Microsoft Copilot Types Explained (2026): M365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, GitHub Copilot and More

Last updated: July 2026. Written and fact-checked by the Examinotion team against Microsoft Learn and official Microsoft product documentation.

TL;DR Microsoft uses the "Copilot" name for several separate products. Microsoft 365 Copilot is the paid work assistant, Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is its free web-grounded tier, Copilot Studio builds agents, GitHub Copilot writes code, and Microsoft Copilot is the personal app. Each maps to a different Microsoft certification.

If you have ever tried to work out whether "Copilot" means the chatbot in your browser, the assistant in Word, the tool your developers use, or the platform your admin team is deploying, you are not alone. Microsoft has attached the Copilot brand to a whole family of products that differ in price, purpose, sign-in type, and the certification that validates your skills with them. This guide maps every major Microsoft Copilot type in 2026 and tells you which exam covers each one.

Two facts make this the right moment for a clear map. First, Microsoft formally split the work and personal Copilot experiences into separate products in January 2025, so they no longer share a single identity [1]. Second, Microsoft reported more than 20 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats on its Q3 FY2026 earnings call in April 2026, which means more professionals than ever now need to tell these products apart [2].

The quick answer: one brand, several products

Microsoft Copilot is a brand, not a single product. Underneath the brand sit distinct tools with their own licences, pricing, and administration. The table below is the fastest way to orient yourself before the detailed sections that follow.

Every certification listed above sits in Examinotion's catalogue except AB-620, which Microsoft offers but Examinotion does not yet sell prep for. You can compare the exams we do cover on the Microsoft exams hub.

Microsoft 365 Copilot: the paid work assistant

Microsoft 365 Copilot is the paid, enterprise-grade assistant built into the Microsoft 365 apps you already use, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. Its defining feature is grounding: it reasons over your own work content, your files, emails, meetings and chats, through Microsoft Graph, rather than answering only from the public web [3].

Because it reaches into organisational data, Microsoft 365 Copilot is an add-on, not a standalone product. It sits on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 Business or Enterprise plan. The enterprise add-on is priced at 30 US dollars per user per month on an annual commitment, and prices vary by region and plan [4]. Microsoft also runs periodic packaging and pricing updates, so always confirm the current figure on the official pricing page before you budget.

Microsoft 365 Copilot is the product at the centre of two Examinotion exams. The AB-730 AI Business Professional certification validates everyday productive use of Microsoft 365 Copilot, and the AB-731 AI Transformation Leader certification covers leading AI adoption across an organisation. If you want to understand how the grounding actually works before you sit either exam, our guide to how Microsoft 365 Copilot works breaks down the Semantic Index and Microsoft Graph.

Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat: the free, web-grounded tier

Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is the free chat tier included at no extra cost with a long list of Microsoft 365 and Office 365 plans, from Business Basic upward through E3 and E5 [3]. It is the product many organisations reach for first, because it needs no additional Copilot licence.

The important distinction is grounding. Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is grounded in the web by default and protects your prompts with enterprise data protection, but it does not automatically reason over your files and emails the way the paid Microsoft 365 Copilot does [1]. Users can still bring their own content into a chat by pasting or uploading it, and Copilot Chat supports Copilot Pages, image generation, and pay-as-you-go metered agents.

If you have seen the name "Business Chat" in older documentation, that branding is now obsolete. The free tier is officially called Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, and the prompt-starter library once called "Copilot Lab" is now the Copilot Prompt Gallery [5]. Knowing the current names matters for exam candidates, because AB-730 and the AB-900 Copilot and Agent Administration Fundamentals exams both use Microsoft's current terminology.

Copilot Studio: the platform for building agents

Copilot Studio is where the distinction between using Copilot and building with Copilot becomes clear. It is a low-code, natural-language platform for creating, connecting and publishing AI agents, which are assistants configured with their own knowledge, tools and limits [6]. An agent you build in Copilot Studio can then appear inside Copilot Chat, Teams, a website, or another channel.

Licensing follows the same use-versus-build logic. Building internal agents is included, unmetered, for organisations that already hold Microsoft 365 Copilot licences. Standalone use requires an Azure subscription and runs on Copilot Credits, which start at 200 US dollars per month for a block of credits, or on pure pay-as-you-go metering [6].

