Microsoft 365 Personal with Copilot: Is the Price Increase Worth It?

Microsoft 365 Personal with Copilot costs $99.99 a year or $9.99 a month in the US, up from $69.99 a year before Microsoft added Copilot AI to the plan in January 2025. It is worth the increase if you will use Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook regularly. If you mainly need the Office apps and 1 TB of OneDrive storage, a cheaper route usually makes more sense.

This guide sets out what changed, what Copilot in Personal actually includes, and the alternatives, with prices checked against Microsoft's own pages in October 2026. Prices differ by country, so treat the US figures as a guide to the size of the change.

What Was the Microsoft 365 Personal Price Increase?

On 16 January 2025 Microsoft announced that Copilot was being added to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family, along with the first consumer price rise in about 12 years. Existing subscribers moved to the new price at their next renewal.

The current figures come from Microsoft's Microsoft 365 plan comparison page. In plain terms, Personal now costs $30 a year more, a rise of roughly 43%, and the extra money pays for Copilot features you may or may not use.

What Does Copilot in Microsoft 365 Personal Include?

Personal includes Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote, plus a monthly allowance of AI credits for features such as image generation in Designer. It is the same app-based assistant that business users pay for separately, but with lower usage limits.

According to Microsoft's support page on AI credits and limits for Microsoft 365 subscriptions, Personal and Family each get 60 credits a month for image generation and editing, with daily caps on features such as voice and vision. Chat and drafting inside the apps are listed as "extensive use". In practice, Copilot can:

• Draft or rewrite a document in Word from a short prompt
• Summarise a long email thread in Outlook
• Suggest formulas, highlight trends and build charts in Excel
• Turn a Word document into a PowerPoint outline

Two limits matter. AI features belong to the subscription owner only and cannot be shared, which affects Family more than Personal. And advanced features such as the Researcher and Analyst agents are reserved for the higher Premium tier. If you are unsure how this differs from the free Copilot app or the business product, our guide to Copilot vs Microsoft 365 Copilot sets out each version side by side.

Is Microsoft 365 Personal with Copilot Worth It?

It is worth it if you write, analyse or present for a living and will use Copilot most weeks; it is poor value if you open Word a few times a month. The decision is less about Copilot quality and more about how often you would use it.

The cause and effect is worth spelling out. Because Copilot is bundled rather than optional, you pay for it whether you use it or not. Microsoft has added settings in Word, Excel and PowerPoint to turn Copilot off, but turning it off does not lower the price.

Microsoft 365 Basic vs Personal: What's the Difference?

Basic is a storage and email plan, while Personal is the full Office plan. Basic costs $19.99 a year and gives you 100 GB of OneDrive storage and ad-free Outlook, but Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote are limited to the free web and mobile versions, and Microsoft states that AI features are not available in Basic.

Personal adds the installable desktop apps on Windows and Mac, 1 TB of storage, sign-in on up to five devices at once, and Copilot. If you only need cloud storage and email, Basic covers it for a fifth of the price. If you need desktop Excel or Word, Basic is not a substitute.

Can You Still Get Microsoft 365 Personal Classic Without Copilot?

Only some existing subscribers can, and it is not sold to new customers. When Microsoft raised prices, it offered "Classic" versions of Personal and Family without Copilot at the old prices, for a limited time and through the cancellation flow rather than as a normal product.

1. Sign in at account.microsoft.com/services with the account that owns the subscription.
2. Go to Subscriptions and select Manage on your Microsoft 365 plan.
3. Select Cancel subscription.
4. If a Classic plan is offered to your account, choose it. The switch takes effect at your next renewal.

Microsoft has not published an end date for Classic plans, and it has not promised they will remain available, so the option may not appear for everyone. It only applies to subscriptions billed directly by Microsoft, not those bought through an app store or a retailer. Classic keeps the core apps and storage but excludes Copilot, and Microsoft may hold back some future features.

What Are the Alternatives to Paying for Copilot?

The main alternative is a one-time Office licence, which gives you the desktop apps for good with no Copilot and no annual fee. Office 2024 is supported until 9 October 2029, so it covers several years without another payment.

At the time of writing, our Office 2024 Professional Plus lifetime licence is $69.99, which is less than one year of Personal at the new price. You lose the 1 TB of OneDrive storage and the subscription's continuous feature updates, and the licence covers one PC. Our full comparison of Microsoft Office vs Microsoft 365 covers that trade-off, and our guide to Microsoft 365 Family explains when sharing one plan across a household works out cheaper per person.

A Common Mistake We See

Many people let their subscription renew at the higher price without checking what they actually use. Others cancel in a hurry, lose access to the desktop apps, and only then realise their files in OneDrive exceed the free 5 GB allowance, which stops new files syncing.

Before your renewal date, check how much OneDrive storage you use and whether you have opened Copilot in the last month. If storage is small and Copilot unused, a one-time licence plus the free 5 GB is often enough. If storage is large, keep a subscription and choose the tier that matches your AI use. Every key we sell comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee and lifetime replacement warranty, and our support team can help with activation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is Microsoft 365 Personal with Copilot?

In the US, Microsoft 365 Personal costs $99.99 a year or $9.99 a month, with Copilot included. Before January 2025 the same plan cost $69.99 a year or $6.99 a month without Copilot. Prices in the UK, Europe and other regions differ, so check Microsoft's local store page for your exact price.

Can I remove Copilot from Microsoft 365 Personal?

You can turn Copilot off inside Word, Excel and PowerPoint through each app's settings, but this does not reduce the price. To pay less, the only Microsoft option is a Classic plan, which appears for some existing subscribers in the cancellation flow and is not available to new customers.

Does Microsoft 365 Family share Copilot with every member?

No. Microsoft states that AI benefits in Family are available only to the subscription owner and cannot be shared. Other members still get the Office apps and their own share of the 2 TB storage, but not Copilot through the plan. Anyone else who wants Copilot needs their own plan.

Is Microsoft 365 Premium worth it over Personal?

Premium costs $199.99 a year in the US and adds much higher AI usage plus advanced features such as research and analysis agents, with Family-style sharing for up to six people. It suits heavy AI users. For occasional drafting and summaries, Personal's standard allowance is usually enough.

Does Office 2024 include Copilot?

No. Office 2024 is a one-time purchase with the desktop apps only. Copilot in Word, Excel and PowerPoint needs a Microsoft 365 subscription that includes it. You can still use the free Copilot app or website alongside Office 2024, but it does not work inside your documents the same way.

Will my price go up automatically at renewal?

Yes, if your plan renews automatically, it renews at the current price for that plan. Check account.microsoft.com/services before your renewal date to see the plan, price and date, and change or cancel there if you want a different option.

Conclusion

Microsoft 365 Personal with Copilot is good value only if Copilot becomes part of your weekly work; otherwise you are paying about $30 a year extra for features you will not use. Compare your storage needs and AI use before renewal, and consider Basic, Family or a one-time licence where they fit better. To compare subscription and account options, see our Microsoft 365 and Office 365 collection.

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