Copilot vs Gemini: same $19.99, but Gemini covers 6 people and Copilot 1

Is Copilot or Gemini better?

Four people sharing Google AI Pro pay about $5 each for Gemini. On Microsoft 365 Premium, the same $19.99 buys Copilot for one person, the owner. Both are US list prices as of October 2026.

Microsoft's plan comparison puts it in a footnote: "AI features only available to subscription owner and cannot be shared; usage limits apply." Family and Premium both cover up to six people for Office and storage. Only one of them gets Copilot.

Google goes the other way. Its family sharing help page says a Google AI plan shares "Access to AI benefits such as Gemini App, Google Antigravity, Gemini Notebook, and other AI features" with up to five family members. They have to live in the same country as you. Each member signs in to Gemini with their own Google account. On Microsoft, nobody but the owner gets Copilot.

Copilot still wins for one kind of buyer. If your day is spent in desktop Word, Excel and Outlook, Premium puts Copilot inside them, and Google doesn't sell those apps at all.

How much do Copilot and Gemini cost?

Both companies charge $19.99 for their main AI plan, and only Google sells an AI plan under $9.99. Here is every consumer tier side by side, read from Microsoft's Premium page, Microsoft's plan comparison and Google's AI plans page on 12 October 2026:

Neither company prints a message count. Google sells its plans as multiples of the free allowance, and its limits page says the allowance "refreshes every 5 hours until you reach your weekly limit." Microsoft uses words: "Higher than free" on Personal and Family, "Extensive" on Premium. If you run out on Gemini, Gemini usage limit reached explains the reset.

Yearly billing saves a little on Microsoft's side. Premium is $199.99 a year, Personal $99.99 and Family $129.99. Is Google AI Pro worth it does the same sums for Google's plan.

Companies buy differently. Microsoft's business page lists Microsoft 365 Copilot Business at $21 a user a month on a yearly plan, for up to 300 users, and it needs a qualifying Microsoft 365 licence. Microsoft ran it at $18 from 1 July to 31 December 2026. Google lists Gemini in Gmail, Docs and Meet on Workspace Business Standard, at $14 a user.

Which AI models do Copilot and Gemini use?

Gemini names its models and Copilot mostly doesn't. Google's plan page lists 3.8 Flash and 3.1 Pro on AI Pro, and 3.5 Flash-Lite on the free tier. You know which model answered.

Microsoft's transparency note says Copilot runs on "language and multi-modal models from Microsoft, OpenAI, and other model developers." Its conversation modes page says Smart mode "is powered by GPT-5" and Think Deeper by "the latest reasoning models from OpenAI." The same note says you can "choose between leading AI models for different kinds of work," and it doesn't name them.

On the work side, Microsoft said on 22 September 2026 that Claude Opus 5.5 and GPT-6 Sol are rolling out to Microsoft Copilot "across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Chat, Cowork, and Copilot Studio." Its announcement adds that availability "may vary by license, access, and region." So a Copilot answer can come from OpenAI, Anthropic or Microsoft. A Gemini answer comes from Google.

Context is the other gap. Google prints a window for each plan: 32K tokens free, 128K on AI Plus and 1M on AI Pro and Ultra. Microsoft publishes no window for Copilot. If you paste in a long contract or a whole book, Gemini is the one that tells you up front whether it fits.

Is Copilot or Gemini better for Word, Excel and Gmail?

Copilot is better in Office and Gemini is better in Google's apps. Each one works best inside its own maker's files.

Microsoft's Premium page lists Copilot in the desktop Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote apps. Premium also includes those apps. Microsoft added Copilot to Personal and Family on 16 January 2025 and raised their US price by $3 a month, so a $9.99 Personal plan already puts it in Word. That's Copilot's real edge. It writes in the document you have open, and Google doesn't sell desktop Office apps at any price.

Gemini sits in Gmail and Google Vids from AI Plus up, according to Google's plan page, and AI Pro adds Gemini in Chrome. If your mail is Gmail and your files are in Drive, Copilot can't reach them from inside those apps. Google AI Pro also comes with 5 TB of shared storage. Premium lists 2 TB, shared by everyone on the plan, as of October 2026.

Media is close. Microsoft lists AI image creation at "Extensive usage" on Premium. Google lists image making on the free tier and video from AI Plus up, and AI Pro comes with 1,000 Google Flow credits a month. The Microsoft plan table we read lists images, not video.

Is Copilot or Gemini better for coding?

For coding, the Copilot you want is GitHub Copilot, and it runs Gemini too. GitHub Copilot is a separate product from the Copilot app. Its plans page lists Pro at $10 a month with 1,500 AI credits, and it names Gemini 3.7 Flash and Gemini 3.8 Flash among the models on Pro and up. So you don't really have to choose.

Microsoft 365 Premium doesn't include GitHub Copilot. Google AI Pro does include coding tools: Google's plan page lists Jules and Google Antigravity on it. For a developer who wants one $19.99 bill, that tips it to Gemini. If you already pay for GitHub Copilot, add whichever chat app fits your mail and documents.

Do Copilot and Gemini train on your chats?

Both companies can use your chats to train AI, and both let you stop it in most cases. Here's what each one's own pages say as of October 2026:

One caveat on Microsoft's side. Its privacy FAQ says it "applies only to the older version of the Microsoft Copilot app," and the privacy controls page for the 18 August 2026 app lists memory, chat history and ads, with no training switch. If your app has updated, check its settings before you assume anything. Google's rules come from the Gemini privacy hub, last updated 24 September 2026. Our guide to turning off AI training has the switch for each app.

Should you pick Copilot or Gemini for personal use?

Pick Gemini unless you live in desktop Office. Here's the split:

If what you want is GPT and Gemini in one chat, not Office or Gmail, Whizi Pro at $29.99 a month carries both. Gemini Flash costs 2 credits a message out of 2,500, and a side by side compare sends the same prompt to both. It doesn't work inside Word or Gmail, it has no cloud storage, and it isn't shared with family, so for those jobs Premium or Google AI Pro wins. The Copilot alternatives page and Copilot vs ChatGPT cover the other options.