The buzz around Microsoft Copilot hasn’t died down – and for good reason. Since its debut, Copilot has promised to transform how we work: helping us write faster, analyse smarter, and collaborate more efficiently. But as with any shiny new tool, the first question for most organisations is simple: what do we actually get for free, and what do we need to pay for?
The answer’s a little more nuanced than you might expect.
Whether you’re curious about Copilot’s free web chat or weighing up whether a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence is worth the investment, this post unpacks the key differences – with a clear-eyed look at what each version does, and where the real value lies for your business.
The free Copilot experience: impressive, but limited
Let’s start with what’s already available to anyone. Microsoft offers a free version of Copilot through the web, mobile apps, and the Edge browser. This is powered by OpenAI’s latest model (o1) and includes some genuinely impressive capabilities:
- AI-powered chat that can draft content, answer questions, summarise text or documents, and respond to images.
- Voice input and reasoning tools such as Think Deeper, now available to all users at no cost.
- Access across Edge, mobile apps, and copilot.microsoft.com – no subscription required.
However, it’s worth noting what the free version doesn’t do: it can’t see or use any of your organisation’s data.
That means it won’t reference files from SharePoint, emails in Outlook, meeting content from Teams, or anything stored in OneDrive for Business. For individuals or casual use, that’s fine. But for meaningful business value – where Copilot understands your content, context and conversations – you’ll need more than just the web chat.
What a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence unlocks
Licensed Copilot is where things get serious. This is the full-fat version of Copilot, designed to work within your organisation’s Microsoft 365 environment – not just alongside it.
When licensed properly (as an add-on to Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard or Premium), Copilot becomes an embedded assistant across the Microsoft 365 suite – drafting documents, analysing data, summarising meetings, and helping manage inboxes with context-aware intelligence. But its impact doesn’t stop there.
In SharePoint, Copilot makes your organisational knowledge accessible and useful. In Teams, it keeps meetings actionable and collaboration efficient. And in the Power Platform, it helps staff automate workflows or build apps – no coding required.
- In Word, it can draft reports, policy documents or meeting summaries based on your internal templates – and intelligently pull in data from SharePoint, Teams chats, or past correspondence.
- In Excel, it explains complex formulas, highlights anomalies, creates charts, and suggests data models using live inputs from your files, lists or connected Power BI datasets.
- In Outlook, it can draft emails, summarise long threads, and help manage tone or clarity – saving time while improving communication consistency.
- In Teams, Copilot summarises meetings (live or recorded), captures key decisions and suggested actions, and helps you follow up in real time. It can also surface related documents or discussions from your organisation’s knowledge base, reducing context-switching.
But that’s just the beginning.
Integrated with SharePoint: Knowledge where you need it
Licensed Copilot has full awareness of your SharePoint environment – so it can reference policies, documents, forms, project plans, or knowledge articles without needing to be prompted with exact filenames or paths. Whether it’s helping a new starter understand an HR process, or pulling a historical contract into view, Copilot can act as a bridge to your structured organisational knowledge.
More than that, it respects your existing permissions. If someone doesn’t have access to a document, neither does Copilot – ensuring that data privacy and governance aren’t compromised.
Embedded in Power Platform: Smarter automation and insights
Where Copilot really comes into its own is when it supports your low-code initiatives.
- In Power Automate, Copilot can help users describe what they want to automate in plain English – and then build flows for them.
- In Power Apps, it can generate screens, controls and logic simply by understanding the purpose of the app.
- In Power BI, it adds natural language querying – so colleagues can ask business questions (“What are the top five underperforming regions this quarter?”) and receive visual answers instantly.
This means Copilot isn’t just helping people consume content; it’s empowering them to build, analyse and automate – even if they’re not developers.
Data-rich context via Microsoft Graph
Crucially, all of this is possible because licensed Copilot is connected to the Microsoft Graph – the secure intelligence layer that maps your people, content, meetings, messages and relationships. That’s what gives Copilot the ability to respond intelligently and relevantly, rather than generically.
It’s also what turns Copilot from an isolated assistant into a joined-up digital colleague – one that understands your organisation’s structure, priorities and context. That’s the real game-changer.
Governance, compliance and enterprise control
Another important difference is how Copilot behaves in terms of security and management.
Even in its free version, Copilot respects enterprise data boundaries: no content is used to train models, and Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) protections apply. But licensed Copilot introduces deeper administrative controls:
- Audit logs and usage reports, helping IT and compliance teams track how Copilot is being used.
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and sensitivity labelling integration.
- Support for governance tools like Microsoft Purview and SharePoint Advanced Management.
For organisations that need to maintain regulatory compliance or enforce information security policies, these capabilities are non-negotiable.
So, who is the free version really for?
The free Copilot experience is genuinely useful. It’s great for brainstorming content, asking complex questions, drafting early ideas, or even experimenting with visuals. In fact, it’s a brilliant way to explore Copilot’s potential without spending a penny.
But it’s not a substitute for the enterprise-ready, productivity-boosting, governance-compliant version that licensed Copilot delivers. If your organisation is already using Microsoft 365, the licensed version isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s what turns Copilot from a smart chatbot into a true digital colleague.
Final thoughts
Investing in Microsoft 365 Copilot isn’t just about embracing AI – it’s about embedding intelligence into the tools your teams already rely on. The free version might be a good introduction, but for real organisational impact, you’ll need the licensed version.
It’s worth considering not just what Copilot can do, but what it can know. Without access to your data, it’s just another smart assistant. With the right licence, it becomes something more powerful: an extension of your team.
Curious to find out more? Contact Blackbird Corporate today and we’ll help you make the best use of Copilot and the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.