Microsoft Copilot pricing used to be simple: a licence per person per month. Since Cowork reached general availability in June 2026, your AI bill has two distinct parts — and the second one is the part most budgets miss.
Bill one: the licence
Copilot remains an add-on to Microsoft 365. Microsoft lists Copilot Business at US$21 per user per month on an annual commitment, and the full Microsoft 365 Copilot at US$30, on top of a qualifying base plan. Copilot Chat — secure, work-grounded AI chat — is included at no extra cost with eligible business plans, which is why we often suggest starting there before buying anything.
Bill two: Copilot Credits
Cowork is the newer, more interesting half: AI you delegate to. Hand it an outcome — “prepare the client renewal pack” — and it plans the steps, works across Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel and SharePoint, and returns a finished result for approval. Because it does real work, Microsoft bills it by consumption, in Copilot Credits. Every task burns credits based on four things: the AI model used, how much organisational context it reads, how many tools it calls, and how long it runs. Pay-as-you-go list pricing is US$0.01 per credit, with 25,000-credit packs (US$200/month) and discounted pre-purchase plans for committed usage.
What usage really looks like
Microsoft’s published customer averages are the best public guide: a typical knowledge worker lands around 14,000—15,000 credits a month, technically heavy roles above 20,000, light users around 8,000. Run those numbers and you reach the point quickly: for an active Cowork user, the credits can cost more than the licence.
Why this is manageable, not scary
Cowork ships off by default. Administrators choose who gets it, and spending caps can be set per user, per group or across the whole organisation, with usage reporting to match. Set up deliberately, the spend is predictable and the value measurable. Switched on casually, it is a surprise-invoice generator. The difference is governance, not luck.
Our Copilot & Cowork Cost Calculator models both bills together — licences plus credits, against the value of time saved — with Microsoft’s published usage presets built in. And if you would like the caps, permissions and rollout handled properly, that is exactly what we do.
Want this handled properly? Talk to us about AI & Copilot Enablement.
