What Copilot costs at list
Microsoft 365 Copilot is an add-on at $30 per user per month on an annual commitment. It requires a qualifying Microsoft 365 license, such as E3 or E5. Copilot Chat, the web-grounded chat experience, is included at no extra cost for users with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription.
Copilot was not part of the July 2026 Microsoft 365 price increase. It also sits outside the old EA volume discount structure, so its starting point has always been list.
E7 puts Copilot in the suite
Microsoft 365 E7 became generally available on May 1, 2026 at $99 per user per month. It bundles Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Agent 365 and the Microsoft Entra Suite. Bought separately at list, those components come to roughly $117.
The bundle only saves money if the business uses what is in it. For an organization that wants Copilot for some users and has no near-term plans for AI agents, E5 plus Copilot for those users can cost less than moving everyone to E7.
The September 2026 change: licenses plus credits
On September 25, 2026, Microsoft set out a two-part model. The per-user license covers everyday Copilot use. More advanced work, including Copilot Cowork, Code, Autopilot and the most capable models, runs on usage-based billing through Copilot Credits.
For enterprise customers, usage-based billing stays off until an administrator creates a spending policy in the Microsoft 365 admin center, and nothing is billed before that. Credits can be bought as a pre-purchase plan, as capacity packs or on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Smaller customers see a different default. From November 2, 2026, new Microsoft 365 Copilot Business licenses bought through a CSP partner come with pay-as-you-go usage-based billing switched on.
How Copilot shows up in a renewal
Copilot is usually presented as part of the wider renewal, alongside the Microsoft 365 suite, Azure and other AI products, and often as the reason to move up a tier. With usage-based billing now alongside the per-user license, what Copilot will cost over a three-year term is harder to predict than the list price suggests.
Where Deal IQ comes in
This page covers what has changed and where the cost sits. Turning that into a better price on your contract is the negotiation itself. Deal IQ has run 270+ Microsoft negotiations covering $2.4B+ in contract value, with a network of 350+ former vendor sales, pricing and deal desk leaders that includes people who sold Microsoft. We negotiate directly with Microsoft or behind the scenes with your team, and our fee comes from the savings.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Microsoft 365 Copilot cost per user?
$30 per user per month at list, on an annual commitment, as an add-on to a qualifying Microsoft 365 license. It is also included in Microsoft 365 E7 at $99 per user per month.
What are Copilot Credits?
Copilot Credits are Microsoft's usage-based currency for advanced AI work such as Copilot Cowork, Code, Autopilot and frontier models. They are billed on top of the per-user license.
Will Copilot Credits be billed automatically?
Not for enterprise customers. Usage-based billing stays off until an administrator creates a spending policy. New Copilot Business licenses bought through CSP from November 2, 2026 have pay-as-you-go billing on by default.
Is Copilot discounted in an Enterprise Agreement?
There is no published EA discount for Copilot. List price is the starting point, and anything below it is negotiated as part of the deal.
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