Is Copilot Free? What You Really Get Without Paying in 2026

Is Copilot free? Yes. Microsoft Copilot has a free version you can use in the Copilot app and on the web with a Microsoft account. However, the free version has usage limits, and it does not include Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Outlook. Those features come with a paid Microsoft 365 plan.

This guide explains what free Copilot includes, where the limits are, and when a paid plan is worth it. Every plan detail below comes from Microsoft’s official Copilot pages, checked in November 2026. Prices are for the US and can change.

Is Copilot free? The short answer

Yes. So is Copilot free with no catch? Mostly. You can chat, research, and create content without paying. The catch is volume and placement. Paid plans give you more usage, and they put Copilot inside the Microsoft 365 apps you already use for work.

Here is the quick version:

• Price: $0 for the free Copilot app and web chat.
• Usage: limited. Microsoft does not publish an exact message count.
• Not included: Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook desktop apps.
• Best for: everyday questions, quick drafts, research, and trying Copilot before you pay.

What you get with free Copilot

Microsoft describes the Copilot app as a conversational AI chat for asking questions, creating content, and doing research. That is the core of the free version.

What free Copilot can do

• Chat and answer questions. Ask anything, from a quick fact to a long explanation.
• Write and edit. Draft emails, posts, and summaries.
• Research. Gather information on a topic and get a starting point fast.
• Create images, with limits. Microsoft’s paid plans list “higher usage than free” for AI image creation, so free users get a smaller allowance.

What free Copilot does not include

The biggest gap is the Office apps. On Microsoft’s plans page, Copilot in the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook desktop apps is a paid feature. In addition, paid plans list higher usage than free for chat, visual AI assistance, AI image creation, and AI-generated audio.

Copilot free vs paid plans: what changes when you pay

Here is how the individual plans compare, based on Microsoft’s official Copilot plans page. Prices are in US dollars.

Personal, Family, and Premium each offer a one month free trial. Prices can change, so check the plans page before you buy.

Stay on free Copilot if

• You use Copilot a few times a week for quick questions.
• You do not need AI inside Word or Excel.
• You rarely hit the usage limit.

Upgrade if

• You want Copilot to edit your documents and spreadsheets directly.
• You hit the free limit often and lose time waiting.
• You want more image creation and voice features.

Comparing assistants? Our guides on whether Claude is free, whether Grok is free, and whether Gemini is free cover the other big free plans.

Is Microsoft Copilot free for business use?

Partly. For businesses, Microsoft offers Copilot Chat at no additional cost for Microsoft Entra account users with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription. In other words, if your company already pays for Microsoft 365, your team may already have free Copilot Chat.

The full business version is different. Microsoft 365 Copilot is an add-on. It costs $30 per user per month, paid yearly. Paying monthly costs $31.50 per user, with an annual commitment, per Microsoft’s Copilot for organizations page. That version brings Copilot into your work apps and files.

So is Copilot free for a small business? The chat is, if you have an eligible Microsoft 365 plan. The deeper work features are not.

How to use Copilot free to sell more

Is Copilot free enough to help a business grow? Yes, if you plan your requests. The free version handles many small sales tasks well.

Sales teams

• Draft follow-up emails. Paste your call notes and ask for a short, friendly follow-up.
• Prepare for calls. Ask for five likely objections and a calm answer to each.
• Summarize a prospect’s website before a first meeting.

Our ChatGPT prompts for sales and Claude prompts for sales work in Copilot too. Just paste them in.

Service businesses

• Write replies to common questions, like hours, prices, and booking steps.
• Create simple phone scripts for your front desk.
• Plan a weekly follow-up checklist for quotes and reviews.

To make your free usage last longer, group related questions into one message. Also, say exactly what format you want. Clear requests mean fewer follow-ups.

Where Copilot stops: it chats, but it does not call your leads

Free Copilot is great for answering questions and drafting text. But a chat window cannot answer your business phone. It cannot follow up with a lead at 9 p.m. or book an appointment while you are with a customer. For that, you need an AI agent that runs on its own.

Microsoft is moving in that direction too. Our AI Insider story asks what your Copilot does while you are asleep, and we also covered how Microsoft redesigned Copilot for Office. Still, Copilot works for you inside a chat. It does not pick up the phone for your business.

Free alternative for sales tasks: build an AI agent with Dapti

That is where Dapti comes in. Dapti is Dapta’s autonomous agent. Tell it what your business needs in plain words, and it builds and runs it for you. Talk to Dapti like you would talk to Copilot or ChatGPT, but Dapti actually builds it for you.

What Dapti does

• Builds from a plain-words description. You describe the job, and Dapti sets it up.
• Reads your website for context. So your agent knows your services and hours.
• Has a voice agent ready in about a minute.
• Connects Google Calendar with one button and builds the booking flow.
• Lets you test with a real call before you go live.
• Saves a call summary and the data it captured after each call.

For example, you can ask for an AI sales agent that calls new leads fast. Or build a free AI receptionist that answers when you cannot. If you can describe it, Dapti can build it.

For more free tools, see our guide to the free AI note taker.

Frequently asked questions

Is Copilot free forever?

Yes, Microsoft offers a free version of Copilot with no end date. It has usage limits, and paid Microsoft 365 plans give you higher usage than free.

Do I need a Microsoft account to use Copilot?

A Microsoft account is how you sign in to Copilot and manage any Microsoft 365 plan. Signing in also keeps your chats tied to your account.

Is Copilot free in Word and Excel?

No. Copilot inside the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook desktop apps needs a paid plan. The cheapest is Microsoft 365 Personal at $9.99 per month.

What happened to Copilot Pro?

Microsoft’s current plans page does not list Copilot Pro. As of November 2026, individual Copilot features come through Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, Premium, and Pro.

Is Copilot free for my team at work?

Copilot Chat is available at no additional cost for Microsoft Entra users with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription. The full Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on costs $30 per user per month, paid yearly.

Is Copilot free? Yes, for chat and research with limits. And if you want free-to-start AI that answers calls and books work for you, describe it to Dapti.