Microsoft Copilot vs ChatGPT
Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT? Here is how they compare on price, free plan, platforms and the jobs each does best, from each vendor's own pages.
| Compared on | Visit | Visit |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Microsoft's free consumer AI assistant, with more use in Microsoft 365 plans | OpenAI's AI chat assistant for writing, research, images, voice and coding |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Cheapest paid plan | $9.99/mo (Microsoft 365 Personal)Microsoft Copilot pricing | $8/mo (Go)ChatGPT pricing |
| What it covers | 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. | Go may include ads. Plus is $20/month. OpenAI's FAQ says Go and Plus are sold as monthly plans; annual plans are for Business and Enterprise. |
| Free trial | 1-month free trial of Microsoft 365 Personal, Family or Premium | None stated |
| Platforms | Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android, macOS |
| Integrations (vendor's figure) | Not stated | Not stated |
| Open source | No | No |
| Made by | Microsoft | OpenAI |
Choose Microsoft Copilot if…
- The job is asking quick questions and getting answers from the web.
- The job is summarising a long web page in Edge.
Choose ChatGPT if…
- Price matters: its cheapest paid plan is $8/mo against $9.99/mo.
- The job is drafting and editing emails, reports and posts.
- The job is researching a topic with web search and deep research.
Still weighing it up?
If neither is quite right, Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT are also compared with their other rivals: ChatGPT vs Claude, ChatGPT vs Google Gemini and ChatGPT vs Perplexity.
To see them doing real work, read How to Use Copilot in Excel to Write and Fix Formulas and How to Protect ChatGPT Chats on a Shared Computer.
What Microsoft Copilot does
- Chat and writing help
- Answers based on real-time web search
- Image creation
- Voice conversations when signed in
- Web page summaries in Microsoft Edge
- Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote with a Microsoft 365 subscription
Watch out for
- 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
What ChatGPT does
- Web search inside chat
- Deep research reports
- Image generation and voice chats
- File uploads and data analysis
- Projects, scheduled tasks and custom GPTs on paid plans
- Codex coding agent included in every plan
Watch out for
- Free and Go have limited uploads, image generation, voice, deep research and Codex access
- The Go plan may include ads
- Business plans start at 2 users; Enterprise and Edu pricing requires contacting sales
Questions
Is Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT cheaper?
On published entry prices, ChatGPT is cheaper: $9.99/mo (Microsoft 365 Personal) for Microsoft Copilot against $8/mo (Go) for ChatGPT. What each plan includes differs, so compare the limits too.
Do Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT have free plans?
Both do. Microsoft Copilot: Limited 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. ChatGPT: Unlimited text chats with GPT-5.6 Luna (subject to abuse guardrails); limited uploads, image generation, voice chats, deep research, memory and Codex access.