Copilot Credits: What They Cost, What Uses Them, and the 4,000-Credit Default Limit (2026)

TL;DR: a second bill is coming with your Copilot seats

Microsoft now prints "usage-based billing for select advanced AI features" under every Copilot business plan on its pricing page. The seat is the first bill. Copilot Credits are the second one, and most owners haven't noticed it yet.

For a small business the meter is cheap until it isn't. A Microsoft 365 Copilot user chatting with an agent inside Teams usually costs nothing extra. A customer-facing agent on your website that answers 40 visitors a day does cost money, and Microsoft's default cap lets a 10-person company spend up to $400 a month before anyone gets an alert. The numbers are below, all from Microsoft's own pages.

What changed in November 2026

Microsoft's November 3 Partner Center update changes the date, not the plan:

• When. Usage-based billing will be on by default for new Microsoft 365 Copilot Business subscriptions bought through a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) "during Microsoft's FY27 Q3 (January-March 2027), instead of December 1, 2026, as previously announced."
• Who. New Copilot Business purchases in CSP, standalone or in a bundle. A new purchase also turns usage billing on for the existing Copilot Business licenses in that tenant.
• The cap. "The default spending limit is 4,000 Copilot Credits per user per month, which admins can adjust." Microsoft's own example: 100 Copilot Business users could consume up to 400,000 credits a month.
• What it pays for. Microsoft names Copilot Cowork, Work IQ APIs and GitHub Copilot Harness as the usage-based experiences, and warns that turning usage billing off "might limit access to AI experiences."
• Where you change it. Partner Center or the Microsoft 365 admin center.

The seat prices themselves didn't move. Those are on Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing.

What a Copilot Credit costs, and what uses them

Microsoft's Power Platform pay-as-you-go page lists the Copilot Studio meter at $0.01 per credit. Credits can also come from prepurchase plans and prepaid pack subscriptions. None of the Microsoft pages I read on November 12 printed a pack price, so I'm not quoting one.

Microsoft's billing table (Copilot Studio docs, read November 12, 2026):

Read the last column carefully. "No charge" applies when the agent is used by someone with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license and the agent runs on that person's own signed-in identity, inside fair-use limits. Agents used by staff without Copilot seats, or by customers, spend credits. Reasoning models add a token charge on top (10 credits per 1,000 tokens), and unused credits don't roll over to next month.

One answer can stack several rows. Microsoft's own example: an agent grounded in your company data uses 12 credits for one complex question, 10 for the grounding plus 2 for the generative answer.

What the 4,000-credit cap means in dollars

That's a ceiling, not a bill. Microsoft says charges are "based on actual usage." But note what the default does: it sets the ceiling high enough that most small companies will never hit it, which also means nobody gets stopped. Set a lower limit before you turn on anything customer-facing, then raise it when you've seen a real month.

A worked example: a 10-person firm's website intake agent

The numbers below are illustrative, built on Microsoft's published rates.

The setup. A 10-person accounting firm has Copilot Business on all 10 seats. It builds one agent in Copilot Studio for its website: it answers "do you handle S-corps," "what does a tax return cost to start," and books a consult.

Per conversation. Say a typical visitor asks 3 questions (3 generative answers = 6 credits) and books a consult (1 agent action = 5 credits). That's 11 credits, or 11 cents. Visitors don't have Copilot licenses, so every one of these is billed.

Per month. At 40 conversations a business day for 22 days, that's 880 conversations × 11 = 9,680 credits, or $96.80 a month. Turn on company-data grounding for every answer and each question adds 10 credits: 880 × 41 = 36,080 credits, or $360.80. That's close to the firm's $400 default ceiling, from one agent.

The same agent used internally. If the firm's 10 licensed staff use an internal agent in Teams on their own identity, Microsoft's table says those answers are "No charge" within fair use. The meter is mostly an outside-facing cost.

The lesson: grounding is the expensive row. Ground the questions that need your data and let the simple ones run on written answers. Internal use inside Teams is covered on Copilot in Teams.

