# Copilot vs ChatGPT: What Each One Does, What It Costs, and Who It's For

> Microsoft Copilot works inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, while ChatGPT is OpenAI's standalone assistant, and this guide sets each plan's price, from each company's own page, beside the job it suits.

By Pat Simmons · November 6, 2026 · 12 min read

Canonical: https://www.aiformortals.co/blog/copilot-vs-chatgpt

Use Microsoft Copilot if your work already happens in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams: it's built into those apps, and the Microsoft 365 Personal, Family and Premium plans include it. Use ChatGPT if you want an assistant that isn't tied to Office, with OpenAI's GPT-6 models and its Codex coding agent on the paid plans.

For a company, Microsoft 365 Copilot works with the mail, files and meetings your work account can already open, and ChatGPT Business is OpenAI's plan for teams.

Last checked November 6, 2026: every price and plan on Microsoft's Copilot plans for individuals, its Microsoft 365 plan comparison and its business pricing page, and on OpenAI's ChatGPT pricing page, plus the models each one lists: GPT-6 Astra on ChatGPT Plus, and OpenAI's GPT-5 models with a choice of others in Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Pat Simmons hasn't tested Copilot, so this page compares what each product does and costs, from Microsoft's and OpenAI's own pages. Where his tests come up below, they are tests of ChatGPT's models against other AI models, never against Copilot. For the latest changes to each product, see Microsoft Copilot updates and what's new in ChatGPT.

## Copilot vs ChatGPT: our verdict, by job

Copilot fits office work inside Microsoft's own apps, and ChatGPT fits the jobs you'd do in a separate AI app, such as coding with an agent or handing off a long task. The table matches each job to the product whose own pages say it does that job.

JobPickWhy, from each company's pages

Drafting in Word, summarizing Outlook email, building PowerPoint slidesCopilotMicrosoft 365 Personal, Family and Premium include Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook with Copilot built in. ChatGPT also has Word, Excel and PowerPoint extensions, limited on Free and Go and included from Plus.
Asking about your company's own mail, files and meetingsMicrosoft 365 CopilotIt answers from the emails, documents, calendar, chats and meetings you have permission to see. ChatGPT Business can connect to Google Workspace, Slack, GitHub and Microsoft 365.
CodingChatGPT, or GitHub CopilotCodex comes with every ChatGPT plan. Microsoft's coding product is GitHub Copilot, sold separately from $0.
An always-on agent that works through your jobsChatGPT ProDots comes with Pro, from $100 a month. In Pat's three-job agent test, Dots got a B and Grok Bot an A- (Grok vs ChatGPT, tested on three builds).
Handing off a long, multi-step taskEitherCopilot's Cowork is exclusive to Microsoft 365 Premium and Pro. ChatGPT Work is limited on Free and Go and runs on desktop, web and mobile from Plus.
The lowest price for AI plus Office appsCopilotMicrosoft 365 Personal is $9.99 a month with the Office apps and 1 TB of storage. ChatGPT's cheapest paid plan, Go, is $8 a month and includes no Office apps.

Both start free. Copilot's free version gives limited usage with a free Microsoft account, and ChatGPT Free has unlimited text chats with GPT-6, subject to OpenAI's abuse guardrails.

## Is Copilot better than ChatGPT?

It depends on the job: where you do your work, and which files and apps the assistant needs to get to. AI for Mortals hasn't run Copilot and ChatGPT on the same tasks, so there's no test result here that says one answers better than the other.

What can be compared is what each one can get to. Copilot sits inside the Office file you have open and, on a work account, can draw on your organization's mail and files. ChatGPT is its own app, and its pricing page lists GPT-6 Astra on the $20 Plus plan and Pro reasoning powered by Astra on Pro.

Copilot runs on OpenAI's models too. Microsoft's business pricing page lists "Latest OpenAI models: GPT-5.X" alongside model choice, and in September 2025 Microsoft said Microsoft 365 Copilot "will continue to be powered by OpenAI's latest models" while adding Anthropic's Claude models as an option.

At the price most people compare, the two are a dollar apart: Microsoft 365 Premium is $19.99 a month with Office and 2 TB of storage, and ChatGPT Plus is $20 a month. If you're weighing ChatGPT against other assistants as well, our guide to ChatGPT alternatives and what each costs covers Claude, Gemini, Grok and more.

