Copilot vs. ChatGPT: which one to choose for work?

In brief

If your company works in Outlook, Teams, Word, and Excel, look at Copilot first: Copilot Chat is often already included in your Microsoft 365 subscription, and only the Microsoft 365 Copilot license lets it read your emails, files, and meetings. Otherwise, ChatGPT is the all-purpose assistant to try first, and it also opens inside Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Both have a free version: give them the same task before you pay.

What they both do

Microsoft CopilotMicrosoft’s assistant, in Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams

Free plan: Yes
Recommended plan: Microsoft 365 Personal, €10 per month, or €99 per year
Page checked on: October 21, 2026

Anyone whose company works with Outlook, Teams, Word, and Excel.

See the Microsoft Copilot page

ChatGPTThe all-purpose assistant: write, search, analyze, create

Free plan: Yes
Recommended plan: Plus, $20 per month
Page checked on: October 21, 2026

Everyone at the office. It is the first tool to try when you are starting out.

See the ChatGPT page

Microsoft Copilot, made by Microsoft, and ChatGPT, made by OpenAI, are two assistants you write or talk to. Both run on the web, on Windows, on Mac, and on your phone. For an everyday office request, either one gives you a useful result.

Draft, summarize, and rephrase a text.
Read an attached file, a PDF or a spreadsheet, and answer your questions about it.
Create an image.
Hold a spoken conversation.
Work inside Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, each in its own way.

Both can be confidently wrong about a number, a date, or a name. Anything that goes to a customer gets reviewed, whatever the tool.

Three Copilots, and that is what decides everything

The name “Copilot” covers three different things. Before you compare, find out which one you have: it decides what Copilot can do for you.

Copilot, the free app: a chat on the web, on your computer, and on your phone, with a personal account. It does not read your work documents.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat: the work chat, included at no extra cost in eligible Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Without a license, it relies on the web and on the files you attach, not on your emails or your folders.
Microsoft 365 Copilot, the paid license your employer chooses: Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams, with your emails, files, and meetings.

To find out what you have: open Outlook or Teams. If a Copilot icon shows up, your company has turned it on. Then ask your IT team whether it is Copilot Chat or a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

What sets them apart at the office

The difference is less about the quality of the answers than about where you work: Copilot lives inside Microsoft’s apps, ChatGPT sits next to the ones you already have. Prices and plans come from Nova’s tool pages, checked on October 12, 2026 on the vendors’ pages.

Criterion	Copilot	ChatGPT
Without paying	The Copilot app: chat, images, files, and voice, with limits that depend on demand. At work, Copilot Chat is included in eligible Microsoft 365 subscriptions.	Writing is unlimited. Files, images, voice, and deep research have a limit. Ads may be shown.
Your emails, files, and meetings	With the Microsoft 365 Copilot license: it searches your emails, files, meetings, and Teams chats, and only shows what you can already open.	It does not read your company mailbox: you give it the file, or open it next to the document.
Inside Word, Excel, and PowerPoint	A Copilot button in each app, with Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, Premium, or the Microsoft 365 Copilot license.	A ChatGPT panel, on all plans (limited use on Free). In Excel: “Home” tab, “Add-ins” button.
Inside Outlook and Teams	It summarizes a thread and drafts a reply in Outlook. In Teams, it tells you what was decided, with the Microsoft 365 Copilot license or Teams Premium.	No button in Outlook or Teams. There is a ChatGPT app for Slack, from Plus up.
Recommended plan, for personal use	Microsoft 365 Personal, €10 per month or €99 per year, with Word, Excel, Outlook, and 1 TB of storage	Plus, $20 per month
For a team	Microsoft 365 Copilot Business, €15.60 excl. tax per user per month with a yearly commitment, for a small business already on Microsoft 365 Business	Business, $25 per user per month ($20 billed yearly), two people minimum
Handing over a complete job	Cowork chains the steps and asks for your approval before each action, with the license and pay-as-you-go billing turned on by your company	“Work” mode: a document, a spreadsheet, or a presentation, from Plus up

The Microsoft 365 Copilot Business price is a launch price valid until December 31, 2026, for the first year of the subscription only (usual price: €18.20 excl. tax); €21.84 excl. tax without a yearly commitment. These are Microsoft’s prices in France. OpenAI publishes its prices in dollars; on the French App Store, we recorded €22.99 per month for ChatGPT Plus. The exact price is shown at checkout.

Which one for which use at work

There is no winner in absolute terms. Look first at what your company already pays for, then at what you do most often.

