In this guide · 8 sections
- 01Agent Builder, Copilot Studio or a paid Copilot licence?
- 02How Copilot Studio pricing works (October 2026)
- 03Example: an internal HR and IT helpdesk agent
- 04What data a Copilot Studio agent can use
- 05Admin controls to set before staff build agents
- 06When Copilot Studio is the wrong tool
- 07Do it yourself or get help?
- 08Frequently asked questions
Short answer
Copilot Studio lets you build AI agents grounded in your SharePoint, files and websites, for Teams or your website. It is billed in Copilot Credits: pay-as-you-go is US$0.01 per credit via Azure. A generative answer costs 2 credits; use by Microsoft 365 Copilot-licensed staff is not charged.
Agent Builder, Copilot Studio or a paid Copilot licence?
Microsoft has three ways to build agents, and they overlap. Its own article Choose between Agent Builder and Copilot Studio explains the split. In short:
Agent Builder (in Copilot Chat)
Quick and simple- Describe an agent in plain language inside Copilot Chat
- Agents grounded in instructions and public websites are free
- Agents that read SharePoint or tenant data use metered credits
- Internal use only
Best for: A writing coach, FAQ bot or policy summariser for staff.
Copilot Studio
Full builderCopilot Credits from US$0.01 each
- Topics, actions, agent flows and Power Platform connectors
- Publish to Teams, SharePoint, your website or other channels
- Premium and custom connectors to other business systems
- Managed in the Power Platform admin center
Best for: Helpdesks, booking or order lookups, customer-facing agents.
If your staff already have Microsoft 365 Copilot licences, much of the internal agent usage is included in that licence. Our comparison of Microsoft 365 Copilot Business and free Copilot Chat covers the seat licence itself.
How Copilot Studio pricing works (October 2026)
Copilot Studio has no per-user fee. Microsoft's billing and licensing page says Copilot Credits are the common currency, bought through pay-as-you-go, a one-year pre-purchase plan or prepaid capacity packs. Since 1 September 2025 they replaced the earlier "messages" unit at the same rates.
| Way to pay | Price (USD, as of Oct 2026) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pay-as-you-go | US$0.01 per Copilot Credit | Billed monthly through an Azure subscription linked in Power Platform |
| Capacity pack | US$200 per month | Prepaid credits pooled across the tenant; unused credits do not carry over |
| Pre-purchase plan | Up to 20% saving | One-year prepaid Copilot Credit Commit Units, bought in Azure |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot licence | US$30 per user per month (yearly), as listed on the pricing page | Includes agent use in Copilot, Teams and SharePoint for licensed users |
Microsoft's billing rates page lists the cost of each agent activity:
- Classic (scripted) answer: 1 credit
- Generative answer: 2 credits
- Agent action (triggers, reasoning steps, topic changes): 5 credits
- Tenant graph grounding (searching your Microsoft 365 data): 10 credits
- Agent flow actions: 13 credits per 100 actions
- Premium reasoning models: an extra 10 credits per 1,000 tokens
Example: an internal HR and IT helpdesk agent
A common first project is an agent in Teams that answers staff questions from the employee handbook, leave policy and IT how-to documents in SharePoint.
Microsoft's agent usage estimator lets you model your own traffic. The biggest cost drivers are tenant graph grounding and reasoning models, so start with generative answers over a small set of documents and add more only if answers are poor.
What data a Copilot Studio agent can use
Microsoft's knowledge sources documentation lists the places an agent can draw answers from. For a small business the useful ones are:
- SharePoint sites and OneDrive files: these need user sign-in (authentication), so answers draw on what each signed-in user can access.
- Uploaded files: PDFs and Word documents added directly to the agent.
- Public websites: your own site or a supplier's documentation.
- Dataverse tables and connectors: data from other systems via Power Platform connectors, some of which are premium.
Because agents work with what signed-in users can already see, messy SharePoint permissions become visible quickly. Our guide to Copilot oversharing in SharePoint explains how to tidy access before you connect an agent to company files.