## Copilot vs ChatGPT for coding

For coding, the Microsoft product to set against ChatGPT is GitHub Copilot, a separate coding tool, and ChatGPT's coding agent is Codex, which comes with ChatGPT's plans. The Copilot app in Word and Outlook is a different product from GitHub Copilot, with its own plans.

OpenAI's Codex pricing page says Codex is included in the Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Edu and Enterprise plans. The ChatGPT pricing page marks Codex limited on Free and Go, included on Plus and expanded on Pro.

GitHub Copilot's plans page lists Free at $0 with 2,000 code completions a month, Pro at $10, Pro+ at $39 and Max at $100 per user per month. Pro adds access to outside coding agents, including Claude Code and Codex, so a GitHub Copilot subscriber can run OpenAI's agent from there too.

Pat's coding tests cover ChatGPT's models only. In his September head-to-head, GPT-6 Astra beat Claude Fable 5.1 on all three builds: a 3D iPod app for the Mac, a D-Day reconstruction you can scrub through and a Nuketown shooter game.

  

Claude's Opus 5.5 joined from Pat's next round, his September 23 Opus 5.5 review. Across six same-prompt rounds from September 23 to October 25, Opus 5.5 came first in 16 of 21 builds, Fable 5.1 in four and GPT-6 Astra in one. In his October Gemini 4 Argon review, Opus 5.5 placed first on all four builds, and Astra placed above Argon every time, though Argon cost about a tenth as much.

The details are in Gemini vs ChatGPT on the same four builds and Claude vs ChatGPT vs Gemini, ranked blind. Pat hasn't tested GitHub Copilot.

## Copilot vs ChatGPT for writing

For writing inside a Word document or an Outlook email, Copilot is the one built into the app you're typing in. For a draft you paste into a chat, ChatGPT works as an editor on every plan, Free included. AI for Mortals hasn't tested either one on writing, so this section doesn't call one better.

Microsoft describes Copilot in Word as a way to get to a first draft: you give it the task, upload your notes and refine the draft in the chat. Its plan comparison lists tools to draft, edit and summarize documents and emails, with "higher than free" usage on Personal and Family and "extensive" usage on Premium.

On ChatGPT, every plan has unlimited everyday text chats. The plans differ in how much you can paste into one message with the fast GPT Instant model: about 12 pages of text on Free, about 40 on Go and Plus, and about 250 on Pro.

Plus adds projects, scheduled tasks and custom GPTs, which help with a long piece you come back to.

Our guide to using ChatGPT for writing walks through prompts for edits, outlines and feedback, and where it falls short on facts.

## Copilot Pro vs ChatGPT Plus: what each costs

Copilot Pro isn't sold anymore. Microsoft's support page says Copilot Pro is no longer available for purchase, with support for existing subscribers ending on August 1, 2026, and it points them to Microsoft 365 Premium. Premium costs $19.99 a month, next to $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus.

Microsoft's old Copilot Pro store link now opens the Microsoft 365 Premium page, which lists extensive Copilot usage and access to Copilot features exclusive to Premium and Pro.

Here is every personal plan from both companies, from their own pages on November 6, 2026.

PlanPrice a monthWhat the AI includesWho can use it

Copilot (free)$0Limited usage with a free Microsoft accountAnyone with a Microsoft account
Microsoft 365 Personal$9.99 ($99.99 a year)Copilot chat with higher usage than free, Copilot in the Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook desktop apps, 1 TB of storage1 person
Microsoft 365 Family$12.99 ($129.99 a year)Everything in Personal, with 2 TB of shared storageUp to 6 people, AI for the subscription owner only
Microsoft 365 Premium$19.99 ($199.99 a year)Extensive Copilot usage, Cowork, Researcher and Analyst, limited usage for agentic AIUp to 6 people, AI for the subscription owner only
Microsoft 365 Pro$99.99 (monthly billing only)The highest Copilot usage, 5 TB of shared storageUp to 6 people, AI for the subscription owner only
ChatGPT Free$0Unlimited text chats with GPT-6, limited uploads, images, deep research and CodexIndividual plan
ChatGPT Go$8More messages, uploads, images and voice chats than Free; may include adsIndividual plan
ChatGPT Plus$20GPT-6 reasoning models including GPT-6 Astra, projects, scheduled tasks, custom GPTs, Codex, the Word, Excel and PowerPoint extensionsIndividual plan
ChatGPT ProFrom $100 (three usage tiers: Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500)Pro reasoning powered by GPT-6 Astra, Dots, up to $500 a month in API creditsIndividual plan

Prices are in US dollars, checked November 6, 2026 on each linked page.

