Is The New Microsoft 365 Premium Worth It? Here's How It Compares To Copilot Pro

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The caller Microsoft 365 Premium adds nan afloat powerfulness of Copilot.
• The Premium subscription costs $200 a twelvemonth aliases $20 a month.
• You get extended but not unlimited usage of astir Copilot features.

Microsoft 365 users who trust connected Copilot for thief pinch their documents, spreadsheets, and different files whitethorn want to cheque retired a caller scheme that's steeped successful AI. Announced connected Wednesday, Microsoft 365 Premium is nan company's latest subscription offering and 1 that adds a big of AI capabilities to Word, Excel, and nan remainder of nan Office suite.

Priced astatine $200 per twelvemonth (or $20 per month), Microsoft 365 Premium is akin to Microsoft 365 Family, which costs $130 a twelvemonth (or $13 per month).

Aimed astatine 1 to six people, some see Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access, Outlook, and different programs. Both connection each personification 1TB of OneDrive storage. Both service up entree to Copilot truthful you tin usage nan AI to generate, revise, aliases summarize contented crossed nan different applications. But wherever nan Family version limits your usage of Copilot, nan Premium spirit expands it to an nth degree.

Also: Microsoft conscionable added AI agents to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint - really to usage them

Beyond utilizing Copilot successful Word, Excel, and nan different Office apps, Premium subscribers get entree to Copilot Chat, which lets you converse pinch nan AI straight successful immoderate application. You'll beryllium capable to usage Researcher and Analyst, 2 AI agents now disposable to commercialized subscribers and coming soon to Word, PowerPoint, and Excel for individual users. Also connected pat are Office Agent and Agent Mode, agentic features that will make contented based connected your matter descriptions.

Next up, Premium users tin make images utilizing GPT-4o and speak pinch nan AI via Copilot Voice (coming soon). These 2 options are accessible successful nan Microsoft 365 Copilot app arsenic good arsenic successful Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook. Further, nan Copilot app will connection entree to several different features, including Deep Research mode, Copilot Vision, AI-generated podcasts, Actions, and nan caller Photos Agent.

What happens to Copilot Pro?

With each these Copilot features built into Microsoft 365 Premium, what does that mean for Copilot Pro? It intends nan Pro type is nary more. By fundamentally bundling Copilot Pro into Microsoft 365, there's nary further request for it arsenic a abstracted app. With nan now-retired Copilot Pro and Premium, some priced astatine $20 per month, nan costs is nan same.

Does this mean that each nan capabilities of Copilot Pro are now successful Microsoft 365 Premium? Hmm, not quite. One of nan advantages of a Copilot Pro subscription was that you enjoyed an unlimited number of AI credits to usage crossed nan Office suite and specified Windows apps arsenic Notepad, Photos, and Paint.

With nan Family (and Personal) versions of Microsoft 365, you're fixed 60 AI credits each month. Run retired of credits, and you'll person to hold until nan adjacent period to resume immoderate AI-powered tasks. The Premium version seems to dispense pinch that limitation, but there's nary mention of unlimited credits.

Instead, Microsoft promises only that Premium subscribers will get "extensive use" aliases "extensive usage beyond modular in installments limits" for definite cardinal features and circumstantial limits connected clip aliases monthly usage for different features. If you're expecting unlimited Copilot usage pinch a Premium plan, you're apt to beryllium disappointed. Microsoft's support page connected "AI credits and limits for Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, and Premium" breaks down nan vague details.

Also: Microsoft Copilot now offers Claude models - really to effort them

"You whitethorn beryllium capable to usage immoderate features much often successful nan Microsoft Copilot app, specified arsenic Voice," Microsoft says connected nan page. "These limits whitethorn alteration based connected nan feature, introduction point, and strategy conditions. Limits whitethorn besides alteration complete clip arsenic caller AI models go available."

Who gets entree to Copilot?

Here's different barrier. With Microsoft 365 Family, only nan relationship proprietor gets entree to Copilot. The different family members aliases users are excluded. That regularisation besides applies to nan Premium version. So if you ammunition retired nan money for this caller subscription, cognize that you won't beryllium capable to stock nan AI benefits pinch immoderate different group connected nan plan.

As for me, I'm not a large instrumentality of Copilot successful Microsoft Office (oops, I mean Microsoft 365). As a writer, I don't want an AI generating contented for me. And I don't usage Excel aliases PowerPoint successful ways that I request AI-powered assistance. For that reason, I disabled Copilot crossed nan different Office applications truthful that it's not staring maine successful nan face.

Of course, your mileage whitethorn vary. If you already person a Microsoft 365 Family aliases Personal plan, you whitethorn find chopped benefits to utilizing AI crossed Word, Excel, and nan different programs. The determination past is whether to instrumentality pinch your existent subscription aliases move to nan caller Premium variant.

If you're connected nan obstruction here, you whitethorn beryllium capable to try Microsoft 365 Premium freely for a month. During that time, you'll want to usage Copilot arsenic overmuch arsenic possible, not conscionable to trial nan AI but to spot if you bump into immoderate limits aliases restrictions.

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