Copilot pricing gets complicated

As Microsoft adds more advanced agentic capabilities to Copilot, such as Cowork and Autopilot, usage-based pricing is becoming an increasingly important part of its business model. But for customers used to predictable, fixed pricing, the addition of pay-as-you-go billing can be a significant change, creating new challenges around managing and predicting costs. Questions about the consumption pricing model are now among the most common that Gartner receives from clients around Copilot, said Max Goss, research director at Gartner. There’s “some doubt about whether a full move to consumption-based pricing for everyday knowledge work is sustainable for organizations in the long run,” he said. When Microsoft introduced Copilot three years ago, it charged businesses a flat monthly fee of $30 per user, with a $21 per user subscription later introduced for small and midsize businesses. Initial capabilities focused on helping employees find information, summarize meetings and documents, and draft content. Microsoft has since expanded Copilot with AI agents that can perform more complex tasks. Some, such as Researcher and Analyst, are included in the existing subscription, while others, in…

≈