Copilot Pro - Concluding Thoughts (Part II)
Copilot Pro compared, and which is best for me?
Summing Up
In the previous post we looked at what Copilot Pro was and the capabilities it offered. Now, let’s compare it to other options and look at if it’s right for you.
Copilot Pro versus Copilot
| Copilot | Copilot Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Audience | Casual Consumer | “Prosumer” |
| Purpose | Generative AI | Premium Generative AI with Office application support |
| Per user cost | Free | £19/£20 per month |
| Models | GPT 3.5 (GPT 4.0 / GPT 4.0 Turbo off-peak) | GPT 3.5 / GPT 4.0 / GPT 4.0 Turbo |
| Account required | Microsoft personal account | Microsoft personal account |
| Supported Office applications | None | Outlook, OneDrive, OneNote, Word, Excel, PowerPoint |
| Prerequisites | None | Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription |
| Image Generation | DALL-E 3/ Designer – 15/day | DALLE 3 / Designer 100/day |
| Extension points | Find and use 3rd party plugins | Author plugins and use 3rd party plugins |
Copilot Pro versus other premium AI services
| ChatGPT Plus | Copilot Pro | Copilot for Microsoft 365 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audience | Power consumer user | Power consumer user | Organisational user |
| Purpose | Premium version of ChatGPT | Premium version of Copilot, with Office application support | Copilot fully integrated into work environment including office applications |
| Per user cost | $20 per month | £19/£20 per month in addition to Personal/Family Microsoft 365 license) | £24.70/$30 per month – annual commitment - in addition to Microsoft 365 license) |
| Models | GPT 3.5 / GPT 4.0 | GPT 3.5/ GPT 4.0 / GPT 4.0 Turbo | GPT 3.5/ GPT 4.0 / GPT 4.0 Turbo |
| Account required | Open AI account | Microsoft personal account | Microsoft business account |
| Supported Office applications | None – requires plugin | Outlook, OneDrive, OneNote, Word, Excel, PowerPoint | Outlook, OneDrive, OneNote, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams |
| Prerequisites | None | Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription | Microsoft 365 Business Standard / Microsoft 365 E3 or above |
| Image Generation | DALL-E-3 | DALL-E-3 / Designer | DALL-E-3 / Designer |
| Extension points | Author and find extensive library of 3rd party plugins | Author plugins and find more limited library of 3rd party plugins | Author and find curated corporate plugins |
Conclusion
If your generative AI needs are related to your work in an organisation, then Copilot for Microsoft 365 is aimed at you. It’s also the most expensive option here (although the work orientated version of ChatGPT, ChatGPT Enterprise is also expensive).
If you are paying for ChatGPT Plus and you are not using it in an organisational setting, and especially if you are using office applications like Word and Excel then Copilot Pro has more features for the same money, and would be my favoured choice. The style and output of ChatGPT Plus compared to Copilot Pro is often different for the same prompts, and which is better for a given use case is a matter of personal taste. I find myself trying both and comparing. I note that ChatGPT tends to like making lists, whereas Copilot Pro tends toward prose.
If you aren’t using generative AI to create content Microsoft 365 applications like Word, or if there’s a particular plugin that ChatGPT Plus has that’s essential you your workflow, then ChatGPT may suit you better.
If you are using ChatGPT Plus for work, that’s a whole different discussion around the data you are putting into the model, and who you are sharing that data with and what policies your organisation may have around this.