Who should care, and what to do this month

• You only use Copilot Chat or Copilot in Word, Outlook and Teams: nothing to do. Microsoft says Copilot Chat "remains included in Microsoft 365 subscriptions," and the seat covers everyday Copilot. If you're not sure what you have, start with is Copilot free.
• You buy Copilot Business through a partner (CSP): ask them two questions before January. Will usage billing be on for our tenant, and what's our spending limit?
• You're building or planning an agent for customers: estimate credits per conversation with the table above, set a spending limit in the Microsoft 365 admin center, and check the cost dashboard weekly for the first month.
• You're comparing AI vendors: every major vendor now has a meter behind the seat. How each one counts is on AI usage limits.

If you'd rather have someone map which of your workflows belong on a seat and which on a metered agent, that's the first week of an AI implementation project.

Frequently asked questions about Copilot Credits

What are Copilot Credits?

Microsoft's unit for metered AI use. Microsoft calls them "the common currency across Copilot Studio capabilities": agents spend credits for each answer, action or grounding step, and advanced Microsoft 365 Copilot experiences like Copilot Cowork are billed in them through usage-based billing. They replaced Copilot Studio "messages" on September 1, 2025.

How much does a Copilot Credit cost?

$0.01 per credit on Microsoft's pay-as-you-go meter for Copilot Studio (Power Platform pay-as-you-go meters page, read November 12, 2026). Credits can also come from prepurchase plans and prepaid pack subscriptions; the pages I read don't print a pack price, so check Microsoft's Copilot Credit licensing guide or your partner's quote.

What is the 4,000 Copilot Credit limit?

The default spending limit Microsoft applies when usage-based billing is turned on for Microsoft 365 Copilot Business: 4,000 Copilot Credits per user per month, which admins can raise or lower. For licenses bought through a Microsoft partner (CSP), usage billing becomes on by default during January to March 2027, moved from December 1, 2026. At $0.01 a credit, the cap works out to at most $40 per user per month.

Do Microsoft 365 Copilot users pay Copilot Credits for agents?

Usually not for the basics. Microsoft's billing table lists classic answers, generative answers, agent actions, tenant graph grounding and agent flow actions as "No charge" when the person using the agent has a Microsoft 365 Copilot license and the agent runs on their own signed-in identity, within fair-use limits. Agents used by unlicensed staff or by customers on your website spend credits.

Do unused Copilot Credits roll over?

No. Microsoft says Copilot Studio enforces purchased capacity monthly and unused Copilot Credits don't carry over to the next month. Enforcement kicks in when a tenant reaches 125% of its prepaid capacity.

Sources

• Microsoft Partner Center announcements, November 2026 (learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/partner-center/announcements/2026-november), entry dated November 3, 2026, read November 12, 2026: usage-based billing default-on moved to FY27 Q3 (January-March 2027) from December 1, 2026; 4,000 Copilot Credits per user per month default limit; Copilot Cowork, Work IQ APIs, GitHub Copilot Harness; November 4 entry on Copilot Chat staying included.
• Microsoft Learn, Copilot Studio "Billing rates and management" (learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/requirements-messages-management), read November 12, 2026: credit rates per feature, voice rates, licensed-user "No charge" column and its footnote, reasoning-model billing, 125% enforcement, worked examples.
• Microsoft Learn, Copilot Studio licensing (learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-copilot-studio/billing-licensing), read November 12, 2026: "common currency" definition, messages-to-credits change September 1, 2025, no carry-over of unused credits.
• Microsoft Learn, Power Platform pay-as-you-go meters (learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/admin/pay-as-you-go-meters), read November 12, 2026: Copilot Studio meter, $0.01 per credit.
• Microsoft, Copilot for business (microsoft.com/en-us/copilot/solutions/business), read November 12, 2026: "Usage-based billing for select advanced AI features" on every Copilot business plan.