Microsoft Copilot vs ChatGPT: price, models, Office, work plans and data

Choose Microsoft Copilot if your work happens in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams: it's built into those apps, comes with Microsoft 365 Personal from $9.99 a month, and at work it's free as Copilot Chat for eligible Microsoft 365 accounts or $21 to $30 a user for the full Microsoft 365 Copilot. Choose ChatGPT for a standalone assistant with OpenAI's newest GPT-6 models, Codex for coding, and a plan ladder from free and Go at $8 to Plus at $20 and Pro at $100 to $500. Copilot now runs Anthropic's Claude models alongside OpenAI's at work, and both companies have closed their group chats in 2026: Microsoft retired Copilot's from August 18, and ChatGPT stopped new ones on July 9.

Key takeaways

• Free: both have a free tier; Copilot's is "subject to capacity and limits," ChatGPT's runs GPT-6 Luna.
• Paid for one person: Microsoft 365 Personal $9.99, Premium $19.99, Pro $99.99 a month; ChatGPT Go $8, Plus $20, Pro $100, $200 or $500.
• At work: Copilot Chat free with eligible Microsoft 365 accounts; Microsoft 365 Copilot $30 a user (annual), Copilot Business $21 for up to 300 users. ChatGPT Business $20 to $25 a seat.
• Models: Copilot uses OpenAI and Anthropic models at work, Claude on by default for most companies outside Europe; ChatGPT uses OpenAI's GPT-6 family.
• Training: both train on personal accounts' chats by default with an opt-out, and neither on work accounts.

Sources: Microsoft's individual, business and enterprise pricing, Copilot Chat overview and privacy FAQ; OpenAI's pricing and help pages, opened October 30, 2026.

How much do Copilot and ChatGPT cost for one person?

Microsoft sells Copilot inside Microsoft 365 plans, with usage counted in AI credits (Microsoft):

• Copilot free: a limited version with a Microsoft account.
• Microsoft 365 Personal: $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, with Copilot in the Office apps and "higher than free" usage.
• Microsoft 365 Family: $12.99 a month or $129.99 a year, but the AI goes to the subscription's owner only.
• Microsoft 365 Premium: $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year, "extensive" usage and Copilot Cowork (formerly Tasks), in preview. It replaced Copilot Pro.
• Microsoft 365 Pro: $99.99 a month, monthly only, with the highest usage.

OpenAI (OpenAI):

• ChatGPT Free: GPT-6 Luna, with limits.
• Go, $8: more of the same, Codex in the desktop app.
• Plus, $20: GPT-6.1 Sol and the rest of the lineup, Codex in the terminal and editor, ChatGPT Work.
• Pro, $100, $200 or $500: far higher limits and no five-hour cap (ChatGPT Plus vs Pro).

At $20, ChatGPT Plus and Microsoft 365 Premium cost the same; Premium includes the Office apps, Plus includes Codex.

How much do they cost at work?

Microsoft:

• Copilot Chat: "included at no additional cost" for work accounts with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription, with web answers, file uploads, images, limited agents and enterprise data protection (Microsoft).
• Copilot Business, for up to 300 users: $21 a user a month billed annually ($18 on a first-year promotion through December 31, 2026), or $25.20 monthly. Bundled with Business Standard it's $23.50, with Business Premium $32.
• Microsoft 365 Copilot: $30 a user a month billed annually, adding work grounding across your mail, files and meetings and priority access to models.
• Microsoft 365 E7: $99 a user, the only enterprise suite with Copilot included, generally available since May 1, 2026.

OpenAI: ChatGPT Business at $20 a seat billed annually or $25 monthly, with $100 to $125 premium seats for heavy users; Enterprise through sales (ChatGPT Business pricing, ChatGPT Enterprise pricing).

Which AI models do they use?

• ChatGPT: OpenAI's own GPT-6 family, GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6.1 Terra and GPT-6 Luna, with the larger ones on paid plans.
• Microsoft 365 Copilot at work: "leading models from OpenAI and Anthropic." Claude is on by default for most commercial organizations and off by default in the EU, EFTA and UK; it runs in Copilot, Researcher, Copilot Studio and the Office apps, and Copilot Cowork is built with Anthropic (Microsoft).
• Consumer Copilot: Microsoft doesn't name the chat model on its consumer pages. Its own MAI models handle images (MAI-Image-2) and some voice features.

What's different in daily use?

• Inside Office: Copilot drafts in Word, builds formulas and charts in Excel, makes PowerPoint decks, summarizes Outlook threads and Teams meetings. ChatGPT works in its own app; its Microsoft Teams connector searches the chats and channels you can see, but it isn't an assistant inside Teams.
• Coding: ChatGPT includes Codex, OpenAI's coding agent, on every plan (Codex pricing). Copilot's coding assistant is GitHub Copilot, a separate product (GitHub Copilot pricing).
• Collaboration: Copilot Pages can be co-edited by a team, though collaborators don't see your Copilot chat. ChatGPT Business has shared projects and pages. Neither still offers a group chat with the AI: Microsoft retired Copilot's group chat from August 18, 2026 and doesn't carry the history over, and ChatGPT stopped new group chats on July 9, 2026, keeping old ones read-only (what happened to ChatGPT group chats).

What do they do with your data?

• Personal accounts: consumer Copilot uses conversations to train Microsoft's models by default, and signed-in users can opt out; Microsoft excludes work accounts, signed-out users, under-18s, and Personal and Family subscribers using Copilot in the Office apps (Microsoft). ChatGPT Free, Plus and Pro also train by default, with the "Improve the model for everyone" switch to opt out.
• Work accounts: Microsoft's enterprise data protection covers Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot, and ChatGPT Business and Enterprise don't train on business data by default. Microsoft notes that Anthropic models "with Data Retention," such as Claude Fable 5, sit outside some of those terms.

Which should you choose?

• You live in Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams: Copilot, through Microsoft 365 Personal or Premium at home, Copilot Chat or Microsoft 365 Copilot at work.
• You want the strongest standalone assistant and a coding agent: ChatGPT Plus, or Pro for heavy use.
• Your company already pays for Microsoft 365: start with the free Copilot Chat, and add Microsoft 365 Copilot for the people who need it in their files and meetings.
• You want a group working with one AI together: neither does it now. Poly (usepoly.co) puts a team or friends in one room with one AI, GPT or Claude among them, where everyone sees each step and anyone can steer it. Free to start. What is multiplayer AI?

How ChatGPT compares with Anthropic's assistant: ChatGPT vs Claude.