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ChatGPT vs Microsoft Copilot: pricing, features and which to choose

Plans, prices, deployment options, strengths and limits for ChatGPT vs Microsoft Copilot, taken from each company's pricing page, docs and changelog. Updated October 2026.

ChatGPTMicrosoft Copilot
ChatGPT logo

ChatGPT

Writing AI Tools

ChatGPT is OpenAI’s conversational AI service for individuals, teams, educators, and enterprises. It supports writing, web search, file analysis, image generation, voice, coding, research, and custom workflows. A free plan is available, while paid individual plans start at $8/month for Go, with Plus at $20/month and Pro tiers from $100/month.

Full reviewWebsite
Microsoft Copilot logo

Microsoft Copilot

Productivity AI Tools

Microsoft Copilot is an AI assistant for chat, writing, analysis, research, coding, image creation, and Microsoft 365 workflows, serving general users, individuals, families, and businesses. Copilot Free costs $0, while Microsoft 365 Personal starts at $9.99 per month in the United States and adds Copilot to eligible productivity apps, with paid plans offering additional storage, usage, security, collaboration, or enterprise features.

Full reviewWebsite

Quick comparison

FeatureChatGPTMicrosoft Copilot
CategoryWriting AI ToolsProductivity AI Tools
Main useAI writing assistantAI assistant
Pricing modelFree plan + paid tiersFree plan + paid tiers
Free plan Yes Yes
Entry paid plan$8/month (Go)$9.99/month or $99.99/year (Microsoft 365 Personal)
PlatformsWeb & APIWeb, desktop, app
Open source No No
Self-hosted No No
Public API Yes No
Profile updatedOctober 2026October 2026

Pricing plans

Every public plan, as listed on each company's pricing page.

ChatGPT

  • Free$0/month

    Unlimited text chats subject to abuse guardrails. Uploads, images, voice, deep research, memory, Codex, Work, analysis, vision, and image generation are limited.

  • Go$8/month

    Adds more messages, uploads, images, voice, and memory than Free. This plan may include ads.

  • Plus$20/month

    Adds advanced reasoning, expanded usage, deep research, Codex, Work, voice, image generation, Projects, scheduled tasks, and custom GPTs.

  • Pro 100$100/month

    Includes Pro models, Codex, deep research, image creation, memory, and file uploads. Ultrafast mode is not included.

  • Pro 200$200/month

    Includes more usage than Pro 100. New subscriptions have a lower allowance than some grandfathered subscriptions.

  • Pro 500$500/month

    Offers the highest included usage among Pro tiers and includes GPT-6 Astra Ultrafast and GPT-6.1 Sol Ultrafast.

  • Business Standard seat$25/user/month

    Requires at least two seats. Annual billing costs $240/user/year, equivalent to $20/user/month, and includes workspace administration and business-data controls.

  • Business Premium seat$125/user/month

    Requires at least two seats and includes five times Standard usage without a five-hour limit. Annual billing costs $1,200/user/year, equivalent to $100/user/month.

  • EnterpriseCustom

    Adds expanded context, SCIM, EKM, role controls, data residency, priority support, SLAs, invoicing, and volume discounts.

  • Teachers$0/month

    Free through June 2027 for verified United States K to 12 educators, with enhanced security and privacy controls.

  • EduCustom

    A university campus deployment plan with enhanced security and privacy controls. Institutions must contact OpenAI for pricing.

  • API and platformCustom

    API billing is separate from ChatGPT subscriptions and varies by model, input, output, and tool usage.

Microsoft Copilot

  • Copilot Free$0

    Limited access subject to available capacity and feature limits; Microsoft account or supported access may be required.

  • Microsoft 365 Personal$9.99/month or $99.99/year

    1 person, 5 simultaneous device sign-ins, 1 TB storage, Copilot in eligible Microsoft 365 apps, and higher usage than free.

  • Microsoft 365 Family$12.99/month or $129.99/year

    1 to 6 people, up to 6 TB shared storage, and Copilot benefits for the subscription owner only.

  • Microsoft 365 Premium$19.99/month

    Up to 6 people for Microsoft 365 benefits, higher or extensive usage, advanced agents, and 1 TB storage per person.

  • Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot$23.50/user/month, paid yearly

    Up to 300 users, 1 TB storage per user, Microsoft 365 apps, Copilot, Teams, email, and business services.

  • Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot$32/user/month, paid yearly

    Up to 300 users, 1 TB storage per user, Copilot, Microsoft 365 apps, identity controls, device security, and threat protection.

  • Microsoft 365 Copilot Business add-onStarting at $18/user/month, paid yearly promotional price; standard price shown as $21/user/month

    Requires an eligible Microsoft 365 Business plan; advanced AI features may incur usage-based billing.

