Microsoft has launched Copilot Pro, a $20/month service that integrates GPT-4 Turbo into several Microsoft Office 365 applications.
Microsoft’s Bing Chat, now rebranded as Copilot, gives users a taste of GPT-4’s power without having to pay for a ChatGPT Plus subscription. The free chatbot interface allows users to experience similar functionality that OpenAI charges $20/month for on its ChatGPT Plus plan.
The 4,000-character limit on Copilot and sluggish response speed make many users prefer ChatGPT Plus despite the monthly cost. With the launch of Microsoft Pro, ChatGPT Plus may be about to lose paying subscribers.
Copilot vs Copilot Pro vs ChatGPT Plus
The big advantage of Copilot Pro is that it takes Copilot functionality beyond the chatbot interface and integrates it with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote.
If you want to summarize a document, compile an email, or get help with a pivot table, there’s no longer a need to copy and paste between the chatbot and your Microsoft 365 application.
Copilot Pro can generate an entire PowerPoint slide deck or analyze data and draw graphs in Excel.
Pro users also get priority access to GPT-4 Turbo, while free users only get access during off-peak times.
Pro users also get 100 daily boost credits compared to the 15 that free users get. Boost credits jump you to the front of the compute resource queue when you’re in a hurry for an image to be generated.
Pro users can also create Copilot GPTs, essentially the same as OpenAI’s GPTs but accessible in your Microsoft 365 applications.
If you’re already paying for a Microsoft 365 subscription, then the extra $20/month may be a productivity boost worth paying for. Users who sign up for Copilot Pro will find it hard to justify keeping their ChatGPT Plus subscription.
Copilot for Microsoft 365
Microsoft also announced that Copilot for Microsoft 365 is now available to consumers and small businesses. Previously the tool was only made available to enterprises at a $30/month license fee and a 300-seat minimum signup.
For the extra $10 users get additional features that are not available in the Copilot Pro plans. You get a real-time intelligent office assistant that works across all of your organization’s data.
It can also join and summarize Teams meetings, which is not an option on the Pro plan. If you want an AI office assistant that has full knowledge and an overview of all of your interactions using Microsoft 365 apps then the extra $10 may be worth it.
You could ask Microsoft 365 to make a summary of action items mentioned in a Teams meeting and email it to your team along with the latest stats from an Excel file. Copilot Pro is less integrated and offers functionality within individual apps, rather than across them.
Microsoft is OpenAI’s biggest investor and the companies claim that they are partners, not direct competitors. This latest move by Microsoft may well end up stealing paying customers from OpenAI though.
If OpenAI releases GPT-5, then it may give ChatGPT Plus subscribers a good reason to stick around.
