What Is Microsoft Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft’s AI assistant — a chatbot and productivity helper woven directly into Windows, the Microsoft 365 apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams) and the Edge browser. You ask it questions or hand it tasks in plain language, and it writes, summarizes, analyzes and creates for you, right where you already work. Under the hood it’s built largely on OpenAI’s models — the same family that powers ChatGPT — combined with Microsoft’s own technology and your work data.

The one-line summary

Copilot is Microsoft’s bet that the easiest place to use AI is inside the tools you already have open. Instead of switching to a separate website, you summon Copilot in Word to draft a document, in Excel to analyze a spreadsheet, in Outlook to triage email, or in Windows to change a setting. It’s less a single app and more an assistant sprinkled across Microsoft’s whole ecosystem.

Where Copilot lives

“Copilot” is really a family of features under one brand. As of 2026 you’ll find it in several places:

• Windows — a built-in assistant for questions, quick tasks and system settings.
• Microsoft 365 apps — drafting in Word, formulas and analysis in Excel, slide decks in PowerPoint, email and meeting help in Outlook and Teams.
• Edge and the web — a free chat assistant (the consumer version, formerly branded “Bing Chat”) that can search the web and answer questions.
• Microsoft 365 Copilot — the paid, work-focused version that plugs into your company’s documents, emails and calendar.

That last point is the big one. The paid Copilot can see your files and messages (with your permissions), so it can answer things like “summarize the thread with the client and draft a reply” using your actual data — not just general knowledge.

What Copilot can do

Day to day, people use Copilot to:

• Draft and rewrite documents, emails and messages in your own tone.
• Summarize long documents, email threads or Teams meetings you missed.
• Analyze data in Excel — spotting trends, building formulas, generating charts.
• Build presentations in PowerPoint from a prompt or an existing document.
• Answer questions and search the web through the chat interface.
• Generate images for slides and documents.

How Copilot relates to OpenAI and ChatGPT

This trips a lot of people up, so let’s be clear. Microsoft is a major investor in and partner of OpenAI, and Copilot uses OpenAI’s models as a core engine. So Copilot and ChatGPT share DNA — but they’re different products from different companies.

The practical difference is integration and data. ChatGPT is a standalone assistant you visit. Microsoft 365 Copilot lives inside your work apps and can act on your own business content. If you’re already deep in Office and Windows, Copilot meets you where you are; if you want the broadest standalone AI tool, ChatGPT’s ecosystem is larger. For a sense of how the leading assistants stack up, see Claude vs. ChatGPT.

Microsoft Copilot vs. GitHub Copilot

Another common mix-up: Microsoft Copilot and GitHub Copilot are not the same thing, even though both are owned by Microsoft and share the name.

• Microsoft Copilot is the general productivity assistant for Windows and Office.
• GitHub Copilot is a coding assistant for software developers, living inside code editors and suggesting code as you type.

If you write software, the tool you want is GitHub Copilot — see our explainer on what GitHub Copilot is. For everyday documents and email, Microsoft Copilot is the one.

Is Microsoft Copilot free?

Partly. There’s a free consumer Copilot you can use on the web and in Edge for chat, search and basic image generation — no subscription required. The powerful, work-integrated version, Microsoft 365 Copilot, is a paid add-on for Microsoft 365, priced per user per month for businesses (and bundled into some consumer Microsoft 365 subscriptions). Microsoft adjusts pricing and packaging regularly, so check Microsoft for current terms. As a rough guide, the business add-on has run around $30 per user per month on top of an existing Microsoft 365 plan.

Is it worth it?

If your team practically lives in Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, Microsoft 365 Copilot can save real time — drafting, summarizing meetings and crunching data without leaving the app. If you just want occasional AI help, the free Copilot or a standalone tool may be all you need. For comparing the broader landscape of work assistants, our roundups of the best AI writing tools and best AI coding assistants are good next reads.

FAQ

Who makes Microsoft Copilot, and what is it built on?

Microsoft makes it. It’s built largely on OpenAI’s models — the same family behind ChatGPT — combined with Microsoft’s own technology and, in the paid version, your work data through Microsoft Graph.

Is Microsoft Copilot the same as ChatGPT?

No, though they’re related. Both use OpenAI models, but ChatGPT is OpenAI’s standalone assistant, while Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft’s assistant built into Windows, Office and Edge — and able to work with your own files.

Is Microsoft Copilot free?

There’s a free consumer version for web and Edge chat. The work-focused Microsoft 365 Copilot is a paid add-on, billed per user per month for businesses, on top of an existing Microsoft 365 subscription.

How is Microsoft Copilot different from GitHub Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot is a general productivity assistant for documents, email and Windows. GitHub Copilot is a separate tool aimed at software developers, suggesting code inside their editor. Both are Microsoft-owned but built for different jobs.

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AI features, branding and pricing change frequently. This explainer reflects Microsoft Copilot as of 2026; confirm current plans and prices with Microsoft.