  • Microsoft 365 Copilot EnterpriseContact Microsoft

    Enterprise licensing, work-data grounding, agents, administration, governance, and organization-specific prerequisites.

  • Copilot StudioContact Microsoft or usage-based billing

    Agent creation and advanced usage depend on the selected Copilot Studio offer and metering terms.

Strengths and limits

ChatGPT

  • ChatGPT combines writing, search, files, images, voice, coding, and research tools.
  • The Free plan provides unlimited text chats subject to abuse guardrails.
  • Business workspaces exclude business data from model training by default.
  • Pro 500 includes the highest published individual usage tier and Ultrafast access.
  • Consumer content may be used for training unless users opt out.
  • Usage limits vary by plan, model, tool, and task.
  • ChatGPT subscriptions do not include API usage or API credits.

Microsoft Copilot

  • Copilot is integrated into widely used Microsoft 365 applications and services.
  • Commercial plans connect responses to permitted organizational data and administrative controls.
  • The free tier provides access without requiring a paid Copilot subscription.
  • Microsoft offers consumer, business, enterprise, and agent-building product families.
  • Feature names, limits, prices, and availability vary by plan, region, device, and account.
  • Family subscriptions limit Copilot app benefits to the subscription owner.
  • Advanced business AI features can involve usage-based billing beyond license fees.

Which should you choose?

Choose ChatGPT if

  • Writers who want drafting, revision, outlining, and research in one workspace.
  • Teams needing administration, billing, connected applications, and business-data controls.
  • Researchers combining web search, file analysis, deep research, and generated tables.
  • Developers using ChatGPT products alongside a separately billed API.

Look elsewhere if

  • People needing guaranteed factual accuracy without human review.
  • Organizations requiring a self-hosted assistant or open model license.
  • Users wanting API charges bundled into a ChatGPT subscription.

Choose Microsoft Copilot if

  • Microsoft 365 users who want AI assistance inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams.
  • Organizations that need work-data grounding with identity, compliance, audit, and administrative controls.
  • Individuals who want office applications, cloud storage, security, and AI in one subscription.
  • Developers and analysts who need conversational help with coding, documents, spreadsheets, and research.

Look elsewhere if

  • Teams seeking a single predictable AI product with identical features across every account type.
  • Users who need fully transparent message, image, voice, and agent quotas before subscribing.
  • Organizations unwilling to manage Microsoft licensing, identity permissions, privacy settings, and application dependencies.

ChatGPT logo ChatGPT in brief

ChatGPT is OpenAI’s conversational AI service, launched in 2022 as a free research preview fine-tuned from GPT-3.5. It supports follow-up dialogue, web search, voice, files, vision, data analysis, image creation, coding, deep research, Projects, memory, custom GPTs, ChatGPT Work, and Codex. Current offerings include GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6 Sol, GPT-6 Luna, GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-5.6 Sol, GPT-5.6 Terra, and other tier-dependent models. Free access costs $0, while Pro costs $100 or $200 monthly, with Pro 500 at $500; Business costs $25 monthly or $240 annually per Standard seat, and Premium costs $125 monthly or $1,200 annually. Usage, context, tool access, and model availability vary considerably. Outputs can be inaccurate or non-unique, and API access is billed separately. Compared with Claude and similar assistants, ChatGPT suits users wanting broad multimodal tools, while privacy-sensitive organizations should consider Business or Enterprise.

A typical ChatGPT session starts with a typed prompt, uploaded file, voice request, or web search, then develops through follow-up questions, revisions, premise checks, and format changes. Depending on the plan, users can inspect images, analyze spreadsheets, create images, generate tables and charts, browse the web, conduct deep research, and organize work in Projects. Memory can preserve selected preferences across conversations, while Custom GPTs, scheduled tasks, ChatGPT Work, and Codex support repeatable workflows. The product also offers voice, vision, file uploads, data analysis, interactive tables, and a built-in browser, with access and limits varying by subscription. Business workspaces can connect Google Workspace, Slack, GitHub, Microsoft 365, and other internal tools under administrator controls, making ChatGPT adaptable for both individual tasks and coordinated organizational work.

ChatGPT is a broad general assistant, combining conversation, web search, file uploads, vision, data analysis, image creation, voice, projects, memory, custom GPTs, and Codex in one service. Its main strengths are convenience and breadth, while its main weaknesses are variable usage limits, potentially inaccurate or unsuitable output, and the need to pay separately for API access. It also is not presented as open source or self-hostable, which may rule it out for organizations requiring local control. Claude is a close competitor for writing, research, and coding, while Gemini may suit users deeply invested in Google services. Perplexity is a stronger choice for search-oriented answers with citations. Choose ChatGPT if one flexible workspace matters more than specialized search, a narrower interface, or on-premises deployment.

