Copilot for Microsoft 365- What’s the difference?

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If you’ve used Microsoft Copilot in on the web browser, you’ve seen the potential for AI with internal data, but that’s just the beginning. The paid license for Copilot in Microsoft 365 unlocks the full potential: seamless integration, personalization, and smart automation right inside the tools you already use every day.

Built Directly into Office Apps

The primary difference between the free version of Copilot and the paid license is the integration into the everyday Microsoft Tools you already use.

  • Word: Generate, summarize, or rewrite entire documents

  • Excel: Analyze data, create formulas, and find trends

  • PowerPoint: Build decks from scratch using just a prompt

  • Outlook: Write polished replies and suggest scheduling options

  • Teams: Summarize meetings (live or after the fact), track tasks, and surface key points

Copilot Free vs. Paid: What’s the Difference?

Feature Free (Web Version) Paid Copilot for M365
Commercial Data Protection ✅ ✅
Access to your M365 data ❌ ✅
Embedded in Word, Excel, etc. ❌ ✅
Personalized replies based on your work ❌ ✅
Summary of meetings, emails, and documents ❌ ✅

The biggest difference in the free vs. paid license of Copilot is what you can do with the data you have once Copilot is built into your Microsoft Apps.

With the paid version:

  • Your data—emails, files, Teams chats, calendars—never leaves the Microsoft 365 environment.

  • Copilot runs within your secure tenant, using Microsoft’s Zero Trust architecture.

  • It does not send data to public servers or use it to train language models.

This means your interactions with Copilot stay subject to the same security and compliance rules that already govern tools like Outlook, OneDrive, and SharePoint.

The paid Copilot solution aligns with:

  • FERPA, HIPAA (where applicable), and other regulatory standards

  • UW’s internal data classification and acceptable use policies

  • Microsoft’s own Customer Data Protection Policy, with clear data residency and ownership agreements

This makes it fundamentally different from using free tools like ChatGPT, Bing AI, or Gemini, which do not reside within UW’s managed infrastructure. It’s a secure, integrated solution that respects your files, your permissions, and your data boundaries. That’s what makes it appropriate for handling work with moderate sensitivity, as long as users still follow internal data policies.