Microsoft’s Copilot Pro plan, which required an additional $20 per month on top of a Microsoft 365 Family or Personal subscription to access AI-powered Office features, seemed like a big ask when it was first introduced last year. Earlier this year, Microsoft bundled Office AI functionality into Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Now, the company is combining Copilot Pro and Microsoft 365 into a new subscription called Microsoft 365 Premium.
The enhanced AI features called Microsoft 365 Premium now goes on sale from October, for $19.99, £19, or AU$33 per month. Beyond the basic Copilot integration offered by Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans, it is intended for users who desire a more advanced AI experience.
Gareth Oystryk, senior director of marketing for Copilot Pro and Microsoft 365, tells a news agency that “it’s really going to be our most powerful AI and productivity subscription for any individual.” “It combines our best Copilot usage limits, exclusive features, and our dependable selection of productivity apps with Copilot integrated.”
Copilot was included in Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans earlier this year. Higher usage limitations for specific Copilot capabilities and access to premium AI features like Researcher, Analyst, and Actions which allows users to obtain more thorough reports are among the benefits of the new Premium service, which combines elements from the previous Family and Copilot Pro plans.
Hence, this might be the new plan for anyone if user have a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription and feel that user could use a bit more artificial intelligence in your life.
Yusuf Mehdi, Executive Vice President, Consumer Chief Marketing Officer, stated in a blog post that for everyone that “Our goal is to help everyone on the planet achieve more by focussing on productivity.” Furthermore, we think that integrating AI into daily tasks opens up new possibilities for productivity, enabling everyone to work more efficiently, intelligently, and creatively. For this reason, we’re keeping up our extensive integration of Copilot, our potent AI assistant, into our top-tier productivity applications.
While Copilot Pro users can easily move to Microsoft 365 Premium at no additional cost, Microsoft 365 Personal ($9.99 per month) and Family subscribers ($12.99 per month) must upgrade in order to join the Premium plan.
Microsoft’s highest usage limitations for features like GPT-4o image creation and speech, as well as Copilot Podcasts, Deep Research, Vision, and Actions, will be included in Microsoft 365 Premium, which will cost $19.99 a month, the same amount as OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus membership. All of the Microsoft 365 Family features, such as 1TB of storage per user and access to Office desktop applications for six individuals, will also be included and access to Microsoft’s new Photos Agent are all included with Microsoft 365 Premium. Additionally, Microsoft has revealed that current users of the Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions will be able to access additional Copilot features, such as audio creation and summarisation and Vision in the Copilot app, along with increased Copilot usage limitations.
Last Month, Copilot chat made its debut in the standalone Microsoft Office applications for business users. However, it is now being made available to all individual subscribers and non-business users as well. Individual app users will also have access to Copilot capabilities like Researcher and Analyst. Copilot may now be used for draughting documents, analysing spreadsheet data, or just assisting with email in all of the Office applications that you now have.
You may now ask Copilot to create an image for a PowerPoint presentation since ChatGPT-4o’s native AI image production is also coming to Copilot in Microsoft apps. Microsoft programs now support advanced speech mode, so you may speak to Copilot directly rather than typing.
Workers at large corporations frequently use insecure tools to bring their own AI to work. You can truly bring your Copilot to work with Microsoft 365 Premium, which offers enterprise data protection, secure infrastructure, several compliance certifications, and defence against malicious content, quick injections, and other threats.
Last but not least, Microsoft is launching new, simplified, updated app icons for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, and more to reflect the new Copilot integration. The company claims that these changes “reflect the new era of AI.” With a more contemporary, glassy appearance that gives them a 2025 vibe, they’re unquestionably more in style.
Oystryk states, they really designed this subscription for any high achiever, professional, or solopreneur looking to take on the most difficult productivity tasks with AI at their side. Oystryk added that users going to find that the value is pretty undeniable when you compare the value of this plan at this price point to that of the competition.
ChatGPT Plus is undoubtedly that rival. With greater restrictions on messaging, file uploads, data analysis, and image creation, as well as longer access to GPT-5, OpenAI positions ChatGPT Plus as a productivity subscription. Access to Office desktop applications with Copilot features integrated right into them, along with 1TB of cloud storage per user, are extra benefits of Microsoft 365 Premium.
The ability to activate Microsoft’s AI features in Office programs at work, along with the ability to do so with Microsoft’s current Family and Personal subscriptions, is arguably the most exciting aspect of the company’s 365 Premium launch. Many workers have been bringing their own artificial intelligence to work, according to Oystryk. “Users can truly bring Copilot to work with you if you have Microsoft 365 Premium in addition to Personal and Family.”
If users has their own Microsoft 365 Premium, Family, or Personal account, Microsoft will now activate the Microsoft 365 Copilot capabilities that your company would typically need to pay for a subscription to. To activate the AI features in your work Office apps, simply log in to your work version of Office using your personal Microsoft account.
To guarantee that company data isn’t shared with your personal Microsoft account, it essentially activates the Microsoft 365 Copilot license while preserving all standard security, compliance, and enterprise data protection capabilities. Oystryk claims that this feature is compatible with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, and Mac, iPad, and Windows PCs. “It isn’t functional on the internet. But you can log in and use that feature in the apps that most people use. Additionally, IT administrators will have the ability to activate or deactivate the sign-in feature.
Surprisingly, only the primary account holder of Microsoft 365 Family or Premium subscriptions is currently able to access AI features in Office at work or at home. According to Oystryk, “we are assessing some options there because we definitely have feedback from our customers to offer some kind of sharing.”
With larger usage restrictions than the free Copilot tier, current Personal and Family subscribers will also get access to GPT-4o voice and image generation. Previously exclusive to Microsoft 365 business users, Copilot Chat is now available for all consumer subscriptions.
Copilot Pro, which was still available to power users to gain priority access to the newest AI models and higher usage restrictions after Microsoft incorporated Office AI capabilities with Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions earlier this year, is essentially being phased out as a result of all these changes.
We will no longer sell Copilot Pro, but it won’t completely disappear, Oystryk acknowledges. Copilot Pro members are not being immediately enrolled in Microsoft 365 Premium. When and if we will stop it is still up in the air.
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