Copilot Chat vs Microsoft 365 Copilot: which one have you got?

Copilot Chat vs Microsoft 365 Copilot is the question behind most of the confusion we meet in training rooms. Staff see the Copilot icon in Edge, Outlook and Teams, and assume it’s one product. It isn’t. Most organisations give everyone the free Copilot Chat, and only some people get the paid licence. The two look almost the same on screen, so plenty of staff don’t know which one they’re using.

This guide explains how to tell, what each one can and can’t see, how your data is protected, and what you can do well with the free version today.

One naming note: Microsoft is renaming Microsoft 365 Copilot to “Microsoft Copilot”, and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat to “Microsoft Copilot Chat”¹. You’ll see both sets of names for a while. They’re the same products.

What is Copilot Chat?

Copilot Chat is the AI assistant included with eligible Microsoft 365 work and school accounts, at no extra cost². You sign in with your organisation’s account, and you get an AI chat that can search the web, read files you upload, rewrite text, create images and use agents².

The thing to understand is where it gets its answers. Copilot Chat is “primarily web grounded”². It works from the internet and from whatever you give it: text you paste, files you upload, or a file you pick by typing ”/” in the prompt box³. It doesn’t search your organisation’s files, Teams chats or SharePoint sites on its own³.

There’s one useful exception. Copilot Chat in Outlook can read your emails, calendar, meetings, chats and a limited set of files, such as files shared with you and files you’ve recently opened³.

What does Microsoft 365 Copilot add?

The paid licence connects Copilot to your work. Through Microsoft Graph and Work IQ, Microsoft’s layer for organisational context, a licensed user can ask Copilot to reason across emails, meetings, calendars, chats, documents and sites they already have permission to see². Ask what you agreed about the timetable change, and who’s still waiting for an answer, and it can pull that together from several places.

The licence also gives you the full Copilot experience inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, priority access when the service is busy, and access to more advanced agents².

Both versions respect existing permissions. Copilot only reaches content you could already open yourself².

How do I tell which Copilot I have?

Three quick checks:

1. Look at the label. In Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and the Microsoft Copilot app, Microsoft shows which experience you have. “Premium” or “Pro” means you have the paid licence. “Basic” means you don’t².
2. Look for the green shield. When enterprise data protection applies, Copilot Chat shows a green shield at the top, next to the New Chat button³. If there’s no shield, check you’re signed in with your work account. The consumer Copilot on a personal Microsoft account is a different product.
3. Ask it about your work. In the Copilot app, not Outlook, ask it to summarise a Teams conversation from this week. A licensed Copilot can find it. Copilot Chat will ask you to paste or upload the content.

If you’re still not sure, ask your IT service desk. They can see who has a licence.

Copilot Chat vs Microsoft 365 Copilot side by side

Based on Microsoft’s comparison².

Is my data safe in Copilot Chat?

Yes, when you’re signed in with your work or school account. Enterprise data protection covers both versions¹. Your prompts and responses get the same contractual protections as your email in Exchange and your files in SharePoint, and they aren’t used to train the foundation models¹. Your organisation’s sensitivity labels, retention policies and audit also apply¹.

That’s the main reason to use Copilot Chat rather than a consumer AI tool: it’s approved and already paid for. You still need to follow your organisation’s AI policy, and you still need to check what comes back. Our guide to AI literacy training for staff covers the habits that matter.

Five things you can do well in Copilot Chat today

You don’t need the paid licence to save real time. These work in the free version:

1. Summarise and question a document. Upload a policy, a report or meeting notes and ask for the five points that affect your team, or the questions it leaves unanswered.
2. Rewrite for a different reader. Paste a draft and ask for a plain-English version for parents, students or new starters. Then ask for it shorter.
3. Prepare for meetings in Outlook. Ask Copilot Chat in Outlook what’s on your calendar tomorrow, or to summarise the email thread behind a meeting³.
4. Research a topic from the web. Ask for a summary with sources, then open the sources before you rely on them. Copilot Chat shows the search terms it sent to the web³.
5. Save prompts that work. Keep your best prompts in the Prompt Gallery so you and your team can reuse them⁴.

When is the paid licence worth it?

The licence is worth most to people whose working day lives in email, meetings and shared files, and who’ll use Copilot every week. Think senior leaders, executive assistants, committee secretaries, programme administrators, heads of department and business managers. For them, an answer drawn from their own inbox, meetings and documents saves real time.

It’s worth less for staff who mainly draft, rewrite or research, because Copilot Chat already does those jobs well.

Licence costs, education pricing and how agent credits are billed are in our guide to Microsoft 365 Copilot licensing for universities. If your team is starting to build agents, read agent flows vs workflows in Copilot Studio first. For the bigger picture, our pillar guide on how to implement AI at your university sets out the steps around a rollout.

Get more from the Copilot you already have

Our Copilot Chat to 365 Copilot course shows staff exactly what changes when they move from the free version to the licence, how data protection and permissions work, and how to decide which tool and which data suit each task. You can estimate the time at stake with the AI Savings Calculator.

Not sure where to start? Our free AI Capability Check is a 30-minute call over Teams or Zoom, with no obligation. We’ll place your team on the AI Use Hierarchy, give you two or three prioritised next steps, and send you a written report to keep.

Book your free AI Capability Check

Frequently asked questions

Is Copilot Chat free? Yes, for eligible Microsoft 365 work and school accounts. It doesn’t need a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence².

What’s the difference between Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot? Copilot Chat works mainly from the web and the content you give it. Microsoft 365 Copilot also reasons across your emails, meetings, chats and files, and works fully inside the Office apps².

Is Copilot Chat the same as the Copilot on my personal account? No. Copilot Chat on a work account has enterprise data protection, shown by the green shield³. The consumer Copilot on a personal account is a different product.