Microsoft Copilot Pro is no longer for sale. Microsoft stopped selling it when Microsoft 365 Premium launched in October 2025, and support for existing subscribers ended on August 1, 2026.
Small businesses should look at Microsoft 365 Copilot Business instead. It costs $21 per user per month as an add-on ($18 through December 31, 2026), or $23.50 per user per month bundled with Business Standard, billed annually.
This review uses Microsoft pricing and support pages as of October 13, 2026. Where licensing guides disagree with Microsoft, we say so.
Quick verdict
Copilot Business is the plan most small businesses should buy, because Copilot Pro can no longer be bought.
| Option | Price (USD) | Status | Fit for a small business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copilot Pro | $20 per month | Retired; support ended August 1, 2026 | Not available |
| Microsoft 365 Premium | $19.99 per month | Current consumer plan, up to 6 people | Solo founders only |
| Copilot Chat | Free with eligible business plans | Current | Good for testing |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot Business | $21 per user per month ($18 through December 31, 2026) | Current, up to 300 users | Best fit |
Business prices are Microsoft list prices with annual billing.
What happened to Copilot Pro?
Microsoft retired Copilot Pro in two steps: it stopped selling the plan in October 2025, then ended support on August 1, 2026.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| August 1, 2026 | Support for existing Copilot Pro subscribers ended, per Microsoft’s support page |
| October 1, 2025 | Microsoft 365 Premium launched at $19.99 per month and the $20 Copilot Pro plan was cancelled, per PCWorld |
Copilot Pro was a consumer plan. It added Copilot to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook for people on a personal Microsoft account. Licensing guides note that it did not include Teams integration or access to a company’s Microsoft Graph data, so it never gave a team a shared, admin-managed AI setup.
Some reviews still describe Copilot Pro as a plan you can buy today. Check the publish date on any review before you spend money.
What should a small business buy instead?
Small businesses have three real options, and the right one depends on whether you need Copilot inside your Office apps or just a safe AI chat.
Option 1: Copilot Chat (free)
Copilot Chat comes with eligible Microsoft 365 business plans at no extra cost. It offers web-grounded chat with enterprise data protection. Microsoft says it does not connect to Microsoft 365 apps or to your files, emails and chats, so treat it as a trial run.
Option 2: Microsoft 365 Premium (solo founders)
Premium costs $19.99 per month and replaced Copilot Pro. It includes the desktop Office apps, extended GPT-5 usage limits, and the Researcher and Analyst agents. Microsoft says one Premium subscription can be used at home or at work, with enterprise data protection in Copilot.
The catch for a team is that the AI stays with the subscription owner and cannot be shared with other people on the plan. Microsoft also lists custom-domain email and admin controls as business-plan benefits that consumer plans lack.
Option 3: Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (teams)
Microsoft launched Copilot Business on December 2, 2025 for organizations with up to 300 users. It puts Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, and it can draw on your work data.
There are two ways to buy it. Existing customers on a qualifying plan can add it as a per-user add-on. New customers are steered toward the “with Copilot” bundles of Business Standard or Business Premium.
Microsoft is also renaming Microsoft 365 Copilot to Microsoft Copilot, so you may see both names in the admin center and in Microsoft’s documentation.
How much does Copilot cost for a small business?
Copilot Business costs $21 per user per month at list price, or $18 through December 31, 2026, and the “with Copilot” bundles start at $23.50.
| Plan | Price per user per month | Copilot in Office apps? |
|---|---|---|
| Business Basic | $7.00 | No, add-on available |
| Copilot Business add-on | $21.00 ($18.00 through December 31, 2026) | Yes, needs a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan |
| Business Standard with Copilot | $23.50 | Yes |
| Business Premium with Copilot | $32.00 | Yes, plus advanced security |
All prices are from Microsoft’s business pricing page with annual billing. Versions without Teams cost $20.30 (Standard) and $28.80 (Premium).
Here is what that means for a real team, using those list prices:
| Team | Plan | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 people already on Business Basic | Basic plus $21 add-on | $84 | $1,008 |
| 5 people | Business Standard with Copilot | $117.50 | $1,410 |
| 10 people | Business Standard with Copilot | $235 | $2,820 |
| 10 people | Business Premium with Copilot | $320 | $3,840 |
Three things can change your bill today, and a fourth is coming:
- Annual commitments renew automatically, and Microsoft says annual plans paid upfront are not refunded if you cancel early.
- Monthly billing costs more. Reseller guides cite $25.20 per user for the add-on, so confirm the figure at checkout.
- Microsoft changed business plan pricing on July 1, 2026, and promotions have shifted several times, so older articles may show different numbers.
Usage-based billing is the biggest unknown. Office Watch reported on September 29, 2026 that Microsoft is adding pay-per-use charges for Cowork, Code, Autopilot and other agentic features on top of per-seat licenses. It says Microsoft has not published a price list for those credits and expects more detail at Microsoft Ignite, November 17 to 20, 2026. Ask your reseller how usage is charged and whether you can set a spending limit before turning those features on.
What does Copilot Business do for a small team?
