Microsoft Copilot vs ChatGPT is mostly a question of where your team already works. Copilot is strongest when your files, email and meetings live in Microsoft 365. ChatGPT is the stronger standalone assistant, with the broader set of plans and its own tools for research, projects and images. Most teams pick one as the main tool and keep the other for specific jobs.
First, a naming warning. “Copilot” now means two different things with different prices, so it’s easy to compare the wrong plans.
Quick verdict
| Microsoft Copilot | ChatGPT | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Teams that live in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams | Standalone drafting, research, ideation and image work |
| Free option | Yes (consumer Copilot) | Yes |
| Individual paid | Microsoft 365 Personal $9.99/mo, Family $12.99/mo, Premium $19.99/mo | Go $8/mo, Plus $20/mo, Pro from $100/mo |
| Team/business | Microsoft 365 Copilot Business add-on from $21/user/mo (annual) | Business from $20/user/mo (annual) |
| Business data training | Prompts and responses not used to train foundation models | Business and Enterprise: no training on your content |
| Image generation | Included, with usage limits by plan | Included, limited on Free |
Prices are US list prices as of October 2026. Microsoft changes its licensing often, so check the pages linked below before you buy. Full details on each tool are on our Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT pages.
Copilot vs ChatGPT: the plans, side by side
Consumer Copilot (individuals)
Consumer Copilot starts with a free assistant. Paid access comes through Microsoft 365 subscriptions rather than a separate Copilot plan. Microsoft’s individual plans page lists:
- Microsoft 365 Personal: $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year, for one person. It includes Copilot in the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote desktop apps, with higher usage than free.
- Microsoft 365 Family: $12.99 per month or $129.99 per year, for one to six people. The AI features are for the subscription owner only and can’t be shared.
- Microsoft 365 Premium: $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year. Microsoft describes it as having extensive AI usage, exclusive Copilot features and extensive usage for AI image creation.
What about Copilot Pro? Microsoft’s support page says it is no longer available for purchase. Existing subscribers can continue until they cancel or support ends on August 1, 2026, and Microsoft points to Microsoft 365 Premium as the replacement. If an older article tells you to buy Copilot Pro, it is out of date.
Microsoft 365 Copilot (business)
The work product is licensed separately and needs a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan. Microsoft’s business pricing page lists:
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot: $23.50 per user per month billed yearly ($28.20 monthly).
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot: $32.00 per user per month billed yearly ($38.40 monthly).
- Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (add-on): $21.00 per user per month billed yearly, shown at a promotional $18.00 for offers between July 1, 2026 and December 31, 2026. Promotional pricing applies to the first year only and needs an annual commitment. Monthly billing is $25.20. It’s for up to 300 users.
Microsoft also says Copilot Chat, a web-grounded assistant, comes at no extra cost with eligible Microsoft 365 plans. The paid license adds Work IQ (Microsoft’s layer that grounds Copilot in your work context), Copilot in Teams and the Microsoft 365 apps, and pre-built agents such as Researcher, Analyst and Facilitator.
Microsoft’s documentation also notes that Microsoft 365 Copilot is being renamed Microsoft Copilot. You may see both names while the change rolls out.
ChatGPT plans
OpenAI lists these plans:
- Free: text chats with limited uploads, images, voice and deep research.
- Go: $8 per month in the US (US price; OpenAI’s launch announcement notes Go pricing is localized in some markets). Adds more messages, uploads, images and longer memory. OpenAI says this plan may include ads. For the detail, see our ChatGPT Go vs Plus comparison.
- Plus: $20 per month. Adds advanced reasoning models, expanded deep research, projects, scheduled tasks and custom GPTs.
- Pro: from $100 per month, with a choice of three usage tiers. OpenAI’s help center describes a $100 tier (5x Plus usage) and a $200 tier (20x Plus usage). Check the pricing page for the full tier list.
- Business: Standard seat $20 per user per month billed annually ($25 monthly); Premium seat $100 per user per month billed annually ($125 monthly). For teams of 2 to 200 people.
- Enterprise: custom pricing through sales.
Models
ChatGPT’s pricing page names its models by plan. Free includes GPT-5.6 Luna. Plus lists access to models such as GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Astra, and Pro adds Pro-level models. OpenAI notes that Business and Enterprise can purchase credits for more access. OpenAI names change quickly, so read the live page rather than relying on any article, including this one.
Microsoft’s business page lists “Latest OpenAI models: GPT-5.X” with priority access on its paid business plans, and “LLM model choice” as a Copilot Business feature. Microsoft’s data protection documentation also refers to Anthropic models inside Copilot. Microsoft doesn’t publish a simple model-by-plan table on the pages we read, so we won’t guess which model answers which prompt.
For marketers, the practical point is this: Microsoft lists OpenAI models in Copilot, so for many tasks the underlying models overlap and raw writing quality may not be the main difference. Workflow fit is.
Office integration
This is where Copilot has the clearest edge.
