Making Sense of Microsoft Copilot Licensing

By Ridhwaan Unia | June 17, 2024

Depending on the type of Microsoft solution you use at your organization, your Microsoft Copilot licensing needs may look different.

How is Microsoft Copilot Licensed?

As mentioned above, Microsoft Copilot licensing isn't monolithic. Each solution you deploy may have a different Copilot license required for users. This blog will outline the different types of Copilot licensing Microsoft has available to help you decipher the differences between all available offerings and inform you of where you can deploy Copilot within your organization.

It's important to note that Copilot Offerings are changing rapidly. This blog is accurate as of June 10, 2024.

Copilot for Microsoft 365

Copilot for M365 Licensing Options

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 integrates with your Microsoft 365 apps such as Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and more, and utilizes large language models (LLMs) with your content to increase productivity.

Customers can purchase Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program. You can purchase it annually across all channels with no seat minimum regardless of the size of your business.

Copilot is an add-on SKU. This means one of the licenses below must be present before the Microsoft copilot for Microsoft 365 license is added. Here are the prerequisites of a user:

Commercial - Enterprise

  • Microsoft 365 E5
  • Microsoft 365 E3
  • Office 365 E1
  • Office 365 E3
  • Office 365 E5

Commercial - SMB

  • Microsoft 365 Business Standard
  • Microsoft 365 Business Premium
  • Microsoft 365 Business Basic

Education

  • Microsoft 365 A5 for faculty
  • Microsoft 365 A3 for faculty
  • Office 365 A5 for faculty
  • Office 365 A3 for faculty

Frontline

  • Microsoft 365 F1
  • Microsoft 365 F3

Approximate price: $360 per user per year.

Microsoft Copilot for Sales

Microsoft Copilot for Sales combines the power of Copilot for Microsoft 365 with seller workflows. Microsoft Copilot for Sales leverages data from the CRM platform, as well as a large language model, to save time and energy, generate innovative ideas, build stronger customer relationships, and close more deals.

Copilot for Sales includes the Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscription and will be available to purchase through CSP on an annual term. This will be a standalone license, and will not included in any of the Dynamics 365 licenses.

It's important to note that you need to purchase a base product license similar to what is outlined under Copilot for Microsoft 365 to purchase Copilot for Sales.

Approximate price: $600 per user per year.

Microsoft Copilot for Service

Modernize your contact center with a copilot designed for service. Copilot for Service includes Copilot for Microsoft 365 and extends your existing contact center with generative AI, enhancing service experiences and boosting agent productivity.

Copilot for Services includes the Copilot for Microsoft 365 subscription and you can purchase it on CSP on an annual term.

Similar to Copilot for Sales, you need to purchase a base product license to purchase Copilot for Sales.

Approximate price: $600 per user per year

Microsoft Copilot Studio

Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 empowers you to build your own Copilot experiences and create customer service chatbots. Incorporate your data and plugins and create an experience that is unique to your organization or processes. You may purchase this license via CSP.

To create and manage copilots with Microsoft Copilot Studio, you need:

  1. A license for each user, also known as a Microsoft Copilot Studio User License, should be assigned to individual users who need access to create and manage copilots. This is a $0 license.
  2. A license for your organization, also known as Microsoft Copilot Studio, should be acquired by the tenant admin. This license cannot be assigned to individual users. This license will provide 25,000 messages /tenant/month.

Copilot Studio is a replacement for Power Virtual Agents.

Approximate price: $200 per tenant per month

Microsoft Copilot (Formerly Bing Chat Enterprise)

Microsoft Copilot is your everyday AI companion, providing AI-powered chat for the web. To help business and educational organizations protect corporate data, Copilot adds commercial data protection when eligible users sign in with their work or school accounts.  

Copilot (formerly Bing Chat Enterprise) is available at no additional cost for most Microsoft 365 and Office 365 work and school licenses. A base product license similar to what is outlined under Co-pilot for Microsoft 365 will be required to purchase Copilot. 

Approximate price: $0 for work and school licenses.

Microsoft Copilot Pro

Copilot Pro is a subscription that offers accelerated performance, faster AI image creation, and access to Copilot in Word, Excel (Preview), PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote if you are a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscriber. A Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription is required to unlock Copilot in select Microsoft 365 apps. Copilot Pro is for one person. If you have a Microsoft 365 Family subscription and have shared your subscription with other people, each will need to buy their own Copilot Pro subscription to use Copilot in the Microsoft 365 apps.

Approximate price: $20 per user per month.

GitHub Copilot

Github Copilot is an AI-powered coding assistance tool that helps write code faster and smarter by generating code, learning from the code it generates and auto-completing your code. You can turn natural language prompts into code and increase productivity. Here are the three plans available:

  • Copilot Individual - $10.00 - Free for verified students, teachers, and maintainers of popular open source projects and a Free trial for 30 days available.
  • Copilot Business - $19.00
  • Copilot Enterprise - $39.00

Built-in Microsoft Copilot for Dynamics 365

Copilot for D365 Licensing options

Some Copilots are built into an existing cloud application, such as Dynamics 365. You need to make sure you have verified the Copilot prerequisites (if applicable) and the application prerequisites. Copilot is currently packaged in “Preview” mode in Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement, Sales Enterprise Customer Services, Business Central, Finance, and Supply Chain Management.

Stoneridge can help you navigate the prerequisites to ensure you can use this in your cloud-based solution.

These solutions include:

  • Microsoft Copilot for Dynamics 365 Business Central
  • Microsoft Copilot for Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement
  • Microsoft Copilot for Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations
  • Microsoft Copilot and the Power Platform
  • Microsoft Copilot and Power Automate

How Much Does Microsoft Copilot Cost?

Although we offered approximate prices in each section, each organization has unique needs and what you pay will depend on that. You also might be able to benefit from different licensing models and promotions which can affect your licensing costs as well.

Want to Learn More About Microsoft Copilot Licensing?

Please reach out to the Stoneridge Software licensing team! Our team is committed to helping you understand the requirements for setup and ensuring you receive the most advantageous pricing available for your organization.

We can do a licensing assessment of your environment and help you pinpoint what Copilot licenses you need and how you can set them up and consolidate them to best serve your team.

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