Microsoft Copilot
Ask questions, generate content, and get help with everyday tasks across your documents and web browsing, built into Windows, Edge, and Microsoft 365 apps.
The verdict on Microsoft Copilot: Teams already living inside Word, Excel, and Outlook who want AI help without leaving those apps The free tier here is underrated relative to how much attention it gets. Pricing: Free (limited) / bundled with Microsoft 365 ($99.99/yr Personal).
Best For
Teams already living inside Word, Excel, and Outlook who want AI help without leaving those apps
Standout Feature
Deep, native integration across the entire Microsoft 365 suite most assistants only bolt on
TL;DR
Makes the most sense as a bundled upgrade for Microsoft 365 shops, less so as a standalone assistant.
Alternatives
Fit Score: use-case reference
How this is scoredMicrosoft Copilot scored 1 to 5 on five dimensions for the named use cases below. Part of our catalog-wide use-case reference, not a product-quality review rating.
AI assistance inside Word, Excel, and Outlook for a Microsoft 365 team
4.2/5- Capability
- 5/5
- Reliability
- 4/5
- Value
- 3/5
- Ease
- 4/5
- Compatibility
- 5/5
Our own take says this native integration is deeper than any third-party assistant can match, which is exactly this use case. Value is capped at 3 by a specific documented con: M365 Copilot enterprise pricing at $30/user/mo is steep relative to standalone AI tools.
Free general-purpose AI assistant with web search, no subscription
4.0/5- Capability
- 4/5
- Reliability
- 4/5
- Value
- 5/5
- Ease
- 4/5
- Compatibility
- 3/5
The free tier is called out as genuinely capable (frontier-model quality with web search, no subscription), which drives a top Value score. Capability and Ease are held back by our own take describing the standalone web interface as fine but not the draw versus ChatGPT.
Editorial judgment grounded in this tool's own published pricing, features, and our existing pros and cons, not a certification or a measured benchmark. Product quality is assessed separately under our review methodology.
Overview
Not yet reviewedProduct quality is assessed from original evidence. How reviews work.
Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft's AI assistant integrated across the Microsoft 365 suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams) and available as a standalone interface at copilot.microsoft.com. It draws on a range of language and multi-modal models from Microsoft, OpenAI, and other developers, with user-selectable model options, and combines web-grounded conversational AI, built-in image generation, and deep Office document editing into a single assistant available to anyone with a Microsoft account.
The source of the legacy catalog rating and review count has not been substantiated. Neither is presented here as a verified review rating or included in review structured data.
Workflow Fit Scores are separate, use-case-specific editorial judgments, not user-review averages. Read the Fit Score methodology.
- • Free tier is genuinely capable, frontier-model quality with web search, no subscription required
- • Best AI option for Microsoft 365 users, the Office integration is deeper than any third-party alternative
- • M365 Copilot enterprise pricing ($30/user/mo) is steep relative to standalone AI tools
- • Standalone web interface feels less polished than ChatGPT for pure conversational use
Key Features
- Web-grounded responses with live Bing search for up-to-date answers and citations
- Built-in image generation lets you create images from any conversation without leaving the interface
- Microsoft 365 integration lets it draft emails, summarise documents, and build PowerPoint decks from prompts
Trust & Data
Verified 2026-08
- Training on your data
- Opt-out availableEnterprise Copilot (Entra ID / Microsoft 365 accounts) is not used for training by default; consumer Copilot signed in with a personal Microsoft Account trains on conversations by default unless the user opts out.
- Compliance
- GDPR, ISO/IEC 27018, HIPAA (with BAA), EU Data Boundary
- Retention
- For consumer accounts signed in with a personal Microsoft account, conversations are retained under Microsoft's standard consumer Privacy Statement, defaulting to 18 months and deletable by the user at any time. Organization-level Microsoft 365 Purview retention policies apply only to enterprise or Entra ID accounts and do not govern personal consumer use of Copilot.
- Export
- Full export
Sources: learn.microsoft.com/enterprise data protection, learn.microsoft.com/microsoft 365 copilot privacy, support.microsoft.com
As published by the vendor. Verify independently before purchase decisions.
Our Take
Frontier-model quality with web search and no subscription is a strong starting point for anyone, not just Microsoft 365 users. Where it actually earns its keep is inside Word, Excel, and Outlook for a team already paying for the suite, that native integration is deeper than any third-party assistant can match. As a standalone chat interface competing with ChatGPT, it's fine but not the draw.