Copilot is built into the Microsoft 365 apps. Microsoft lists Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote and Teams for business plans, plus Word, Excel and PowerPoint agents accessed through chat. Copilot in Teams requires a Teams license. On consumer plans, Microsoft lists Copilot in the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote desktop apps, and notes that Copilot in Excel needs AutoSave on, so the file must be saved to OneDrive.
ChatGPT reaches Office through extensions. OpenAI’s pricing page lists Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Google Sheets extensions for individual plans: limited on Free and Go, included on Plus, and expanded on Pro. The Business page lists Excel, PowerPoint and Google Sheets extensions as included. ChatGPT Business adds connectors to Google Workspace, Slack, GitHub and Microsoft 365.
If your day is Outlook threads, Teams calls and PowerPoint decks, Copilot sits where the work already happens. If you move between Google Workspace, Slack and Microsoft files, ChatGPT is less tied to one suite.
Data protection for business accounts
Check this before you paste client material into either tool.
Microsoft: Microsoft’s documentation says use of Copilot by organizations is covered by its Data Protection Addendum and Product Terms, with Microsoft acting as data processor. It says prompts, responses and data accessed through Microsoft Graph aren’t used to train foundation models. Copilot respects your existing permissions, sensitivity labels and retention policies. Two caveats from the same page: web search queries go through Bing and have separate data handling, and Anthropic models are currently excluded from the EU Data Boundary.
OpenAI: ChatGPT Business and Enterprise list “No” for using your content to train models, and Business includes SAML SSO, an admin console and SOC 2 Type 2 compliance. Enterprise adds SCIM, enterprise key management, IP allowlisting and data residency options. By contrast, the individual plans (Free, Go, Plus, Pro) list “opt-out available” for training on your content. So a marketer using a personal Plus account for client work has weaker default protection than a Business seat.
Neither vendor’s page replaces a review by your IT or legal team. Both pages describe controls, not guarantees for your specific setup.
Image generation
Both can make images, with plan-based limits.
- ChatGPT: Free has limited image creation, Go and above list image generation, and Plus and above add image generation with Thinking. Business lists both.
- Copilot: Microsoft’s individual plans list higher usage than free for AI image creation, and Premium lists extensive image usage. The business pricing page doesn’t detail image limits.
For ad creative and social graphics, ChatGPT’s plan page is more explicit about image tiers. For heavier design work, look at dedicated tools such as Microsoft Designer or the options in our AI image design category.
Marketing use cases
This section describes what each tool’s features suit. It isn’t a ranking from testing.
Where Copilot fits:
- Summarizing long Outlook threads and drafting replies to clients
- Turning meeting discussions in Teams into action lists (needs the Teams-enabled license)
- Drafting a first deck in PowerPoint from a brief, or building a report from a Word document
- Analyzing campaign exports in Excel, saved to OneDrive
- Researching across your own company files with Work IQ grounding
Where ChatGPT fits:
- Drafting and rewriting blog posts, ad copy and email sequences from scratch
- Running deep research on competitors or markets (see the deep research lines by plan)
- Building a reusable workflow with projects, custom GPTs and scheduled tasks
- Generating image concepts and visual mockups
- Working with freelancers or clients who don’t use Microsoft 365
For more on putting ChatGPT to work, see our ChatGPT for marketing guide and the wider AI assistants category.
Cost for a five-person team
Using the annual list prices above, five people on ChatGPT Business Standard seats cost $100 per month. Five people on the Microsoft 365 Copilot Business add-on cost $105 per month at the regular $21 price, or $90 at the promotional $18, before the cost of the qualifying Microsoft 365 plan they must already have. If your team already pays for Microsoft 365, the add-on is the incremental cost. If it doesn’t, a Business Standard with Copilot seat is $23.50 per user per month billed yearly and includes the Office apps.
Choose Copilot if…
- Your team already runs on Microsoft 365 and works in Outlook, Teams and Office files daily.
- You want answers grounded in your own documents, emails and meetings, with existing permissions applied.
- Your IT team wants admin controls, compliance tooling and Microsoft’s data protection terms.
- You’re an individual who already pays for Microsoft 365 and wants Copilot inside the apps you have.
Choose ChatGPT if…
- You want one assistant that isn’t tied to a single office suite.
- Most of your work is drafting, research and ideation rather than editing Office files.
- You want custom GPTs, projects and scheduled tasks for repeatable marketing workflows.
- You need a lower-cost entry point, such as Go at $8 a month, or a mid-tier Plus plan at $20.
- You work with clients or contractors on Google Workspace or mixed tools.
The practical answer
If you’re a solo marketer or small agency, start with ChatGPT Plus or a Business seat and use free Copilot alongside it. If you’re inside a Microsoft 365 company, ask IT whether Copilot Chat is already included in your plan, since Microsoft says it comes at no extra cost with eligible plans. Then decide whether the paid license adds enough for your team. For a related comparison, see Gemini vs ChatGPT.