Copilot Studio is the tool behind two agent-focused certifications. Microsoft's AB-620 AI Agent Builder Associate exam is built around Copilot Studio and Microsoft Foundry, and the advanced AB-100 Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect certification covers architecting enterprise agentic solutions. Note that Examinotion does not currently sell AB-620 prep, though our AB-620 exam guide explains the certification. If you are weighing Copilot Studio against Microsoft's developer platform, our comparison of Copilot Studio versus Azure AI Foundry covers when to use each.

One naming change is worth flagging for anyone studying in 2026. Azure AI Foundry was renamed Microsoft Foundry, effective from the start of 2026, and the current AB-620 and AI-103 skills outlines both use the new name [7]. Training material and older blogs that still say "Azure AI Foundry" are out of date on this point.

Microsoft Copilot: the personal, consumer assistant

Microsoft Copilot, reached at copilot.microsoft.com, is the free personal assistant for individuals. It signs in with a personal Microsoft Account rather than a work or school account, and since January 2025 it has been an officially separate product line from the Microsoft 365 Copilot family used at work [1].

This split is the single most common source of confusion, because the two experiences look similar but are governed differently. The work Copilot uses your Microsoft Entra identity and enterprise data protection, while the personal Copilot uses a consumer account and consumer terms. If your Copilot at home looks different from your Copilot at the office, that is by design, not a bug.

No Microsoft certification targets the consumer Copilot directly. It is a productivity tool for individuals, not an enterprise product with an administration surface, so it does not appear in the exam catalogue. It is still useful context for candidates, because knowing that a personal-account Copilot is out of scope helps you focus your study on the work products that the exams actually assess.

GitHub Copilot: the developer's coding assistant

GitHub Copilot is a different product from a different part of Microsoft, aimed squarely at software developers. It provides code completion, chat, code review and autonomous coding agents inside integrated development environments and on GitHub itself [8]. It shares the Copilot brand and design language, but it is licensed, priced and administered completely separately from Microsoft 365 Copilot.

GitHub Copilot uses its own tiered pricing rather than the Microsoft 365 model. The table below shows the individual and organisation plans as published by GitHub.

Prices are current as published by GitHub and vary by region [8]. GitHub Copilot is not the subject of a dedicated Microsoft certification, but it is adjacent to the AI-103 Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer track, because developers building AI applications on Azure often use GitHub Copilot as their coding assistant. The two are complementary skills rather than the same thing.

Microsoft Security Copilot: the SecOps specialist

Microsoft Security Copilot is a specialist assistant for security operations, usable on its own or embedded inside Microsoft Defender, Entra, Intune and Purview [9]. It helps analysts investigate incidents, summarise threats and speed up routine security tasks.

Its pricing model is unusual and worth understanding, because it is metered in Security Compute Units rather than per user. Provisioned capacity is billed at 4 US dollars per Security Compute Unit per hour, with a minimum of one unit, and on-demand overage is billed at 6 US dollars per unit [9]. Eligible Microsoft 365 E5 customers receive an allocation of units at no extra cost.

Security Copilot does not map to the AI certifications Examinotion covers, which focus on business Copilot use, agent building and Azure AI development. It belongs to Microsoft's security certification track instead. We mention it here so the picture is complete, because candidates researching "Copilot certifications" often stumble across Security Copilot and wonder where it fits.

Role and scenario Copilots: Copilot inside other Microsoft products

Beyond the major products, Microsoft embeds Copilot into many individual applications. These are features within a host product rather than standalone Copilots you license separately. Recognising them prevents the mistake of thinking each one needs its own certification.

The most commonly encountered role Copilots include Copilot in Dynamics 365 Sales and Customer Service, Copilot in the Power Platform across Power Apps and Power Automate, Copilot in Power BI for analysing reports and semantic models, and Copilot in Azure for designing and troubleshooting Azure resources [10]. Copilot in Azure is free of charge and answers natural-language questions about your Azure environment.

None of these scenario Copilots has a dedicated exam of its own. Skills with them are folded into the broader product certifications, or into the agent-building and Azure AI exams where relevant. For most candidates, the practical takeaway is that mastering the core products, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio and Azure AI, covers the concepts these embedded Copilots share.

Which certification covers which Copilot?

Once you can name the products, the certification map becomes straightforward. The table below matches the Copilot skill you want to prove to the exam that validates it. Every title is taken from the current Microsoft Learn certification pages.