_The Copilot rows of Microsoft's plan comparison: every home plan includes Copilot chat and Copilot in the Office apps, and Premium gets "Extensive" usage. From Compare Microsoft 365 plans, captured logged out on November 6, 2026._

_ChatGPT's four personal plans on OpenAI's pricing page, captured logged out on November 6, 2026._

Copilot vs ChatGPT for business: what each costs

For a company, Microsoft sells Copilot as an add-on to Microsoft 365 or bundled with it, and OpenAI sells ChatGPT Business by the seat. Microsoft's prices below are per user per month, paid yearly, from its business and enterprise pricing page.

PlanPrice per user a monthWhat it includes

Microsoft 365 Copilot ChatIncludedWeb-grounded AI chat at no extra cost for work accounts with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription
Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (add-on)$18 (listed down from $21)Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, chat grounded in your work data, model choice
Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot$23.50The Office apps, business email and Copilot in one plan
Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot$32Business Standard with Copilot, plus Microsoft's security and identity tools
Microsoft 365 Copilot (enterprise add-on)$30Copilot grounded in your business data, in the Office apps and Teams; needs a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan
ChatGPT Business, Standard seat$20 billed yearly, $25 billed monthlyChatGPT, ChatGPT Work and Codex, connections to Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, no training on your business data by default
ChatGPT Business, Premium seat$100 billed yearly, $125 billed monthlyMore usage than Standard with no 5-hour limit, plus Dots
ChatGPT EnterpriseCustom pricingCustom data retention, data residency in ten regions, priority support

ChatGPT Business is for teams of 2 to 200 people. On Microsoft's business plans, Cowork and Autopilot are billed by usage on top of the license. OpenAI's pricing page says that starting in December, Business usage will have one shared limit across ChatGPT and Codex, which our post on ChatGPT and Codex sharing one allowance explains.

_ChatGPT Business seat prices and the Enterprise plan on OpenAI's pricing page, Business & Enterprise tab, captured logged out on November 6, 2026._

## What's the difference between Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot is the assistant anyone can use on a personal Microsoft account, free or through a Microsoft 365 home plan. Microsoft 365 Copilot is the version a company licenses for its staff, and it can draw on the organization's mail, files, chats and meetings.

Microsoft's documentation says Microsoft 365 Copilot works through Microsoft Graph, the system that connects your work emails, documents, calendar, chats and meetings. It shows you only data you already have permission to view. The enterprise add-on is $30 per user a month, while Copilot Chat comes at no extra cost with an eligible work subscription.

The names overlap on Microsoft's own pages. Its home-plan comparison labels the Copilot features in Personal, Family and Premium as "Microsoft 365 Copilot (AI for account holder only)", so a Microsoft 365 Personal subscriber has Copilot in Word too, without the work-data features.

The two are also moving closer inside the Copilot app. Microsoft announced Office in Copilot on October 9, 2026, which opens a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file beside your Copilot chat. It's limited to companies in Microsoft's Frontier early-access program, as our post on Word, Excel and PowerPoint inside Copilot explains, and Microsoft hasn't given a date for everyone else.

_The Library in the new Copilot app, with buttons to start a document, presentation, workbook, image or page above recent Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. From Microsoft's Office in Copilot announcement._

## Is Copilot more private than ChatGPT?

On work accounts, both companies say they don't train their AI on your company's data by default. On personal accounts, Microsoft keeps Copilot chats inside its Office apps out of training, while OpenAI uses personal ChatGPT chats for training unless you turn that off.

For Copilot in the Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook apps on a home plan, Microsoft says prompts, responses and your file contents aren't used to train foundation models. For work accounts, Microsoft says prompts, responses and data from your organization's files aren't used to train foundation models.

