Is Copilot free? Yes on the web and in Windows 11, but Copilot in Word and Excel starts at $9.99

Is Copilot free to use? Yes, in five of seven places

Five of the seven ways to get Copilot cost $0 for someone. Only two are free to anyone with an account: Microsoft Copilot itself and GitHub Copilot Free. Here's what Microsoft and GitHub's own pages said on 12 October 2026 (prices in US dollars):

Microsoft's plans page sums up its free tier in one line: "a limited free version of Copilot subject to available capacity and limits." Its AI limits page, last updated October 2026, rates ten Copilot features on four paid plans. It has no column for free accounts. None at all. GitHub is the only one of the two that prints a number. Its plans docs cap Copilot Free at 2,000 completions a month.

Is Microsoft Copilot free and unlimited? Free, with no published cap

Microsoft Copilot is free but not unlimited. Microsoft's app update page says you can "continue to chat with Copilot, create images, upload files and more for free." When you hit a limit, the same page says, you can "upgrade to a paid option or come back later." It doesn't say how much later.

It's worth signing in, even if you're on the free plan and you don't intend to pay for anything. Microsoft's Copilot on Windows page says a personal Microsoft account gets you chat history, image creation, longer conversations and voice. On the web, a Mac or a phone, a Google or Apple login works too.

Edge is another free door to the same assistant. Microsoft's free versus Microsoft 365 page lists the Edge header among the free version's entry points. Sign in to Edge with a personal Microsoft account, click the Copilot icon at the top right, and it'll sum up the page, video or PDF you're on.

The free app also got smaller this year. Microsoft retired Podcasts and Deep Research from Copilot on 18 August 2026, and Group Chat content wasn't carried past that date.

Paid plans don't get numbers either. The limits page grades them in words and says limits "may vary based on the feature, entry point, and system conditions." If the free app keeps cutting you off mid task, Copilot daily limit reached explains the reset message.

Is Copilot free with Microsoft 365? It comes with every home plan above Basic

Copilot comes with every current Microsoft 365 home plan except Basic, the $1.99 a month plan where Microsoft says "AI features are not available", and you pay for it in the price. Microsoft added it to Personal and Family on 16 January 2025 and raised both by $3 a month in the US. Its announcement said "most of our 84 million consumer subscribers" would get Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote.

Family is the plan that catches people out, because it looks as if it should share all of it. The limits page says "AI benefits are only available to the subscription owner and cannot be shared with others." The other five people get Word. They don't get Copilot in it.

Copilot Pro, the add-on people still search for, is gone. Microsoft's Copilot Pro page says it "is no longer available for purchase", and support ended on 1 August 2026. Is Copilot Pro worth it covers the Premium plan that replaced it.

Is Copilot free in Excel and Word? Not on a personal account

Copilot in Excel isn't free on a personal Microsoft account. Microsoft's Excel FAQ lists four ways in: Personal or Family with an AI credits plan, Premium, a commercial Microsoft Copilot subscription, or a business plan that's eligible for Copilot Chat. Free Copilot isn't on the list.

Two routes cost you nothing extra. Personal and Premium each show a one month free trial on Microsoft's plans page, though trial terms "vary by offer and region". And if your employer already pays for an eligible Microsoft 365 business plan, the Excel FAQ counts that license. That gets you Copilot Chat in Excel, not everything: Microsoft Learn says Copilot in the apps with your company's own files "depends on licensing", and the full version is a Microsoft Copilot add-on your employer buys.

Is Copilot free with Windows 11? Yes, and the app comes installed

Copilot is free on Windows 11. Microsoft's Copilot on Windows page says "On new Windows 11 PCs, the Copilot app should already be installed by default." If yours lacks it, the Microsoft Store has it.

It's the same free Copilot as the website, with the same unpublished limits. If you open it on a new laptop, sign in with the Microsoft account you already use for Outlook and ask it to sum up a web page, you've used the free tier and paid nothing at all. Windows 11 doesn't add Copilot to Word or Excel, though. You still need a Microsoft 365 plan for that.

Is GitHub Copilot free in VS Code? Yes, up to 2,000 completions a month

GitHub Copilot Free costs $0 in VS Code and stops code completions at 2,000 a month. GitHub launched it on 18 December 2024 with 2,000 completions and 50 chat messages a month. Its plans page lists VS Code, Visual Studio, Vim, Neovim, the JetBrains IDEs and Azure Data Studio as supported editors.

The chat allowance is where GitHub's own pages disagree. The plans page FAQ still says Free users get "2000 completions and 50 chat requests". GitHub's docs, read the same day, swap the chat count for "an allowance of AI credits" with no number. They also limit Free to auto model selection, so you don't pick the model.

Running out isn't permanent. If you use it all up, you can wait for it to come back. The VS Code FAQ, dated 7 October 2026, says both allowances "reset every month". Free users can "wait until the next month to continue using Copilot for free," and hitting the completion cap doesn't stop chat.

Copilot Free isn't for everyone with a GitHub login. GitHub's docs say it's only for individual developers "who don't have access to Copilot through an organization or enterprise." So if your employer already gives you Copilot Business, you can't also sign up for Free on the same account to get a second allowance on top of the one your company pays for. Copilot Pro at $10 a month lifts the completion cap and adds 1,500 AI credits. Pro+ is $39 for 7,000.

Is Copilot free for students? GitHub's is, Microsoft 365 is half price

Students get GitHub Copilot free and Microsoft 365 at half price. GitHub's docs list Copilot Student at $0 for verified students. Verified teachers and maintainers of popular open source projects "may be eligible for free access to Copilot Pro".

Microsoft's US student page offered no free months when we read it on 12 October 2026. It sells Microsoft 365 Personal to students for $4.99 a month, 50% off, with Copilot in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. You'll need a payment method to sign up. Microsoft's plans page says student offers vary "by school and region", so check yours.

A school account is a separate route. Microsoft Learn says Copilot Chat comes at no extra cost with Microsoft 365 A1, A3 and A5 licenses, and "Students aged 13 and older can use Microsoft Copilot Chat." Your school's admin has to set it up first, so ask them if you can't see it.

Which Copilot is worth paying for?

Most people don't need to pay. Free Copilot covers chat, images and uploads. If you're going to pay, pay only for the one thing that the free version can't do for you:

Whizi, which publishes this page, isn't a free Copilot substitute. A free Whizi account gets 10 messages a day, on Whizi AI, Auto and Claude Haiku 5.5 only. Whizi Starter is $15.99 a month for ChatGPT Luna, Claude Haiku and Whizi AI on 800 credits. It's worth it only if you want ChatGPT and Claude in one chat. The Copilot alternatives page sorts the other options.