• Microsoft’s new Copilot Chat plan is a pay-as-you-go offering that bundles select AI-powered features for Microsoft 365 users.
  • Copilot Chat lacks several key features of Microsoft 365 Copilot, including prebuilt agents and AI integrations for Teams, Outlook, and Word.

Microsoft is introducing Copilot Chat, a pay-as-you-go plan designed to make AI adoption more accessible for corporate customers. Bundling several key features from the Microsoft 365 Copilot suite, the plan aims to address businesses with less complex AI needs.

Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4o model, Copilot Chat allows users to ask business-related questions, create workflow automation, and generate images. These capabilities, previously part of Microsoft 365 Copilot, now come with flexible pricing. Unlike the $30-per-user-per-month license for Microsoft 365 Copilot, the new plan lets businesses pay for services on a metered basis.

“Copilot Chat … adds pay-as-you-go [services] to our existing free chat experience for Microsoft 365 commercial customers,” Microsoft highlighted this in a blog post.

The plan provides a pathway for organizations to embrace AI more widely, consolidating features in the rebranded Microsoft 365 Copilot app.

Through the app, users can access Copilot's chatbot capabilities to summarize documents, draft content, and collaborate with AI via the Copilot Pages tool. Task automation is a standout feature, enabling users to deploy “agents” for repetitive tasks like preparing account details or sending instructions to field workers. IT admins can also create and manage organization-wide agents while controlling security and access.

However, Copilot Chat lacks several Microsoft 365 Copilot features, such as prebuilt agents, AI integrations for Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as Copilot Analytics. The pared-down offering appears to target hesitant customers while generating incremental revenue.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reinforced the company’s commitment to AI, stating in an internal memo that 2025’s focus will be on “[AI] model-forward applications.”

While Microsoft 365 Copilot is used by nearly 70% of Fortune 500 companies, a Gartner survey found only 3.3% of IT leaders consider it highly valuable. Microsoft aims to improve with Copilot Chat.

Edited by Harshajit Sarmah