Question 1

What is the difference between GitHub Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Accepted Answer

They are completely different products that share a brand name. GitHub Copilot is an AI coding assistant for software developers — it suggests code as you type in your IDE. Microsoft 365 Copilot is an AI productivity layer embedded into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams — it helps with document drafting, email summarisation, and meeting notes. If you write code, you want GitHub Copilot. If you use Office apps at work, you want Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Question 2

How much does Copilot cost?

Accepted Answer

It depends which Copilot you mean. GitHub Copilot ranges from free to $39/user/month: Free (2,000 completions/mo), Pro ($10/mo), Pro+ ($39/mo), Business ($19/user/mo), Enterprise ($39/user/mo). Microsoft 365 Copilot costs $18/user/month (Business, promotional rate until June 2026, then $21) or $30/user/month (Enterprise). Note that M365 Copilot requires a qualifying Microsoft 365 base licence on top of the Copilot add-on cost.

Question 3

Is Copilot free?

Accepted Answer

GitHub Copilot has a genuine free tier: 2,000 code completions and 50 chat messages per month, available to all GitHub users with no credit card required. Microsoft Copilot (the browser-based assistant at copilot.microsoft.com) is also free but has limited functionality. Full Microsoft 365 Copilot integration into Word, Excel, and Teams requires a paid add-on licence.

Question 4

When is the Microsoft Copilot price increase?

Accepted Answer

Microsoft 365 Copilot Business is currently priced at a promotional rate of $18/user/month. This promotion ends June 30, 2026. From July 1, 2026, the standard price is $21/user/month — a 17% increase. For a 50-seat business, that adds $1,800/year to your costs. The Enterprise plan at $30/user/month is not changing in this round.

Question 5

Do I need a Microsoft 365 licence to use Copilot?

Accepted Answer

Yes, for the full Microsoft 365 Copilot experience. M365 Copilot Business requires a qualifying base licence: Microsoft 365 Business Basic ($6/user/mo), Business Standard ($12.50/user/mo), or Business Premium ($22/user/mo). The Copilot add-on cannot be purchased standalone — you must already have or purchase a qualifying M365 plan. This hidden cost is frequently overlooked by buyers.

Question 6

What GitHub Copilot plan should I choose?

Accepted Answer

For most individual developers, Pro ($10/mo or $100/year) is the right choice — unlimited completions, access to GPT-4o and Claude Sonnet, 300 premium requests/month. If you need access to the most powerful models (Claude Opus, o3) and 1,500 premium requests, consider Pro+ ($39/mo). For teams that need org management, SSO, and audit logs, Business ($19/user/mo) is the step up. Enterprise ($39/user/mo) adds codebase indexing and fine-tuned models for large organisations.

	GitHub Copilot	Microsoft 365 Copilot
Who it's for	Software developers, engineers, data scientists	Office workers using Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams
What it does	Autocomplete code, chat about code, agentic coding tasks	Draft documents, summarise emails, recap meetings, analyse data
Where it works	VS Code, JetBrains, Visual Studio, Neovim, Xcode	Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint
Lowest paid price	$10/month (Pro)	$18/user/month (Business, promo)
Free tier?	Yes — 2,000 completions + 50 chats/mo	Limited free browser version only
Base licence needed?	No — works standalone	Yes — requires qualifying M365 plan ($6–$22+/user/mo extra)
Price increase coming?	No announced increases	Yes — Business plan rises to $21/user/mo July 2026
Main alternatives	Cursor, Tabnine, Amazon Q Developer, Claude Code	Google Workspace AI (Gemini), ChatGPT Enterprise

Copilot Pricing: Two Products,
One Brand Name

GitHub Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot

Why Are There Two Copilots?

Quick Comparison: GitHub Copilot vs Microsoft 365 Copilot

Which Copilot Do You Need?

All Pricing Guides

GitHub Copilot Guides

Microsoft 365 Copilot Guides

Copilot Pricing: Common Questions

Copilot Pricing: Two Products,One Brand Name