--- title: "What Microsoft Copilot Actually Is (and What It Is Not) | StartCloud" description: "Module 1 of our free Copilot Essentials pathway: the different Copilots untangled, what the paid licence actually buys, and how it uses your business data without leaking it." lang: en json-ld: | [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": [ "LocalBusiness", "ProfessionalService" ], "@id": "https://startcloud.au/#business", "name": "StartCloud", "legalName": "Start Technologies Pty Ltd", "alternateName": "StartCloud Australia", "identifier": { "@type": "PropertyValue", "propertyID": "ABN", "value": "17 676 121 449" }, "slogan": "Go Beyond", "description": "StartCloud is Perth's cybersecurity-first AI MSP: managed IT, Essential Eight security, Microsoft 365 and cloud, networking, and practical AI for Australian businesses with 5 to 50 staff.", "url": "https://startcloud.au", "logo": "https://startcloud.au/og-image.png", "image": "https://startcloud.au/og-image.png", "telephone": 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"https://www.google.com/maps/place/StartCloud/@-31.8648767,115.8069889,739m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x2a32a5b5d9e864b5:0x9f02690968f0e50c!8m2!3d-31.8648813!4d115.8095638!16s%2Fg%2F11vzbgtytj" ] }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "LearningResource", "name": "What Microsoft Copilot Actually Is (and What It Is Not)", "description": "Module 1 of the Copilot Essentials pathway: the different Copilots untangled, what the paid licence actually buys, how it protects your business data, and who actually needs it.", "educationalLevel": "Beginner", "learningResourceType": "Module", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Course", "name": "Copilot Essentials", "url": "https://startcloud.au/learn/copilot-essentials", "provider": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "StartCloud", "url": "https://startcloud.au" } }, "author": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "StartCloud", "url": "https://startcloud.au" }, "datePublished": "2026-07-23", "dateModified": "2026-07-23", "url": "https://startcloud.au/learn/what-is-microsoft-copilot" } ] --- [![StartCloud](/assets/StartCloud-Logo-ByZE1kzP.svg "StartCloud: Cybersecurity-First Managed IT Services Perth")](/ "StartCloud | Managed IT Services Perth") - Cybersecurity - AI Solutions - Cloud - Technology - Networking - Explore [Contact Us](/contact "Contact StartCloud, Perth IT Support") Open menu Module 1 of StartCloud's Copilot Essentials learning pathway, in six short units with a knowledge check: the Copilot family untangled, what the paid licence buys (grounding in your business data via Microsoft Graph), how data protection works, what Copilot is not, and whether your business needs the licence. Course contents [Pathway overview](/learn/copilot-essentials) Pathway Copilot Essentials 0 of 6 units done in this module 1. What Copilot actually is 1. One name, several products 2 min 2. What the paid licence actually buys 2 min 3. Where your data goes (and does not go) 2 min 4. What Copilot is not 2 min 5. Do you need the licence? 2 min 6. Knowledge check 2 min 2. [Prompts that work ](/learn/copilot-prompts-that-work) 3. [Copilot in everyday apps ](/learn/copilot-in-everyday-apps) 4. [Get your data ready ](/learn/get-your-data-ready-for-copilot) 5. [Roll it out well ](/learn/copilot-rollout-without-eye-rolls) 6. [Chat or paid licence ](/learn/copilot-chat-vs-paid-licence) 7. [Is it worth it? ](/learn/is-copilot-worth-the-licence) 8. [Agents and Studio ](/learn/copilot-agents-explained) # What Microsoft Copilot Actually Is (and What It Is Not) Module 1 · Start here Unit 1 of 6 · about 2 min ## One name, several products Microsoft has a naming habit. Somewhere along the way, nearly every AI feature it ships got called Copilot, and small business owners have been squinting at licence quotes ever since. The good news is that once you separate three things, the whole picture snaps into focus. There is the **paid add-on** that works inside your Office apps using your business data, the **included chat** that comes free with your Microsoft 365 business plan, and the **consumer versions** baked into Windows and Edge. Same name, very different animals. The paid add-on ### Microsoft 365 Copilot The one people usually mean when they say "we're getting Copilot". A paid add-on licence, per user, that puts AI inside Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint and friends, grounded in your business data. Draft a document in Word, summarise a meeting in Teams, catch up on an email thread in Outlook. - Lives inside the Microsoft 365 apps you already use - Grounded in your emails, files, meetings and chats - Only surfaces what you already have permission to open - Needs an eligible Microsoft 365 base plan first Requires: a paid add-on licence per user Included with your plan ### Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat A secure AI chat that comes with eligible Microsoft 365 business plans at no extra cost. It answers from the web rather than your files, but it runs with enterprise data protection, so your prompts stay private and are not used to train the models. You can paste in or upload a document when you want it to work on something specific. - Included with Microsoft 365 business plans, no add-on needed - Answers grounded in the web, not your tenant data - Enterprise data protection on every prompt and response - A genuinely good free starting point before buying anything Requires: just your existing Microsoft 365 plan Everything else ### Copilot in Windows, Edge, and the consumer app The Copilot button on a Windows keyboard, the sidebar in Edge, and the free Microsoft Copilot app people use with a personal account. Handy for personal life, but these are consumer products. Signed in with a personal account, they carry none of your business protections, which is exactly the same problem as staff pasting work data into any public chatbot. - Personal-account Copilot is a consumer product - No connection to your business data or its protections - Fine at home, not the place for client information - Work AI belongs behind a work sign-in Requires: nothing, and that is rather the point How is this different from ChatGPT? Under the bonnet they are close cousins, built on the same kind of large language models. The difference is where they live and what they can see. A consumer chatbot knows nothing about your business unless someone pastes it in, at which point it has left the building. Microsoft 365 Copilot works inside your tenant, with your permissions, under your existing Microsoft 365 privacy commitments. 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