Copilot Pro Vs. Microsoft 365 Copilot – What's the Difference and Which Should You Choose?

A year after announcing the arrival of Microsoft 365 Copilot, free and paid versions of the AI assistant are now available to Windows and Microsoft 365 users.

Until recently, Copilot was only available with Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise plans. With the arrival of Copilot Pro, the tool is now available as an add-on to Microsoft 365 Family and Personal plans.

All paid versions of Copilot use the same technology to assist Microsoft 365 users with a variety of tasks, but their features are slightly different. Copilot Pro is an excellent solution for individuals (or ‘power users’) who want to use the power of AI while coding, writing or generating images, while Microsoft 365 Copilot is a tool designed to boost an organisation’s productivity.

Understanding Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot is a free AI tool on Windows 10 and 11 that automates tasks in Photos, Snipping Tool, and other system apps. It’s also available as a mobile app and a web-based tool capable of generating images, writing blog posts, or helping users quickly research topics.

Owners of a Microsoft account can use Copilot to:

• Access GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo (limited to non-peak hours)
• Use pictures, voice and text in conversational searches.
• Generate and edit AI images with 15 boosts per day.
• Explore Copilot GPTs like the Cooking Assistant or Vacation Planner.

Copilot’s free version doesn’t support Microsoft 365 apps, so users cannot use it to create Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, or draft emails in Outlook.

Key Features of Copilot Pro

Copilot Pro was released in January 2024 and is available to Microsoft 365 Family and Personal account holders. The add-on expands the Copilot’s capabilities by allowing users to:

• Access GPT-4 and GPT-4 Turbo during peak hours and toggle between models.
• Use up to 100 boosts per day in Designer (Bing Image Creator) when creating or editing AI images.
• Create custom Copilot GPTs with simple prompts.

Copilot Pro has access to 365 apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and assists users with tasks they’re performing with these apps. For instance, Pro can simplify data collection and analysis in Excel, summarise email threads in Outlook and compare two documents in Word.

Accessing the AI assistant in each of these apps is easy. Users just have to click the Copilot icon, enter a prompt and wait for the response. Copilot Pro doesn’t have access to the Teams app, which makes it ill-suited for organisations that use this app for internal communication.

WATCH: How to use Copilot to compare two Word documents.

Overview of Microsoft 365 Copilot’s Features

Unlike Copilot Pro, Microsoft 365 Copilot is aimed at companies. As such, it integrates with all productivity apps and connects to a company’s Microsoft Graph. It’s a more powerful version of Copilot Pro designed to improve an organisation’s productivity and streamline repetitive internal processes.

The tool’s essential features are:

Email thread summarisation in Teams and Outlook: The AI assistant generates email thread summaries to help users catch up on missed messages or find old emails.

Document creation: Microsoft 365 Copilot simplifies the process of drafting documents and preparing presentations.

Meeting summaries: The tool can summarise a meeting and extract the key points, making it easier for employees who miss a meeting to keep up with the follow-up actions.

Graph-grounded chat: This feature synchronises Microsoft 365 apps and the organisation’s data to allow team members to create summaries and reviews, and get updates on a project’s progress from a single place.

Advanced security features and GDPR compliance: Microsoft 365 Copilot protects an organisation’s data by ensuring it always stays on the secure partition and following the latest privacy policies.

Copilot Studio: Businesses can create custom GPTs, automate workflows or point Copilot to different sources.

Subscribers to Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Premium plans can get this add-on. Microsoft 365 Copilot is also available for all Enterprise plans, including Office 365 E3 and Office 365 E5.

READ: The cyber security risks of Microsoft Copilot.

Microsoft 365 Copilot Vs Copilot Pro Comparison

Microsoft 365 Copilot is essentially a more robust version of Copilot Pro designed for use in business contexts.

Let’s go through some of the main differences between Copilot Pro and Microsoft 365 Copilot.

• Copilot Pro is web-grounded, while Microsoft 365 Copilot uses an organisation’s ‘graph’ for grounding.
• Microsoft 365 Copilot integrates with Teams, unlike Copilot Pro.
• Configuring Microsoft 365 Copilot requires a high level of technical expertise. Copilot Pro is easy to configure, so Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plan subscribers don’t have to spend much time adjusting its settings.
• Copilot Pro’s customisation options are limited to the Copilot GPT Builder. On the other hand, Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription includes Copilot Studio.
• Microsoft 365 Copilot inherits the enterprise-grade security, compliance and privacy policies set up by an organisation.
• Copilot Pro is more affordable than Microsoft 365 Copilot.
• The monthly subscription to Copilot Pro add-on is £19 per individual per month, but subscribers aren’t required to commit to the tool for an entire year.

The monthly subscription model is currently unavailable for Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise plans, costing £296.40 per user, billed annually.

Choosing Between Copilot Pro and Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft has made the Copilot tool much more accessible to individuals and businesses since the start of 2024. The release of Copilot Pro brings the power of AI to writers, researchers, coders, and all other Microsoft 365 users.

The removal of the 300-user limit has made Microsoft 365 Copilot available to a broader range of businesses, as its price is no longer the obstacle small companies have to overcome in order to use this tool.

Microsoft 365 Copilot’s features are tailored to meet the needs of SMEs and large corporations, so they exceed the needs of most subscribers to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans. On the other hand, Copilot Pro is a step up from the tool’s free version, but its applications in the business contexts are limited due to the lack of integration with the Teams app and Microsoft Graph grounding.

Importantly, if you’re an individual, choose Copilot Pro. Businesses should stick to Microsoft 365 Copilot.