Two retirement notes matter for planning. AI-900 and AI-102 both retired on 30 June 2026, and their successors are AI-901 and AI-103 respectively [11]. If you are choosing between the Azure tracks, our comparison of AI-901 versus AI-103 helps you pick, and our AI-102 to AI-103 successor path explains what changed. Still unsure where to start? Our role-based decision guide walks you through it.

An honest word on difficulty

The Copilot family spans a wide difficulty range, and it is worth being honest about it. The Beginner and Fundamentals exams, AB-730, AB-731, AB-900 and AI-901, are approachable for motivated candidates with structured preparation, though "Fundamentals" does not mean trivial. The Associate and Advanced exams, AB-620, AI-103 and AB-100, are genuinely demanding and assume hands-on experience with Copilot Studio, Microsoft Foundry and, for AI-103, coding in a language such as Python.

Choosing the right exam for your Copilot product is therefore as much about your role as your ambition. Match the exam to the product you actually use, and you give yourself the best chance of passing first time.

Frequently asked questions

Is GitHub Copilot the same as Microsoft Copilot?

No. GitHub Copilot is a coding assistant for software developers inside development tools and GitHub, priced from free to 100 US dollars per month for individuals. Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot are general productivity assistants. They share the Copilot brand but are separate products with different licensing and administration.

Do I need a licence for Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat?

No dedicated Copilot licence is required. Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is included free with many existing Microsoft 365 and Office 365 plans, from Business Basic upward, including E3 and E5. The paid Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on is only needed to unlock grounding in your own files and emails plus priority access to compute.

What is the difference between Copilot and Copilot Studio?

Copilot, in any flavour, is something you use, a chat assistant that answers questions and helps with tasks. Copilot Studio is something you build with, a low-code platform for creating your own AI agents. An agent built in Copilot Studio can then appear inside Copilot Chat, Teams or a website for other people to use.

Why does my personal Copilot look different from my work Copilot?

Because since January 2025 they are officially different products. The work experience, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat, signs in with a Microsoft Entra work account and enterprise data protection. The personal Microsoft Copilot signs in with a consumer Microsoft Account. Different identities and different terms produce the different experiences you see.

Which Microsoft certification should I take for Copilot?

It depends on your role. For everyday Microsoft 365 Copilot use, take AB-730. To lead AI adoption, take AB-731. To administer Copilot and agents, take AB-900. To build agents in Copilot Studio, take AB-620, and to develop Azure AI apps in code, take AI-103. Compare them all on the Examinotion hub.

Is Microsoft Foundry the same as Azure AI Foundry?

Yes. Azure AI Foundry was renamed Microsoft Foundry, effective from the start of 2026. It is the same developer platform under a new name. The current AI-103 and AB-620 skills outlines both use "Microsoft Foundry", so treat any material that still says "Azure AI Foundry" as out of date on the name.

Conclusion

The Microsoft Copilot family is far less confusing once you separate the brand from the products. Microsoft 365 Copilot and its free Copilot Chat tier are for productive work, Copilot Studio is for building agents, GitHub Copilot is for developers, Security Copilot is for SecOps, and the consumer Microsoft Copilot is for personal use. Each professional product has a certification that proves your skills with it.

The next step is to match your role to the right exam. Browse and compare every certification Examinotion prepares you for on the Microsoft exams hub, then start practising for the Copilot product you use most.

Sources

1. Manage Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat — Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-07-24
2. Microsoft FY2026 Q3 earnings — Microsoft Investor Relations, accessed 2026-07-24
3. Overview of Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat — Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-07-24
4. Microsoft 365 Copilot plans and pricing — Microsoft, accessed 2026-07-24
5. Understand Prompt Gallery in Copilot — Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-07-24
6. Microsoft Copilot Studio — Microsoft, accessed 2026-07-24
7. Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate (AI-103) — Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-07-24
8. GitHub Copilot plans — GitHub Docs, accessed 2026-07-24
9. Microsoft Security Copilot pricing — Microsoft, accessed 2026-07-24
10. Copilots and generative AI in Power Platform — Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-07-24
11. AI-102 retires on 30 June 2026 — Microsoft Learn Q&A, accessed 2026-07-24
12. Microsoft Certified: AI Business Professional (AB-730) — Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-07-24
13. Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals (AI-901) — Microsoft Learn, accessed 2026-07-24