microsoft, Microsoft 365 Copilot Business pricing.
- Microsoft Learn, Introducing Microsoft Copilot Chat.
- Microsoft, Copilot Chat with and without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.
- Microsoft Learn, agents in Copilot Chat.
- Microsoft Learn, Copilot Credits usage.
- Microsoft, Copilot general availability Cowork, June 16, 2026.
- Microsoft Learn, Microsoft 365 Copilot release notes.
- Microsoft Learn, Agent Builder knowledge sources.