Pricing last verified: June 2026. Microsoft Copilot pricing and plan inclusions change frequently. Confirm current pricing at Microsoft's Australian pricing page before purchasing. AUD figures below are converted from USD at approximately AUD $1.55 per USD $1.00.
Microsoft Copilot is not free with Microsoft 365 for most small businesses. Free Copilot features exist in Microsoft 365 consumer plans and some business tiers, but the full Microsoft 365 Copilot experience. Integrated AI assistance in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. Requires a separate paid add-on. The add-on costs USD $30 per user per month (approximately AUD $46-47), on top of an existing qualifying Microsoft 365 Business plan. For a 10-person team, that is roughly AUD $470 a month on top of your base Microsoft 365 subscription.
In short: Full Microsoft 365 Copilot costs approximately AUD $46-47 per user per month as an add-on to a qualifying M365 plan. Basic Copilot features come free in some plans. The add-on is worth it for heavy Microsoft 365 users; for general AI needs, a standalone tool like Claude is cheaper and more capable.
Microsoft 365 Business Plans. AUD Pricing
Microsoft 365 is charged in AUD for Australian customers via Microsoft's Australian pricing page. The following prices are for annual billing per user per month, confirmed at the time of writing. Monthly billing costs more.
| Plan | AUD/user/month (annual) | Copilot included? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | ~AUD $9.00 | No | Businesses needing Teams, SharePoint, and web-only Office apps |
| Microsoft 365 Apps for Business | ~AUD $17.00 | No | Teams needing full Office desktop apps without Teams |
| Microsoft 365 Business Standard | ~AUD $21.00 | No (add-on available) | Most small businesses. Desktop Office, Teams, SharePoint, Exchange |
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium | ~AUD $31.00 | No (add-on available) | Businesses needing advanced security, Intune, and Azure AD P1 |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot (add-on) | ~AUD $46-47 | Yes. This IS Copilot | Businesses wanting AI in Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, and PowerPoint |
Note: Microsoft pricing varies by reseller and billing method. Microsoft Direct pricing through microsoft.com is the reference. Resellers, CSP partners, and volume licensing agreements may offer different rates. Verify at Microsoft's Australian plan comparison page before purchasing.
What the Microsoft 365 Copilot Add-on Includes
The Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on (the USD $30/AUD $46-47 per user per month subscription) adds AI features across the core Microsoft 365 applications:
- Word: Draft, rewrite, and summarise documents using AI assistance
- Excel: Analyse data, generate formulas, and create summaries from spreadsheet data
- PowerPoint: Create presentations from prompts or existing documents
- Outlook: Summarise email threads, draft replies, and manage inbox more efficiently
- Teams: Meeting summaries, action item extraction, and chat thread summarisation via Microsoft Copilot in Teams
- Microsoft 365 Chat: A cross-application AI assistant that can work across your files, emails, and meetings
Take an office manager at a 10-person accounting firm who spends every Monday morning writing up the staff meeting notes and chasing action items by email. With the Copilot add-on switched on for her seat, she opens the Teams meeting recap, hits the summarise button, and gets a formatted list of who owns what by when in under a minute. What used to take twenty minutes of typing and follow-up now takes two.
To access the Copilot add-on, you need a qualifying Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Business Premium, or Enterprise plan. The Basic and Apps for Business plans do not qualify at the time of writing. Confirm eligibility before purchasing.
What Is Free in Microsoft 365
Microsoft has added some basic AI features to Microsoft 365 plans without a Copilot subscription, including AI-powered writing suggestions in Word, Designer image generation in some apps, and basic summarisation features in Teams. These free features are useful but limited compared to the full Copilot add-on experience. Microsoft also offers Copilot in the free Microsoft 365 consumer plans (Outlook.com, Word Online) in a reduced form.
The free features are a reasonable way to get a sense of what Copilot does before committing to the add-on cost. They are not a substitute for full Microsoft 365 Copilot in a business context.
