If you'd asked me this a year ago, I'd have told you to look elsewhere. Honestly. Copilot felt clunky next to ChatGPT and Claude, and I couldn't recommend it with a straight face.
Ask me now and my answer has changed. Yes, Copilot is worth it. But only if you train your team to use it.
Here's why I've changed my mind.
Why was Copilot so slow to get good?
Microsoft and Google had the hardest job of anyone getting AI right. They weren't starting from scratch. They already had software and hardware used by millions of people, and anything they built had to work on all of it from day one.
A start-up can launch something new and fix it later. Microsoft can't break Outlook for half the offices in the country. So naturally they lagged behind.
Where Microsoft has pulled ahead
Two things have changed.
First, Microsoft is enterprise first. Copilot sits inside the Microsoft 365 setup your IT team already manages, with the same security and permissions. For lots of the organisations I work with, that's what gets AI signed off at all.
Second, it lives inside the apps your team already uses all day: Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams. Those apps are picking up agentic features, so Copilot can now carry out tasks for you. It can draft a report from your notes, summarise a long email thread, or catch you up on the meeting you missed.
No new tool to learn. No copying and pasting between tabs. It's right there.
Free Copilot or paid Copilot: what's the difference?
This is where a lot of people get stuck.
If your business has Microsoft 365, you probably already have Copilot Chat for free. It's a chat assistant, a bit like ChatGPT, with work-level data protection.
The paid Microsoft 365 Copilot licence is the one that works inside your apps and with your own files, emails and meetings. Since April 2026, Microsoft has taken Copilot out of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote for anyone without a paid licence. So if you've noticed it disappear, that's why.
How much does Copilot cost?
For small and medium businesses, Microsoft 365 Copilot Business is an add-on to your existing Microsoft 365 plan. Prices have moved a few times this year and Microsoft keeps running promotions, so check the current figure with your IT provider before you buy.
As a rough guide, budget around £16 to £25 per person per month on top of what you already pay. Microsoft also now sells bundles with Copilot built in.
So is it worth the money?
Let's do the maths.
After a two-hour training session, your team could be saving 40 minutes a day. That's time currently spent faffing on the computer. Hunting for that email. Writing up meeting notes. Wrestling with a spreadsheet.
The licence costs £200 to £300 a year. It's not a hard sum. Want to run the numbers for your own team? Try the ROI calculator.
The catch nobody puts on the sales page
Buy the licences, send round an email saying Copilot is live, and most people will try it once. They'll get a so-so answer and go straight back to doing things the old way.
I see it all the time. You're paying for that licence every month whether people use it or not. Training is what makes it pay. (I wrote more about this in Copilot training for non-technical teams.)
A good session shows people what to ask, where Copilot lives in each app, and how to check what it gives back. Most of it is simple once someone shows you.
My verdict
Is Copilot worth it? Yes. 100%. But only if you train your team.
If you've got licences sitting there unused, or you're about to buy, my two-hour Copilot for Everyday Work workshop is built for exactly that. It covers Excel, reports, meetings and cutting admin. Practical stuff your team will use the next morning.
Copilot FAQs
Is Microsoft Copilot free?
Copilot Chat is free with most business Microsoft 365 plans. The version that works inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams needs a paid licence.
Is Copilot better than ChatGPT?
They do different jobs. ChatGPT and Claude are brilliant standalone tools. Copilot's strength is that it works inside Microsoft 365 with your own files and emails. If your business runs on Microsoft, that matters a lot.
How long does it take to learn Copilot?
A two-hour session is enough to get most teams using it every day. After that it's practice.
Is Copilot safe for business data?
The paid business version works within your organisation's own Microsoft 365 security and permissions. It's still worth having a clear AI policy so everyone knows what's OK to put in.