Copilot Business adds AI inside the apps your team already uses, plus a chat that can draw on your own work data.
Microsoft’s pricing page lists these features in the Copilot bundles:
- Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote
- Copilot in Teams, which needs a Teams license
- Chat grounded in your work data, powered by Work IQ
- Pre-built agents, including Researcher, Analyst and Facilitator
- Agent Builder and Copilot Studio for making your own agents
Microsoft’s launch post describes everyday jobs such as summarizing email, drafting documents, analyzing data and capturing meeting notes.
Pros
- Works inside the Microsoft 365 apps your team already uses, so nobody copies text into a separate chatbot.
- Follows your existing permissions and security settings, according to Microsoft.
- Costs $21 instead of the $30 enterprise seat, and Office Watch reports that Microsoft confirmed the functionality is the same.
- The bundles turn setup into a single purchase.
Cons
- Every person who needs Copilot needs a paid seat, so cost grows with headcount.
- It helps only where your work lives in Microsoft 365. A team that keeps files and email elsewhere gets little from it.
- Some features, such as Copilot Cowork, are metered on top of the seat price.
- AI drafts still need a human check before they reach a customer.
- Annual commitments are harder to back out of than monthly ones.
Is Copilot safe for business data?
Microsoft says business Copilot prompts and responses are not used to train its foundation models, and that Copilot follows your existing permissions.
According to Microsoft Learn, enterprise data protection works like this:
- Microsoft acts as a data processor under its Data Protection Addendum and Product Terms.
- Prompts, responses and data accessed through Microsoft Graph are not used to train foundation models.
- Copilot respects your identity model and permissions, inherits sensitivity labels, applies retention policies and supports audit of interactions.
- Specific controls vary by subscription plan.
Web search is the exception to check. Queries sent to Bing follow separate data-handling terms and fall outside the Data Protection Addendum, so review them if you handle regulated data.
Business Premium adds security tools such as Defender for Business and Intune, per Microsoft’s pricing page. Our advice: because Copilot can surface anything a person can already open, fix over-shared SharePoint and OneDrive folders before you roll it out.
Who should buy Copilot Business, and who should skip it?
Buy it if your team already works in Microsoft 365 every day, and skip it if your files and email live somewhere else.
Buy it if:
- Your team spends hours a day in Outlook, Word, Excel and Teams.
- You manage users on a Microsoft 365 business plan with up to 300 seats.
- You want admin controls and enterprise data protection around AI use.
Skip it, or start with free Copilot Chat, if:
- Your team mostly works in Google Workspace or other tools.
- Only one or two people would use AI regularly, so Premium or free Chat may be enough.
- You cannot yet name the task Copilot would speed up.
Run a 30-day pilot
- Turn on free Copilot Chat for everyone.
- Trial or buy seats for the two or three people with the heaviest email, document and spreadsheet load. Microsoft’s pricing page offers a free trial on the Copilot bundles, so read the trial terms first.
- Give each person one task to measure, such as meeting follow-ups or first drafts of proposals.
- After 30 days, compare the time saved with the $21 to $23.50 seat cost.
- Add seats only for the roles that showed a clear gain.
Frequently asked questions
Is Microsoft Copilot Pro still available? No. Microsoft says Copilot Pro is no longer available for purchase, and support for existing subscribers ended on August 1, 2026.
Is Copilot Pro worth it for a small business? The question no longer applies, because you cannot buy it. Microsoft 365 Copilot Business is the business route, and solo founders can consider Microsoft 365 Premium.
What replaced Copilot Pro? Microsoft 365 Premium replaced it for individuals at $19.99 per month. Small organizations should look at Microsoft 365 Copilot Business instead.
How much does Microsoft 365 Copilot Business cost? The add-on costs $21 per user per month with annual billing, or $18 through December 31, 2026. Business Standard with Copilot is $23.50 and Business Premium with Copilot is $32.
Do I need Microsoft 365 to use Copilot Business? Yes. You need a qualifying Microsoft 365 business plan, either with the add-on or through one of the “with Copilot” bundles.
How many people can use Copilot Business? Microsoft’s business plans cover up to 300 users. Larger organizations should look at Microsoft’s enterprise plans.
Does Microsoft use my business data to train its AI? Microsoft says prompts, responses and Microsoft Graph data in business Copilot are not used to train its foundation models.
Sources
Microsoft pages, opened October 13, 2026:
- Microsoft 365 business plans and pricing
- About Microsoft Copilot Pro (Microsoft Support)
- Microsoft 365 Copilot Business: the future of work for small businesses (December 2, 2025)
- Enterprise data protection in Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Chat (Microsoft Learn, updated August 18, 2026)
Independent reporting, opened October 13, 2026:
- Microsoft launches 365 Premium for consumers, retires Copilot Pro (PCWorld, October 1, 2025)
- Microsoft launches cheaper Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (Office Watch, December 10, 2025)
- Microsoft’s Copilot super app: what’s new and what it costs (Office Watch, September 29, 2026)
Search results only, not opened in full, so verify before relying on them (monthly add-on price, Copilot Pro’s limits, Premium AI being owner-only):