Admin controls to set before staff build agents
Copilot Studio is easy to try, so agents can appear without anyone in charge noticing. A few settings keep it under control.
Decide who can build
In the Power Platform admin center, limit who can create agents and in which environments. Keep a separate test environment for experiments.
Control metered agents in Copilot Chat
Microsoft says agents that use shared tenant data are off by default in Copilot Chat until an admin sets up billing. Turn them on deliberately, not by accident.
Set a billing policy and alerts
Link an Azure subscription for pay-as-you-go, set budget alerts in Azure and review usage monthly in the Power Platform admin center.
Review data loss prevention policies
Block connectors that should not mix, such as personal email or social media connectors, alongside business data.
Approve agents before publishing
Use the Microsoft 365 admin center to control which agents appear for users and require an owner for each one.
Microsoft 365 Message Center notice MC1511056 (16 October 2026) says the Copilot Studio app in Teams is being retired: editing agents in Teams ends in January 2027 and the app is removed in February 2027. Build and manage agents in the web app at copilotstudio.microsoft.com.
When Copilot Studio is the wrong tool
Copilot Studio is strongest when your data already lives in Microsoft 365. It is a poor fit in some cases.
Pros
- Your documents are in SharePoint or OneDrive and permissions are tidy
- Staff already use Teams every day
- You want agents to respect existing Microsoft 365 permissions
- Some staff already have Microsoft 365 Copilot licences
Cons
- Your business runs on Google Workspace
- You only need a website chat assistant for customer FAQs
- Nobody can own the agent, its sources and its monthly cost
- Your process is a fixed sequence with no judgement, where plain automation is cheaper
For fixed step-by-step processes, a workflow tool is usually cheaper and more predictable; see Power Automate vs Zapier. Our guide to what AI agents cost a small business compares the wider options.
Do it yourself or get help?
A Microsoft 365 admin can build a simple FAQ agent over a few documents in an afternoon. Connecting agents to other business systems, publishing to your website, and setting billing and admin controls takes more planning. Also check whether you are paying for Microsoft 365 licences you do not use; our Microsoft 365 licence optimisation guide helps.
IT Sorted is a Singapore-based team of developers with over 10 years of experience. Our Workflow Automation (S$390 per workflow) connects your apps with Make, Zapier or Google Apps Script in your own account. For a custom agent or dashboard tied to your own systems, Custom Tool or Dashboard starts from S$1,990 with a written scope and fixed quote. Microsoft licence and Copilot Credit fees are paid by you.
Frequently asked questions
There is no per-user fee. Copilot Studio is billed in Copilot Credits, at US$0.01 per credit on pay-as-you-go through Azure, or through a prepaid capacity pack listed at US$200 a month. A generative answer costs 2 credits, so a small internal agent answering a few hundred questions a month can cost tens of US dollars.
Not fully. Copilot Chat users can build simple agents with Agent Builder, and agents grounded only in instructions and public websites are free. Agents that use shared tenant data, connectors or outside channels need Copilot Credits. Users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence can use agents in Copilot, Teams and SharePoint without most features being charged.
Yes, with a standalone Copilot Studio plan. Microsoft's pricing page says publishing or sharing agents to outside channels such as websites, apps or social platforms requires Copilot Studio licensed separately, not just the agent features included with Microsoft 365 Copilot. Website conversations are billed in Copilot Credits like any other usage.
Microsoft allows some overage, but when a tenant reaches 125 percent of its prepaid capacity, custom agents are disabled and users see a message that the agent is unavailable. Linking a pay-as-you-go meter as overflow, allocating capacity to important environments and setting alerts avoids an agent stopping unexpectedly.
The separate Copilot Studio app inside Teams is being retired. Microsoft's notice MC1511056 says editing agents in the Teams app ends in January 2027 and the app is removed in February 2027. Agents themselves can still be published to Teams; you build and manage them in the Copilot Studio web app instead.