Copilot Studio Pricing (2026): $0.01 per Credit, Worked Math
What Microsoft Copilot Studio costs per Copilot Credit, what each agent feature burns, what Microsoft 365 Copilot includes, and the monthly bill at six real workloads, as of October 2026.
By , research by the BestBots team · Updated Oct 19, 2026
Fact checked against each company's published pricing, documentation and verified user ratings. How we score
Microsoft Copilot Studio costs $0.01 per Copilot Credit on pay as you go, or $200 a month billed annually for a pack of 25,000 credits, as of October 2026. A generative answer uses 2 credits, so roughly $0.02. Internal agents used by employees with Microsoft 365 Copilot ($30 per user per month) cost no credits.
- Starting price
- $200 per month (25,000 Copilot Credits, billed annually)
- Pricing model
- per Copilot Credit
- Free plan
- No
- Free trial
- Free maker trial; agents can be built and tested but not published
- Free tier
- No free plan; free maker trial (cannot publish) and a Teams only plan in select Microsoft 365 subscriptions
- Paid from
- $0.01 per Copilot Credit pay as you go, or $200 per month for 25,000 credits billed annually
- Models
- GPT Chat Latest (default), GPT-4.1, GPT-5 and GPT-5.5 Chat, Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Opus 4.6 to 4.8, plus Azure AI Foundry models
- Integrations count
- 1,500+ prebuilt connectors plus MCP servers and custom connectors
- Code option
- Low code with Power Fx, custom connectors, Azure Bot Service skills and Git based deployment
- Self host
- No, Microsoft cloud only; US Government GCC, GCC High and DoD available
The price list
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Pay as you go meter | $0.01 per Copilot Credit, billed monthly in arrears to Azure |
| Copilot Credit pack | $200 per pack per month, billed annually, 25,000 credits a month |
| Copilot Credit Pre-Purchase Plan | One year upfront, 5% off at 300,000 credits to 20% off at 300,000,000 |
| Microsoft Agent Pre-Purchase Plan | 5% off at 20,000 commit units, 10% at 100,000, 15% at 500,000 (1 unit = $1 = 100 credits) |
| Copilot Studio User License (makers) | $0, requires a tenant pack subscription |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | $30 per user per month paid yearly |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot Business add-on | $21 per user per month annually ($18 promotional through December 2026), $25.20 monthly |
| Copilot Studio for Teams plan | Included with select Microsoft 365 subscriptions, Teams only |
Pack credits pool across the whole tenant and can be allocated to specific environments. Unused credits expire at the end of each month. Pre-purchase credits last the full year.
What each feature costs
These rates apply to agents on the standard harness, for every model Copilot Studio provides.
| Agent event | Credits | Pay as you go | Inside a pack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic answer | 1 | $0.01 | $0.008 |
| Generative answer | 2 | $0.02 | $0.016 |
| Agent action | 5 | $0.05 | $0.04 |
| Tenant graph grounding | 10 | $0.10 | $0.08 |
| Agent flow, per 100 actions | 13 | $0.13 | $0.104 |
| Basic AI tool, per 10 responses | 1 | $0.01 | $0.008 |
| Standard AI tool, per 10 responses | 15 | $0.15 | $0.12 |
| Premium AI tool, per 10 responses | 100 | $1.00 | $0.80 |
| Content processing, per page | 8 | $0.08 | $0.064 |
| Classic voice, per minute | 10 | $0.10 | $0.08 |
| Generative AI voice, per minute | 35 | $0.35 | $0.28 |
| Premium generative AI voice, per minute | 75 | $0.75 | $0.60 |
What counts as an agent action. Triggers, deep reasoning steps and topic transitions that appear on the activity map, plus each computer use step.
Reasoning models stack. When an agent uses a reasoning model, you pay the base feature rate plus 10 credits per 1,000 reasoning tokens. A generative answer that uses 3,000 reasoning tokens costs 2 + 30 = 32 credits, or $0.32.
One response can use several events. Microsoft's example: a tenant graph grounded answer is 10 + 2 = 12 credits.
The GitHub Copilot harness bills differently. Agents on Microsoft's newer reasoning harness charge for model tokens, tools and the harness itself, and start billing while you build and test, not only after publishing. Microsoft publishes an estimator but no fixed per event rate for it, so the examples below use the standard harness.