Your company has the Microsoft 365 Copilot license: Copilot. It finds an email, summarizes a Teams meeting, and prepares a customer meeting from your past exchanges. ChatGPT sees none of that.
You only have Copilot Chat: start with it, it is already paid for. To have it read a document, attach it with the + button.
Your meetings happen in Teams: Copilot, as long as you turn on transcription. Without it, nothing is kept after the meeting.
Your company is not on Microsoft 365, or you want a complete deliverable (a committee deck, a report): ChatGPT, with “Work” mode, from Plus up.
For personal use, you already work in Word and Excel: Microsoft 365 Personal at €10 per month puts Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. If you mostly want an assistant to write and search, ChatGPT Plus at $20 per month.

The two work together: the ChatGPT add-in runs in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, even on the free plan. Is your company on Gmail and Google Docs instead? Read Gemini vs. ChatGPT.

The privacy setting to check in each one

With a personal account, both vendors may use your conversations to train their AI. With a work account, they do not by default. Check which one you are using on day one.

Copilot, work account: Microsoft states that your requests, the answers, and your work data are not used to train AI. Nothing to change.
Copilot, personal account: conversations are kept for 18 months by default. Profile icon, “Privacy,” then turn off the two training settings, text and voice.
ChatGPT, personal account: profile icon, “Settings,” “Data controls,” then turn off “Improve the model for everyone.”
ChatGPT Business and Enterprise: by default, OpenAI does not use your data to train its models.

At work, Microsoft says company data stays within the EU Data Boundary, except for web searches and, to date, the Anthropic models offered in Copilot.

These settings do not replace your company’s rule. Before you put a customer file into either one, read what not to share with AI at work.

The test to run before you pay

The free versions are enough to form an opinion. Take a real task from this week, and give it to both.

Choose a file with no sensitive data: a set of meeting notes, a sales export, a memo to rewrite.
Write a single prompt, with the reader, the expected result, and the format. See how to write a good prompt.
Send the same prompt and the same file to Copilot (with your work account if you have one) and to ChatGPT.
If you have the Microsoft 365 Copilot license, add a test only Copilot can run: “Summarize this week’s emails and meetings that involve me. List what people expect from me, with the deadlines.”
Keep the one that needs the fewest corrections. At work, ask your employer for the license rather than paying yourself.

For a spreadsheet, run the same test in Excel: a file saved to OneDrive, with AutoSave on, for Copilot; the ChatGPT add-in for the other. The guide AI for Excel has requests to try.

What Nova brings

Nova is subscription software that shows what these tools do in your job: executive assistant, accountant, team manager, or sales representative. You will find the up-to-date pages for Copilot and ChatGPT, with their check date, and demos to recreate step by step, prompt included. To go further: using Copilot at work and using ChatGPT at work. Try the interactive demo.

Frequently asked questions

Is Copilot the same as ChatGPT?

No. They are two products from two vendors: Copilot is made by Microsoft, ChatGPT by OpenAI. They do not have the same plans, the same settings, or the same access to your documents. Copilot works inside Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams; ChatGPT is a separate assistant that can also open inside Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Is Copilot free at work?

Copilot Chat is included at no extra cost in eligible Microsoft 365 subscriptions: you can chat and attach files. For it to read your emails, files, and meetings, you need the Microsoft 365 Copilot license, paid by your employer: €15.60 excl. tax per user per month for a small business in France, with a yearly commitment, price checked on October 12, 2026.

My company has Copilot: do I need ChatGPT?

Not to get started. If you have the Microsoft 365 Copilot license, it does what ChatGPT cannot: search your emails, files, and meetings. ChatGPT makes sense later for a specific need, such as “Work” mode, and on a Business plan if you put company data into it.

Can you use ChatGPT in Word and Excel?

Yes. Install the ChatGPT add-in; in Excel, it opens from the “Home” tab, “Add-ins” button. A panel opens next to the document. In a spreadsheet, it explains what it is doing and asks for your approval before making changes. It works on all plans, with limited use on Free.

Which one costs less?

Both have a free version. For personal use, Microsoft 365 Personal costs €10 per month in France and puts Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook; with OpenAI, Go costs $8 per month and Plus $20 per month. For a team: Microsoft 365 Copilot Business at €15.60 excl. tax per user per month, ChatGPT Business at $25 ($20 billed yearly). Prices checked on October 12, 2026.

Does Copilot read every file in the company?

No. With the Microsoft 365 Copilot license, it only shows what you already have access to: it will not open a file you cannot open. Without a license, the chat reads neither your emails nor your files: only the web and what you attach.

Sources

Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing for business (France, in French), Microsoft
Pricing for individuals (France, in French), Microsoft
Frequently asked questions about Copilot Chat, Microsoft, support
Copilot in Teams meetings (in French), Microsoft, support
Enterprise data protection (in French), Microsoft Learn
Copilot privacy controls (in French), Microsoft, support
ChatGPT pricing, OpenAI
ChatGPT for Excel and Google Sheets, OpenAI
ChatGPT for Word, OpenAI, help center
Data controls FAQ, OpenAI, help center

Copilot or ChatGPT: which one to choose for work?