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Is Microsoft Copilot free? What the free version does, and what the paid plans add

Microsoft has reshuffled Copilot again: Copilot Pro is gone, a new top plan arrived, and the Copilot app was rebuilt in August. Here’s what you get free, what each Microsoft 365 plan adds, and which one, if any, is worth paying for.

By Chris · Updated Oct 11, 2026 · Facts checked Oct 11, 2026

What the free version of Copilot does

• Chat with Copilot on the web, Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android, signed in with a Microsoft, Google or Apple account.
• Create and edit images, and upload files and photos to ask about them.
• Voice conversations.

Microsoft doesn’t publish exact free limits; it says usage is “subject to available capacity and limits”. What free doesn’t include: Copilot inside the desktop Office apps, the Researcher and Analyst agents, and Deep Research, which was removed from the consumer app in August 2026.

Copilot plans compared

From Microsoft’s US and Taiwan pricing pages, checked Oct 11, 2026. Microsoft 365 Basic (storage only) includes no AI features.

Which one should you choose?

• Stay free if you mainly ask questions, write messages or make pictures. Free Copilot, free Claude and free ChatGPT cover most everyday needs.
• Personal if you already pay for Office or OneDrive and want Copilot to draft in Word, analyze in Excel or summarize email in Outlook.
• Family only if the other members just need the apps and storage; they don’t get Copilot.
• Premium if you want long research reports from the Researcher agent. For pure AI chat, ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro at about the same price may suit you better.
• Skip Pro unless you hit Premium’s limits every week.

College students pay half price for Personal; see student AI discounts.

What changed in 2026

• Copilot Pro was discontinued. Microsoft no longer sells it and says support ended on August 1, 2026. Still paying for it? Move to Premium or cancel it.
• New Copilot app (August 18, 2026): the consumer Copilot app merged with the Microsoft 365 Copilot app. Deep Research, Group Chat and Podcasts were removed for personal accounts.
• Microsoft 365 Pro appeared as a new top plan at $99.99 a month.
• Copilot left WhatsApp on January 15, 2026; see what happened to AI on WhatsApp.

Free image creation with Copilot

Copilot and Bing Image Creator use Microsoft’s own MAI-Image models. Bing Image Creator gives 15 fast images a day, then keeps going at a slower speed. You need a personal Microsoft account. Microsoft’s terms call the service “for entertainment purposes”, so don’t rely on it for client or commercial work. It has the strictest photo policy of the big tools: uploaded photos aren’t used for training, and photos with faces are deleted after 30 days.

Privacy

Free Copilot may use your conversations, including uploaded images, to train its models unless you opt out in settings; Microsoft says it removes identifying details and blurs faces first, and never trains on under-18s. Copilot inside the Microsoft 365 apps for Personal and Family subscribers isn’t used for training. See how to switch off AI training.

Sources: Microsoft: Copilot plans for individuals (US) · Microsoft: Copilot plans (Taiwan) · Microsoft: about Copilot Pro · Microsoft: changes to the Copilot app · Microsoft: AI usage by plan · Bing Image Creator FAQ · Microsoft: Copilot privacy FAQ

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