Automate Basics

Perplexity vs Microsoft Copilot

Pick up to 4 tools and see their free plans, entry prices, platforms and limits in one table. Every fact comes from each vendor's own pages, checked 16 October 2026.

Compared on
Perplexity

Free plan · from $17/mo

Microsoft Copilot

Free plan · from $9.99/mo

What it isAI answer engine that replies with cited sources from the webMicrosoft's free consumer AI assistant, with more use in Microsoft 365 plans
Free planLimited daily usage, basic AI models and citations in every answer; limited web answers, file uploads and asset generation; no video generation, app connectors or Computer creditsLimited free version subject to available capacity and usage limits; signing in with a personal Microsoft account adds chat history, image creation, longer conversations and voice
Cheapest paid plan$17/mo billed annually (Pro)Perplexity pricing$9.99/mo (Microsoft 365 Personal)Microsoft Copilot pricing
What it covers$200 a year on annual billing; the developer API is billed separately, per token and per request.Or $99.99/year. Copilot chat with higher usage than free, plus Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps; AI features are for the subscription owner only.
Free trialNone stated1-month free trial of Microsoft 365 Personal, Family or Premium
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
Integrations (vendor's figure)400+ app connectorsNot stated
Open sourceNoNo
Good for
  • Getting a sourced answer to a factual question
  • Researching a market or competitor with cited sources
  • Comparing products or prices across the web
  • Asking quick questions and getting answers from the web
  • Summarising a long web page in Edge
  • Drafting documents in Word with a Microsoft 365 subscription
Watch out for
  • The Free plan has limited daily usage and basic models
  • Among individual plans, monthly Computer credits (10,000) are included only in Max
  • Individual plans are for personal use only
  • Free use depends on available capacity and usage limits
  • In Microsoft 365 Family, Copilot features are for the subscription owner only and cannot be shared
  • Copilot Pro is no longer sold; Microsoft points buyers to Microsoft 365 Premium
Made byPerplexity AIMicrosoft

Entry prices are the cheapest paid plan, as each vendor publishes it; “What it covers” says what that price is per (a user, a channel, a brand, a number of contacts). The sources are listed on each tool's page.

Every tool in AI assistants and chatbots is on its category page, with the written head-to-heads on Compare.