What Microsoft 365 Copilot includes
If an employee holds a Microsoft 365 Copilot license and uses an agent under their own signed in identity inside Microsoft 365 (Copilot Chat, Teams, SharePoint), these are zero rated: classic answers, generative answers, agent actions, tenant graph grounding, AI tools and agent flows started by the "When an agent calls the flow" trigger. Fair usage limits apply.
Still billed in credits:
- any customer facing agent on a website, WhatsApp or other public channel
- employees without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license
- agent flows using any other trigger, such as a schedule or a new email
- computer using agents
Worked examples
All examples use the standard harness and the published rates. "Pack mix" means whole packs plus pay as you go for the remainder.
1. Small FAQ agent on a website, 2,000 conversations a month. Three generative answers per conversation is 6 credits, so 12,000 credits. Pay as you go: $120 a month. One pack would cost $200 and waste 13,000 credits. Meter wins.
2. Customer support agent, Microsoft's own example. Four classic and two generative answers per customer is 8 credits. At 900 customers a day that is 7,200 credits a day, about 216,000 a month. Pay as you go: $2,160. Nine packs (225,000 credits): $1,800. Pack mix of 8 packs plus 16,000 metered credits: $1,760 a month.
3. Internal HR agent for 500 employees, no Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses. Each employee asks 10 questions a month, each tenant graph grounded (10) with a generative answer (2), so 12 credits. That is 60,000 credits: $600 on the meter, or 2 packs plus 10,000 metered credits for $500 a month.
4. The same HR agent with Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses. Credits drop to $0, but 500 licenses at $30 cost $15,000 a month, or $180,000 a year. You buy Microsoft 365 Copilot for Word, Excel, Teams and Outlook, not for one agent; if you already have it, internal agents are effectively free.
5. Autonomous order agent, 3,000 orders a month. Microsoft's example uses four agent actions per order at 5 credits each, 20 credits. That is 60,000 credits: $500 a month on 2 packs plus the meter. If the agent also reads a two page PDF order form per order with content processing (16 credits), add 48,000 credits, or another $384 at pack rates.
6. Phone agent, 10,000 minutes a month on generative AI voice. At 35 credits a minute that is 350,000 credits: $3,500 on the meter or $2,800 a month on 14 packs. Core answers inside the call are included in the voice rate. Your telephony carrier is billed separately.
Pack, meter or pre-purchase
- Pay as you go is cheaper below 20,000 credits a month, since one $200 pack equals 20,000 metered credits. It also never disables agents.
- Packs cost $0.008 per credit, 20% under the meter, but bill annually and expire monthly. Size them to your lowest month and let the meter handle peaks.
- The Copilot Credit Pre-Purchase Plan tops out at the same 20% discount, and only at 300,000,000 credits a year. At its first tier, 300,000 credits at 5% off is $2,850 upfront, which is more than 12 months of one pack ($2,400 for the same 300,000 credits). Its advantage is a yearly pool that absorbs seasonal swings.
Hidden costs
- Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses. $30 per user per month paid yearly if you want internal agent use zero rated.
- Dataverse storage. Each tenant gets 15 GB database, 20 GB file and 2 GB log by default, one time, not per pack. Extra subscription capacity is $40 per GB per month for database, $2 for file and $10 for log, billed annually. On pay as you go environments, storage above 1 GB database and 1 GB file per environment is $48, $2.40 and $12 per GB per month.
- An Azure subscription. Pay as you go and pre-purchase plans bill through Azure and draw down any Azure consumption commitment.
- Power Automate. Classic Power Automate cloud flows are licensed separately from Copilot Studio. On the pay as you go meter, premium cloud flow runs are $0.60 each and unattended desktop runs $3.00.
- Your own models. Azure AI Foundry and other bring your own model setups are billed outside Copilot Credits.
- Computer use infrastructure. Windows 365 for Agents Cloud PCs are priced separately.
- Support. Professional Direct Support is $9 per user per month billed annually.
- Throughput. Tenants with 1 to 10 packs are capped at 50 generative AI requests per minute per environment; busy public agents may need more packs or pay as you go (100 per minute) just for headroom.