The standalone Copilot app on a personal account is different. Microsoft's privacy controls page, which it says covers the Copilot app before its August 18, 2026 update, says you can opt out of training on your conversations under Privacy in your profile, and that Copilot keeps conversation history for 18 months unless you delete it.

On ChatGPT Free, Plus and Pro, OpenAI's help page says data sharing is on by default. You can switch off Improve the model for everyone under Settings, then Data controls, and keep your chat history. Temporary chats aren't used for training and may be kept for up to 30 days for safety.

ChatGPT Business lists no training on your business data by default. If you leave ChatGPT, our guide on deleting your ChatGPT account and what OpenAI keeps covers what's removed within 30 days.

## Questions people ask

Is Copilot free?
Yes. Copilot gives limited usage with a free Microsoft account, and Microsoft 365 plans from $9.99 a month add more.

Is ChatGPT free?
Yes. ChatGPT Free is $0 a month with unlimited text chats with GPT-6, subject to abuse guardrails, and limited uploads, images and deep research.

Is Copilot Pro still available?
No. Microsoft says Copilot Pro is no longer available for purchase and points subscribers to Microsoft 365 Premium at $19.99 a month.

Does Copilot use ChatGPT?
Copilot uses OpenAI's models, and it's a separate product from ChatGPT with its own app and plans. Microsoft's business pricing page lists the latest OpenAI GPT-5 models with a choice of others, including Anthropic's Claude.

Is GitHub Copilot the same as Microsoft Copilot?
No. GitHub Copilot is a coding tool with its own plans from $0 to $100 a month, and Microsoft Copilot is the assistant in the Copilot app and the Office apps.

Can ChatGPT work inside Word and Excel?
Yes. OpenAI's pricing page lists Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Google Sheets extensions, limited on Free and Go, included on Plus and expanded on Pro.

Does Microsoft 365 Family give everyone Copilot?
No. Microsoft says the AI features in Family and Premium are for the subscription owner only, while up to six people share the apps and storage.

Which is cheaper, Copilot or ChatGPT?
ChatGPT Go is the cheapest paid plan of the two at $8 a month. Microsoft 365 Personal costs $9.99 a month and includes the Office apps and 1 TB of storage.

Is Claude better than Copilot?
Pat hasn't tested Copilot, so there's no result to compare. In his blind-ranked builds, Claude's Opus 5.5 won every round against GPT-6 Astra and Gemini 4 Argon, as covered in Claude vs ChatGPT vs Gemini.

Where are the other AI comparisons?
You can find every AI model comparison we've run in our Model Comparisons section.

## How this page was put together

Every price, plan name and limit comes from Microsoft's, OpenAI's or GitHub's own pages, opened on November 6, 2026 and linked where it's stated. Where a page doesn't say something, this page leaves it out.

Pat Simmons hasn't tested Copilot or GitHub Copilot. His results above come from his tests of ChatGPT's models against Claude and Gemini models, and none of them is a Copilot comparison.

## Sources

- Microsoft: Copilot in Microsoft 365 plans for individuals (checked November 6, 2026)

- Microsoft: Compare Microsoft 365 plans (checked November 6, 2026)

- Microsoft: Copilot plans and pricing for business (checked November 6, 2026)

- Microsoft Store: Microsoft 365 Premium

- Microsoft Support: About Microsoft Copilot Pro

- Microsoft: Expanding model choice in Microsoft 365 Copilot

- Microsoft: Introducing Office in the new Microsoft Copilot app

- Microsoft Learn: Data, privacy and security for Microsoft Copilot

- Microsoft Support: Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps for home, your data and privacy

- Microsoft Support: Microsoft Copilot privacy controls

- ChatGPT: Plans and pricing (checked November 6, 2026)

- OpenAI: ChatGPT Work and Codex pricing

- OpenAI Help Center: Data controls in ChatGPT

- GitHub: Copilot plans and pricing (checked November 6, 2026)

- AI for Mortals: GPT-6 Astra vs Sol vs Fable 5.1

- AI for Mortals: Gemini vs ChatGPT on the same four builds

- AI for Mortals: Grok Bot vs Meta Muse vs ChatGPT Dots