What is a Copilot licence?
A Copilot licence is the per-person add-on to a Microsoft 365 plan that switches Copilot on - in Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams - and gives that person access to Cowork. In the UK it lists at £16.10 per person per month for smaller businesses (ex-VAT, paid yearly). It covers the everyday Copilot assistant; it does not cover Cowork usage, which is billed separately in Copilot Credits.
This is the line most businesses underestimate, because it's the fixed part. Licence 15 people and you've committed to £241.50 a month before anyone runs a single Cowork task - and that's on top of the Microsoft 365 plan each person already has. In our sector worked examples, licences are typically 15% to 25% of the all-in monthly cost.
The practical lever is who gets one. Licences are per person, not per company, so the question isn't 'should we get Copilot' but 'which desks earn a licence'. The people who build documents - the partner assembling client packs, the practice manager writing policies, the estimator drafting tenders - justify one quickly. The person whose Microsoft 365 use is mostly reading email often doesn't.
Naming note: Microsoft rebranded 'Microsoft 365 Copilot' as 'Microsoft Copilot' in August 2026. Same licence, same price - you'll see both names on invoices and admin screens for a while.
No. The licence is the door; Cowork is what's behind it, and it's metered separately. You need the licence to use Cowork, and you pay for Cowork on top of the licence.
Yes. Microsoft is offering the Copilot Business add-on at £13.80 per person per month on annual subscriptions taken out between 1 July and 31 December 2026, for existing Microsoft 365 Business customers. The discount covers the first year only - renewals go back to £16.10, which is why this calculator uses the list price.
The definitions are the easy part. Whether Cowork is the right spend is a different question.
We help established UK businesses get a clear view of what they're already running - before they add more on top.