How it compares to rival builders
| Product | Published entry price | Billing unit |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Copilot Studio | $0.01 per credit, or $200 a month for 25,000 | Per feature credit |
| Make | $16 a month billed monthly for 10,000 credits | Credit per module run |
| n8n | about $27 (€24) a month billed monthly for 2,500 executions, free self hosted | Per workflow execution |
| Zapier | $29.99 a month billed monthly for 750 tasks | Per action |
| Botpress | $150 a month billed annually for 250 conversations | Per conversation |
For a chat agent, the closest comparison is cost per conversation. A three answer generative conversation on Copilot Studio is about $0.06 on the meter; Botpress lists $0.50 to $0.65 per conversation above plan limits. Copilot Studio is cheap per conversation, then adds licensing, storage and admin overhead that general automation tools do not have. See every builder's unit price in the AI Price Index, and the full Copilot Studio review for features and fit.
How to keep the bill down
- Use classic answers for fixed questions. A scripted answer is 1 credit against 2 for generative and 10 more for graph grounding.
- Turn off tenant graph grounding where SharePoint search is enough. It is optional per agent and is the most expensive common event.
- Keep premium AI tools and reasoning models for the steps that need them. Premium tools cost 100 times the basic rate.
- Set per agent monthly caps in the Power Platform admin center before you hit 125% enforcement.
- Start on pay as you go, measure a month, then buy packs for your baseline.
Microsoft Copilot Studio plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Pay as you go | $0.01 per Copilot Credit | No commitment, billed monthly in arrears to an Azure subscription; can be capped per environment |
| Copilot Credit pack | $200 per pack per month billed annually | 25,000 Copilot Credits per month pooled across the tenant, 15 GB Dataverse database, 20 GB file and 2 GB log default capacity per tenant, Managed Environments |
| Copilot Credit Pre-Purchase Plan | One year upfront, 5% to 20% off pay as you go | Tiers from 300,000 credits (5% off) to 300,000,000 credits (20% off); unused credits expire after the term |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | $30 per user per month paid yearly | Build internal agents for Microsoft 365; classic answers, generative answers and tenant graph grounding used by licensed employees are not charged |
| Copilot Studio for Teams | Included with select Microsoft 365 subscriptions | Classic orchestration agents published to Teams only, no generative orchestration or premium connectors |
Frequently asked questions
How much does Copilot Studio cost per month?
There is no fixed monthly fee. You pay $0.01 per Copilot Credit on the pay as you go meter, or buy packs at $200 a month billed annually for 25,000 credits each. A small FAQ agent can cost under $100 a month on the meter; a busy customer facing agent can run several thousand.
How much is a Copilot Studio message?
Messages were renamed Copilot Credits on September 1, 2025, at the same rates. One credit is $0.01 on pay as you go or $0.008 inside a pack. A generative answer is 2 credits, so about $0.02.
Is Copilot Studio included in Microsoft 365 Copilot?
For internal use, mostly. Microsoft 365 Copilot ($30 per user per month paid yearly) lets you build agents, and classic answers, generative answers, agent actions and tenant graph grounding used by licensed employees in Microsoft 365 are not charged. Customer facing agents, unlicensed employees and computer use still use credits.
Is pay as you go or a pack cheaper?
A pack is $200 for 25,000 credits, which equals 20,000 credits at the $0.01 meter price. Below 20,000 credits a month pay as you go is cheaper; above it packs win, as long as you use the credits before they expire at month end.
Is there a free version of Copilot Studio?
No free production tier. The free trial lets you build and test agents but not publish them. Select Microsoft 365 subscriptions include a Teams only plan with classic orchestration and no premium connectors.
Do Copilot Studio makers need a paid license?
No. The Copilot Studio User License for makers is $0, but your tenant needs a credit pack subscription to assign it. With pay as you go or a pre-purchase plan, makers get the Copilot Studio Author role instead, also $0.
What happens if we go over our Copilot Credits?
Microsoft allows overage up to 125% of prepaid capacity, then disables custom agents until capacity is added. Agent flows stop starting new runs as soon as capacity runs out. Linking a pay as you go meter to the environment bills the overage at $0.01 instead.
Are there volume discounts?
Yes. The Copilot Credit Pre-Purchase Plan gives 5% off at 300,000 credits a year up to 20% off at 300,000,000. The Microsoft Agent Pre-Purchase Plan covers Copilot Studio and Microsoft Foundry with 5% to 15% off at 20,000 to 500,000 commit units, each worth $1.