Microsoft Copilot Alternatives in 2026: Which Copilot Are You Leaving?

Microsoft Copilot is one name on several products with different prices and very different reach, so the right alternative depends on which one you have. A company paying $30 a seat faces a different decision than someone on the free app or a Microsoft 365 Personal plan. Some people can get what they want from a cheaper Copilot. Others need a different assistant, or only a replacement for one job Copilot was doing.

Which Microsoft Copilot do you have?

Microsoft Copilot comes in three broad forms: a free app, personal Microsoft 365 plans that include it, and work plans bought per user. Prices below are as Microsoft lists them on its individual plans page, business pricing page and enterprise page.

Seat price may not be the whole bill. Microsoft's business pricing page says everyday AI is included with the license, while Copilot Cowork, Autopilot and Work IQ APIs are usage-based and billed separately.

What Microsoft Copilot does well

Microsoft Copilot's strength is the work data already sitting in Microsoft 365. With a paid license, Microsoft's overview says Copilot can reason across emails, meetings, calendars, chats, documents, sites and files the user has permission to see. An outside assistant can reach some of that through a connector. Copilot starts there.

Copilot also keeps to the controls a company has already set. The same overview says it respects Microsoft 365 permissions, retention policies and sensitivity labels. Microsoft's enterprise data protection page says prompts, responses and the Microsoft Graph data Copilot reads aren't used to train foundation models. Microsoft makes the same training commitment for Copilot in its apps on home plans.

It's less walled in than its reputation, too. Personal Microsoft 365 plans can connect Copilot to Gmail, Google Calendar, Contacts and Google Drive from Copilot.com and the mobile apps. Microsoft's download page offers the app for Windows, Mac (it needs macOS 14 Sonoma), iOS and Android, with web chat on Linux.

A team that spends its day in Outlook, Teams, Word and Excel, with an IT department that wants AI under one vendor's controls, is probably better off with Microsoft 365 Copilot than with the other options here, Merlin included.

Common reasons to want a Microsoft Copilot alternative

People usually leave Microsoft Copilot over cost, a mismatch with where their work lives, or how the personal app handles data. Here's how each reason looks against Microsoft's own documentation:

• The seat price. At the enterprise rate, $30 a user a month sits on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan, whether or not each person uses Copilot's work-data features.
• A company on Google. Copilot's work grounding is built on Microsoft 365 content, so a company whose mail and files sit in Google Workspace would pay for reach it mostly doesn't use.
• Meetings outside Teams. Microsoft's recap page describes AI notes for Teams events, which need Teams Premium or a Copilot license, and the event must be transcribed. Calls on Zoom or Google Meet call for a tool built to capture any meeting app.
• Data use in the personal app. Microsoft's privacy FAQ says it uses Copilot data, including conversations, for AI training unless you opt out or fall into an excluded group, such as work accounts. Its controls page says opting out doesn't stop other uses such as advertising and safety. Microsoft's opt-out steps were written for the older app; an updated app arrived on August 18, 2026, so check the setting in the version you have.
• Preference. Some people simply work better in another assistant. Before leaving for that reason alone, note that Microsoft's business plans list a choice of language models.

The cheapest alternative may be a smaller Copilot

Copilot Chat is worth testing before replacing a paid Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Chat comes at no additional cost with an eligible Microsoft 365 subscription, and in Outlook it still works without the add-on: Microsoft's Outlook guide, which covers Outlook for Microsoft 365 on Windows and Mac and new Outlook for Windows, says it handles your inbox, calendar, meetings and other limited data once you sign in with your work or school login.

Dropping the license costs you three things, according to Microsoft's comparison:

• Work data outside Outlook. Reasoning over work content narrows to files you upload, instead of meetings, emails, chats and files together.
• Advanced agents. Researcher, Analyst and custom agents move out of reach, and agent access in general is limited.
• Priority. You get standard access to models, which depends on service capacity, instead of priority access.

Word and Excel depend on the label shown in your apps. Microsoft's overview says "Microsoft 365 Copilot (Basic)" keeps standard access in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, and "Copilot Chat (Basic)" doesn't. Look at that label before you decide.

The same logic works at home. If you pay $19.99 a month for Premium and don't need its extra usage or agentic AI (Copilot carrying out multi-step tasks for you), Microsoft 365 Personal at $9.99 or the free app may cover you.

Five alternatives, and what each one replaces

Google Gemini: for a company on Google Workspace

Google Gemini is the nearest counterpart to Microsoft 365 Copilot, except inside Google's apps. Google Workspace's pricing page lists the Gemini assistant in Gmail on Business Starter, then adds Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, Meet and Chat from Business Standard, with prices shown for your region. Google's help page describes Gemini summarizing threads, drafting email, proposing meeting times from Google Calendar and organizing mail in bulk after you confirm each action. Personal accounts need an eligible Google AI plan or a place in Google's testing program.

