How much does Microsoft Copilot cost?

Basic access is free. Copilot Pro costs $20 per month, unlocking priority model access and Office integration. Enterprise pricing requires contacting sales. The provided metadata lists a Pro tier at $50, but the description specifies $20 for personal subscribers.

What AI models power Microsoft Copilot?

It uses GPT-4-class models from OpenAI for text and DALL-E for image generation. The system relies on real-time Bing web search grounding to provide citations and current information in its responses.

Is Microsoft Copilot good for creative writing?

It is best for research and current-events writing due to web grounding. However, the documentation suggests skipping it for permissive creative writing, recommending ChatGPT or Claude instead for those specific needs.

Does Microsoft Copilot offer API access for developers?

The consumer chat surface at copilot.microsoft.com is not a developer API. Developers can access similar capabilities through Azure OpenAI or the Copilot Studio low-code builder, but the main chat product is for general users.

Which Microsoft apps integrate with Copilot?

It integrates with the Edge sidebar, Windows taskbar, and Skype. Paid tiers like Copilot Pro and Microsoft 365 Copilot add functionality inside Microsoft 365 desktop applications for personal subscribers.

Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft's consumer AI assistant, formerly Bing Chat, now powered by GPT-4-class models with web grounding and image generation.

Freemium· Basic: $20 · Pro: $50 · Enterprise: Contact salesWritingGPT-4-class (OpenAI) + DALL-E6.9 / 10

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In short

Microsoft Copilot is a free, web-grounded AI assistant with citations and image generation, deeply integrated into Edge and Windows for research and writing.

Best for

Pick Microsoft Copilot if you want a free, web-grounded chat assistant with citations and image generation, especially inside Edge or Windows.

Skip if

Skip it if you need API access, long-context document work, or a permissive model for creative writing â€” go straight to ChatGPT or Claude.

Microsoft Copilot is the consumer-facing chat assistant that absorbed the old Bing Chat brand in late 2023. The bing.com/chat URL now redirects to copilot.microsoft.com, where users get a conversational interface backed by OpenAI's frontier models, real-time Bing web search grounding, citations, and built-in image generation via DALL-E. It handles long-form writing, research with sources, code help, and multimodal inputs (text, voice, image upload).

The pitch is that it's free, search-grounded, and tightly integrated with Microsoft's ecosystem: Edge sidebar, Windows taskbar, Office documents (via the paid Copilot Pro and Microsoft 365 Copilot tiers), and Skype. Compared to a raw ChatGPT session, Copilot leans harder on live web retrieval and citation, which makes it more useful for current-events research but sometimes more cautious and slower to answer. Copilot Pro at $20/month unlocks priority access to the newest models, faster image generation, and Copilot inside the Microsoft 365 desktop apps for personal subscribers.

For developers, the same underlying capability is available via Azure OpenAI and the Copilot Studio low-code builder, but the bing.com/chat product itself is the consumer chat surface, not a developer API. It's a credible free alternative to ChatGPT for general-purpose Q&A, particularly when web freshness and source links matter.

Editor's take

Copilot is the easiest free on-ramp to GPT-4-class chat with live web search, and the citations alone make it useful for quick research. But it's the cautious, corporate cousin of ChatGPT â€” fine for everyday questions, frustrating the moment you push it. For serious work, treat it as a secondary tool.

— The AI Tool Bible editorial team

Pros

✅ Free tier with live web grounding and inline source citations
✅ Built-in DALL-E image generation at no cost
✅ Tight integration with Edge, Windows, and Microsoft 365
✅ Multimodal: accepts text, voice, and image inputs

Cons

⚠️ Heavier guardrails and refusals than raw ChatGPT
⚠️ No public API on the consumer endpoint (use Azure OpenAI instead)
⚠️ Conversation length and memory are more limited than ChatGPT Plus
⚠️ Quality has drifted as Microsoft swaps models behind the scenes

Use cases

conversational-searchwriting-assistanceimage-generationresearchcode-help

Frequently asked

How much does Microsoft Copilot cost?: Basic access is free. Copilot Pro costs $20 per month, unlocking priority model access and Office integration. Enterprise pricing requires contacting sales. The provided metadata lists a Pro tier at $50, but the description specifies $20 for personal subscribers.
What AI models power Microsoft Copilot?: It uses GPT-4-class models from OpenAI for text and DALL-E for image generation. The system relies on real-time Bing web search grounding to provide citations and current information in its responses.
Is Microsoft Copilot good for creative writing?: It is best for research and current-events writing due to web grounding. However, the documentation suggests skipping it for permissive creative writing, recommending ChatGPT or Claude instead for those specific needs.
Does Microsoft Copilot offer API access for developers?: The consumer chat surface at copilot.microsoft.com is not a developer API. Developers can access similar capabilities through Azure OpenAI or the Copilot Studio low-code builder, but the main chat product is for general users.
Which Microsoft apps integrate with Copilot?: It integrates with the Edge sidebar, Windows taskbar, and Skype. Paid tiers like Copilot Pro and Microsoft 365 Copilot add functionality inside Microsoft 365 desktop applications for personal subscribers.