Read the full ChatGPT review

Microsoft Copilot logo Microsoft Copilot in brief

Microsoft Copilot is a general-purpose AI assistant available on the web, mobile devices, Windows, macOS, Edge, and dedicated applications. Its consumer experience supports questions, brainstorming, writing, coding, image creation, voice, vision, podcasts, and research, with limits that depend on plan, region, and capacity. Microsoft 365 subscriptions add Copilot to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Teams, and related services, alongside cloud storage and security benefits. Business and enterprise offerings connect chat and agents to permitted organizational files, meetings, email, and other work data. Copilot is therefore a family of connected experiences rather than one uniform feature set. Access, limits, supported languages, and availability vary across accounts and devices, so Microsoft 365 users seeking in-app assistance should choose it.

Microsoft launched Copilot as a successor to Bing Chat in 2023 and expanded it through Microsoft 365, Windows, Edge, and dedicated applications. Microsoft introduced Copilot Pro for consumers before replacing that standalone subscription with Microsoft 365 Premium in October 2025. The company describes Microsoft 365 Premium as a bundle combining Microsoft 365 Family benefits with advanced Copilot capabilities and higher usage allowances. Microsoft is the product maker and does not publish a conventional venture funding history for Copilot as a standalone company because Copilot is a Microsoft product. Its development draws on Microsoft's broader AI investments, partnerships, cloud infrastructure, and product teams. Current company documentation describe ongoing expansion across individual, business, enterprise, and agent-building offerings.

Copilot's main limitation is fragmentation: names, prices, capabilities, model access, data boundaries, and usage limits differ among consumer, business, enterprise, and Studio products. Personal and Family Copilot benefits are limited to the subscription owner, while shared family members receive Microsoft 365 services without the owner's AI access. The free tier has capacity and usage limits, and some Premium capabilities remain limited or region-dependent. ChatGPT is a closer general-purpose alternative for standalone AI work, Google Gemini is a closer choice for Google Workspace users, and Claude is a strong writing and analysis alternative. Microsoft 365 users should choose Copilot for in-app workflow integration and governed work data; others should compare limits and total subscription value before committing.

Read the full Microsoft Copilot review

Frequently asked questions

How do ChatGPT vs Microsoft Copilot compare on price?

ChatGPT has a free option, and its first paid plan (Go) is listed at $8/month. Microsoft Copilot has a free option, and its first paid plan (Microsoft 365 Personal) is listed at $9.99/month or $99.99/year. Prices are from each company's pricing page and can change, so check before you buy.

Which has a free plan, ChatGPT vs Microsoft Copilot?

All of them. ChatGPT: Unlimited text chats subject to abuse guardrails. Uploads, images, voice, deep research, memory, Codex, Work, analysis, vision, and image generation are limited. Microsoft Copilot: Limited access subject to available capacity and feature limits; Microsoft account or supported access may be required.

Can I self-host or integrate ChatGPT vs Microsoft Copilot?

None of them is open source. All of them run as hosted services only. ChatGPT offers a public API.

How much does ChatGPT cost?

ChatGPT Free costs $0/month. Go costs $8/month, Plus costs $20/month, and Pro costs $100/month, $200/month, or $500/month. Business Standard costs $25/user/month, or $20/user/month with annual billing. Business Premium costs $125/user/month, or $100/user/month annually. Enterprise, Edu, and API usage use separate pricing.

Is ChatGPT free?

Yes. The Free plan costs $0/month and includes unlimited text chats subject to abuse guardrails. It also provides limited uploads, image creation, voice, deep research, memory, Codex, Work, data analysis, vision, and image generation. Paid plans increase usage and add broader model, research, coding, collaboration, and customization features. API usage is billed separately.

Does Microsoft Copilot have a free plan?

Yes. Microsoft offers a limited free Copilot experience with access subject to capacity and usage limits. When a limit is reached, Microsoft says users can wait for availability or choose a paid option. Microsoft 365 subscriptions provide deeper integration with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and other services, along with expanded allowances that differ by plan and region.

What is the cheapest paid Microsoft Copilot option?

The cheapest paid individual option listed on Microsoft’s United States pricing page is Microsoft 365 Personal at $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. It includes one user, 1 TB of storage, Microsoft 365 applications, and higher Copilot usage than the free tier. Microsoft also offers a free Copilot experience with fewer allowances.

Related comparisons

ChatGPT vs ClaudeChatGPT vs GeminiChatGPT vs PerplexityMicrosoft Copilot vs ClaudeMicrosoft Copilot vs Notion AI

Sources