Picking Gemini really means picking Google's apps. If your mail is staying in Outlook, the next two fit better. Our guide to Gemini for Google Workspace goes through the plans.

ChatGPT: one assistant across Microsoft and Google tools

ChatGPT suits someone who wants a separate assistant that can still reach their work apps. ChatGPT Work's featured plugins include Outlook Email, Teams, SharePoint, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive and Slack. OpenAI's inbox guide says ChatGPT prepares replies without sending them and leaves mail where it is until you approve archiving or moving it. Available actions vary by plugin and workspace settings, so on a company account ask your admin first.

OpenAI's pricing page lists Free, Go for $8 a month, Plus for $20 and Pro from $100. Business is $20 a user a month billed annually with two or more users, or $25 billed monthly. For a head-to-head with Google's assistant, see Gemini vs. ChatGPT.

Claude: another assistant while staying in Office

Claude fits a Microsoft 365 company that wants a different assistant without leaving Office. Claude for Microsoft 365 runs in Excel, PowerPoint and Word on all paid plans, with Outlook in beta. Its Microsoft 365 connector searches SharePoint and OneDrive files, Outlook mail and calendar, and the Teams chats you're part of, within your own permissions.

The connector has real requirements. It needs a work account on a Microsoft Entra tenant, so @outlook.com and @hotmail.com addresses don't work, and a Global Administrator must grant consent once. It's read-only unless an admin turns on write actions. Claude's pricing page lists Free, Pro at $17 a month with $200 paid up front or $20 monthly, and Team standard seats at $20 a seat billed annually or $25 monthly.

Granola: if meeting notes were the point

Granola replaces only the meeting part of Copilot, and it isn't tied to Teams. Granola's homepage says it handles Zoom, Google Meet, Teams and every other meeting app by listening to your computer's audio, so no bot joins the call, and it's available on macOS, Windows, iOS and Android. Its pricing page lists Basic at $0 with history capped at 30 days, Business at $14 a user a month and Enterprise at $35.

Granola won't stand in for Copilot inside Word or Excel. If notes are the only thing you need, our note taker comparison and Granola alternatives page cover the wider field.

Merlin: for one person with a Gmail inbox and a Mac

We make Merlin, so weigh this section knowing that, and start with its limits. Merlin is Mac-only and asks for Gmail and Google Calendar during setup, and its mail and calendar connections are Google only. There's no Windows version and no Outlook support, and it can't offer Copilot's reach across Microsoft 365 content. If that's where your work lives, Merlin is the wrong tool.

Where Merlin differs is follow-through for someone whose life runs on Google. The People panel lists people whose direct emails to you are 2 to 30 days old and unanswered, with pitches and receipts left out. In chat, Merlin shows a card before any send or calendar change, and it acts only after you confirm. Browser tasks handle errands on websites and pause before paying. Meetings captures calls from your Mac, with transcripts on paid plans, and ⌥Space opens Merlin over whatever app you're in.

One thing works differently: a routine is a job that fires with nobody watching, so if you've given one Slack access, its messages go out without a card. Merlin's pricing page lists Free with 5,000 monthly credits and Pro for $29 monthly with 25,000 credits, 20% less on annual billing. A bigger job draws more credits than a small one, so the monthly figure isn't a count of tasks. Free connects two Google accounts and paid plans up to five.

Microsoft Copilot next to the five alternatives

How to choose a Microsoft Copilot alternative

Go through these questions in order. Your first yes is your answer.

1. Do people use Copilot across mail, meetings and files every week? Keep Microsoft 365 Copilot, and buy it only for those people.
2. Do you have a work or school account, and is chat plus Outlook enough? Move to Copilot Chat and pay nothing extra.
3. Does your company run on Google Workspace? Use Gemini.
4. Are you staying on Microsoft 365 but want a different assistant? Claude if you want it inside Excel and Word and your admin will consent; ChatGPT if your tools span Microsoft and Google.
5. Were meeting notes the main use? Use Granola, particularly when calls happen outside Teams.
6. Are you one person on Gmail and a Mac? Try Merlin, or stay on Copilot with Gmail connected if you'd rather not add another app.
7. Are you on a personal plan and uneasy about how your chats are used? Look for the training setting in your Copilot app first. If you still want to leave, try ChatGPT or Claude, and check the training setting there too.

Before you cancel Microsoft Copilot

Run a replacement alongside Microsoft Copilot on real work before giving up the license, so any gap shows up while you can still go back.

1. List the Copilot features each person actually opens.
2. Check the label shown in your apps, so you know what stepping down would remove. If you see no "(Basic)" label, ask your admin which version you'd drop to.
3. Ask your admin about consent early if the replacement connects to Microsoft 365. Claude's connector can't start without it.
4. If you're on Business and leaning toward staying, note that the $18 promotional price ends December 31, 2026.