Total Cost for an Australian Small Business
For a 10-person team on Microsoft 365 Business Standard (AUD $21 per user per month) who want full Copilot access, the total monthly cost would be approximately:
| Component | Per user | 10 users/month |
|---|---|---|
| M365 Business Standard | ~AUD $21 | ~AUD $210 |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on | ~AUD $47 | ~AUD $470 |
| Total | ~AUD $68 | ~AUD $680 |
For many small businesses, the Copilot add-on cost exceeds the base Microsoft 365 subscription itself. Whether that represents good value depends on how heavily your team uses Microsoft 365 Office apps and how much time AI features would genuinely save in practice.
Is It Worth It for an Australian Small Business?
The Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on makes most sense for businesses where staff spend significant daily time in Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams. The tools where Copilot delivers its value. If your team uses these tools heavily for document creation, email management, and meeting coordination, the time savings can be real.
The case is weaker for businesses that only occasionally use Office apps, or where AI assistance would primarily be used for general writing and research tasks that a standalone tool like Claude or ChatGPT could handle more cheaply. A Claude Pro subscription at AUD $31 per user per month provides stronger general-purpose AI capability than the Copilot add-on, at a lower cost, but without the Microsoft 365 application integration. For the same 10-person team, that is about AUD $310 a month, well under half the cost of adding the Copilot add-on for everyone.
For teams already deeply embedded in Microsoft 365, the integration is the argument. For teams with lighter Microsoft 365 use, the maths rarely works in Copilot's favour at AUD $47 per user per month.
For Australian Businesses
Microsoft 365 is available in Australia with AUD pricing, and Microsoft has invested in Australian data centre regions (Australia East and Australia Southeast). Some Microsoft 365 data. Including Exchange Online email data and SharePoint documents. Can be stored in Australian data centres depending on your plan configuration. Microsoft 365 Copilot interactions may process data through different Microsoft infrastructure depending on the specific feature. Review Microsoft's data residency commitments for your specific plan at Microsoft's Trust Centre before making purchasing decisions if data residency is a compliance requirement.
Methodology (Real-World, Verified)
We score AI tools against real SMB workflows using named vendor documentation, pricing pages, and independent sources, not enterprise demos. Pricing is verified at the vendor's published rates, with AUD conversions noted where relevant. Compliance notes reference the legislation and regulatory guidance relevant to each article's region. Every tool is judged on one question: could a business with no dedicated IT department actually pick this up and use it on Monday morning.
Read our full methodology and independence and disclosure policy.
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Is Microsoft Copilot free with Microsoft 365?
Not in the full sense. Some basic Copilot features are available without an extra subscription, but the full Microsoft 365 Copilot experience. AI assistance across Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, and PowerPoint. Requires a paid add-on at approximately AUD $46-47 per user per month, on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 Business plan. See the full article: Is Microsoft Copilot free with Microsoft 365?
Which Microsoft 365 plans are eligible for the Copilot add-on?
As of the time of writing, the Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on requires a qualifying base plan. Typically Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Business Premium, or an Enterprise plan. The Business Basic and Apps for Business plans do not qualify. Confirm current eligibility at Microsoft's Australian website before purchasing, as plan requirements change.
Can I add Copilot for some users but not others?
Yes. The Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on is licensed per user. You can apply it to specific team members who will benefit most. For example, staff who spend most of their time in Word, Outlook, and Teams. Without purchasing it for your entire organisation. This selective licensing is worth considering before rolling it out to every seat.
Does Microsoft Copilot pricing differ between Australian and US customers?
Australian customers are billed in AUD directly by Microsoft. The AUD price is broadly consistent with the USD price converted at current exchange rates, though it does not float daily. Microsoft updates its AUD pricing periodically. Check Microsoft's Australian pricing page for the current AUD figures, as the rates quoted in this article were correct at the time of writing but will change over time.
Not sure if Microsoft Copilot is free with your existing M365 plan? We answer that directly.
Is Copilot Free with M365?