People search for "Copilot vs ChatGPT", but Microsoft sells several things called Copilot. Some are free, some are for home users, and some live inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams for work. Once you know which Copilot you mean, the choice gets much simpler.
Prices and features below are as of October 2026, in US dollars, from Microsoft's and OpenAI's own pages. Both products change often, so check before you pay.
Which Copilot are you comparing?
- The free Copilot app. A general assistant for personal Microsoft accounts. Microsoft says it is a limited free version, subject to capacity and usage limits (Copilot plans for individuals).
- Copilot in Microsoft 365 home plans. Personal, Family, Premium and Pro add Copilot to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook for the account owner. Family members do not get the AI features.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot for work. Copilot inside your business apps, connected to your work email, files and meetings. This is the one most businesses mean. Microsoft has started calling it simply Microsoft Copilot (Microsoft Learn).
This post compares ChatGPT mostly with the work version, since that is the real business decision.
The short verdict
- Pick Microsoft 365 Copilot if your business already runs on Outlook, Teams, Word and Excel, and you want AI inside those apps with your own work files.
- Pick ChatGPT if you use a mix of tools, such as Google Workspace or no office suite at all, or you want one assistant that works the same everywhere.
- Try both for free first: the free Copilot app or Copilot Chat on a work account, and ChatGPT Free.
Prices for work
Microsoft 365 Copilot, from the Copilot business pricing page:
- Microsoft 365 Copilot Business: an add-on at $21 per user a month, paid yearly. You need a qualifying Microsoft 365 business plan first. It is for up to 300 users.
- At the time of writing, Microsoft offered the add-on at $18 per user a month for the first year, for purchases between July 1 and December 31, 2026, with a yearly commitment.
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot: $23.50 per user a month, paid yearly. This bundles the apps, business email, Teams and Copilot.
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot: $32 per user a month, paid yearly, with more security tools.
ChatGPT, from OpenAI's billing help page:
- Business, standard seat: $25 per user a month billed monthly, or $20 billed yearly. It starts at 2 users.
- Business, premium seat: $125 per user a month billed monthly, or $100 billed yearly, with more usage.
- Plus for one person: $20 a month, billed monthly (What is ChatGPT Plus?).
The real cost of Copilot includes your Microsoft 365 plan. If you already pay for one, compare the add-on with ChatGPT Business. If not, compare the Copilot bundles with ChatGPT Business plus the email and file tools you use now.
Prices for one person
- Microsoft 365 Personal: $9.99 a month. Family: $12.99 a month. Premium: $19.99 a month, with more Copilot usage. These are monthly prices. Microsoft says yearly billing saves up to 17%.
- ChatGPT Plus: $20 a month.
The home plans are built for personal use. If you work alone and want Copilot in Word and Outlook, read Microsoft's terms for the plan before you use it for client work.
Where each one fits best
Microsoft 365 Copilot works inside the apps you already use. It can draft in Word, analyse in Excel, summarise threads in Outlook and help in Teams. On business plans, Microsoft says it uses your work data, such as emails and files you can access, to ground its answers. The business pricing page also lists ready-made agents, including Researcher and Analyst.
ChatGPT is one assistant you open on its own. It works the same whether your files live in Google Drive, Dropbox or on your laptop. Its pricing page lists extensions for Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Google Sheets, with access that depends on the plan, so it can reach into Microsoft apps too.
If your team lives in Outlook and Teams, Copilot saves copying and pasting. If your tools are mixed, ChatGPT fits around them more easily.
Data and privacy
- Microsoft, work accounts. Microsoft says prompts, responses and the work data Copilot reads through Microsoft Graph are not used to train its foundation models (enterprise data protection).
- Microsoft, personal accounts. Microsoft's privacy controls page explains how to opt out of training on your conversations. Check the setting in the version of the app you use.
- ChatGPT. OpenAI says it does not use content from Business workspaces to train its models by default. On personal plans, you can turn off "Improve the model for everyone" (data controls).
Whichever you pick, write down what staff may paste into it. The AI policy template gives you a starting point.
How to decide in one week
- Write down where your work lives: Outlook and Teams, Google Workspace, or a mix.
- Pick three real jobs, such as a reply to a client, a summary of a long email thread and a first draft of a proposal.
- Run all three in Copilot Chat or the free Copilot app, and in ChatGPT Free.
- Count how much you had to fix in each draft. Fewer edits wins.
- Work out the full monthly cost for your team, including any Microsoft 365 plan you would need.
Both tools write better when they know your business. Keep your prices, services and tone in a one-page context file and give it to whichever tool you choose.
Nive is being built for this problem: you write how your business works once, and it drafts outreach and other work in your voice for you to review. Join the waitlist to get the demo first.
If you are also weighing other assistants, see ChatGPT vs Claude for business and Perplexity vs ChatGPT for research work.