Microsoft Copilot Available Models: Supported Models, Version Differences, Capability Comparison, and Access Requirements
- Michele Stefanelli
- 47 minutes ago
- 7 min read
Microsoft Copilot now exists as a complex ecosystem of assistants, agents, and orchestration tools spread across consumer, enterprise, developer, and productivity platforms, and understanding which underlying AI models are actually available in each context requires navigating not only product names but also plan tiers, access requirements, and even region or admin settings.
The Copilot brand covers everything from public chatbots and web-grounded assistants to the tightly integrated Microsoft 365 Copilot for business data, custom agent builders in Copilot Studio, and multi-provider code generation in GitHub Copilot, each offering a distinctive palette of models, context sizes, and reasoning capabilities.
This diversity means that “what model does Copilot use?” is rarely a single answer, and the reality for users is shaped as much by Microsoft’s dynamic model routing and priority access controls as by the nominal names of the underlying LLMs.
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Microsoft Copilot operates as a multi-surface ecosystem where model selection is context-dependent.
Across its family of products, Microsoft Copilot does not present a universal “choose your model” interface; instead, each Copilot experience routes requests to different language models and toolchains depending on the product surface, user credentials, and—especially in builder and enterprise settings—the policy decisions of administrators.
The consumer-facing Copilot at copilot.microsoft.com, the organizational Copilot Chat for Entra accounts, the embedded Microsoft 365 Copilot in productivity apps, and the developer-focused Copilot Studio and GitHub Copilot each represent distinct environments in which supported models, version consistency, and capability depth can differ substantially.
What limits or enables advanced features is not only the visible product, but also the mix of dynamic model routing, plan-based capacity, and explicit model menus in certain builder contexts, resulting in a layered system that requires careful mapping for professional or organizational use.
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Microsoft Copilot Product Surfaces and Model Control
Copilot Surface | Primary Purpose | How Models Are Chosen | What Typically Limits You |
Microsoft Copilot (consumer) | Web-grounded assistant for general use | Dynamic routing, “Smart Mode” behavior | Service capacity, feature rollout, account state |
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat | Secure work chat experience | Standard vs priority access, model routing | License tier, capacity availability |
Microsoft 365 Copilot (add-on) | Work-data reasoning inside M365 apps | Priority access to latest models like GPT-5 | Licensing prerequisites and admin enablement |
Copilot Studio | Custom agents and orchestration | Explicit model selection per agent or prompt | Copilot credits, region availability, model retirement |
GitHub Copilot | Coding assistant and agent workflows | Explicit model selection plus plan-based access | Premium requests, plan tier, admin policies |
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The integration of GPT-5 and dynamic routing means Copilot behavior adapts to task complexity and access tier.
Since 2025, Microsoft has positioned GPT-5 as a core model across Copilot platforms, but unlike the simple manual toggles seen in earlier LLM products, Copilot now emphasizes a “Smart Mode” approach, where the system routes each user request to the most appropriate model variant or reasoning depth based on prompt type, available capacity, and access rights.
This model routing can manifest as a noticeable shift in speed or detail from one turn to the next, particularly as Copilot balances fast, low-latency responses for simple queries against deeper, multi-step reasoning for document analysis, code generation, or agentic workflows.
At the organizational level, Microsoft differentiates between standard and priority access to GPT-5 and related capabilities, with licensed Microsoft 365 Copilot users receiving more consistent performance, higher daily capacity, and prioritized access to advanced tools during periods of high demand.
What appears as a single Copilot UI may, in practice, mask substantial variability in both the model version and the orchestration logic driving the final output.
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GPT-5 Routing and Access Effects in Copilot
Feature | Microsoft Description | User Experience |
Smart Mode routing | Copilot chooses optimal model per request | Speed and depth vary with task and tier |
Standard vs priority access | Licensing changes capacity and model consistency | Paid users experience fewer slowdowns |
Cross-surface rollout | GPT-5 deployed in multiple Copilot experiences | Surface and entitlement affect feature set |
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Microsoft 365 Copilot offers deeper work integration and priority model access, contingent on licensing.
For users and organizations seeking consistent performance and direct integration with business data, Microsoft 365 Copilot provides the most robust access to advanced models, but this comes with strict licensing requirements that go beyond a basic Microsoft 365 subscription.
Only those with the Copilot add-on, layered atop eligible business or enterprise plans, receive guaranteed priority to the latest GPT-5 variants, deep context workflows, and advanced agent capabilities such as Researcher and Analyst, with standard access otherwise subject to capacity-based throttling or temporary feature gating.
Copilot Chat, now widely available to Entra account holders, distinguishes between standard and priority access as well, but even basic usage is limited to the secure, web-grounded assistant unless the full Copilot license is present.
This approach ensures that higher-value, privacy-sensitive, or compute-intensive features are reliably available only to users and organizations meeting Microsoft’s prerequisite and administrative policies.
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Microsoft 365 Copilot Access Requirements and Feature Map
Capability | Copilot Chat (Eligible M365) | Microsoft 365 Copilot Add-On |
Web-based secure chat | Yes | Yes |
Work-data grounding (Graph data) | Limited | Yes |
Priority access to latest models | No | Yes |
Deep agent workflows (Researcher/Analyst) | No | Yes |
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Copilot Studio exposes explicit model selection and lifecycle management for custom agent workflows.
In Copilot Studio, Microsoft provides one of the clearest official “model menus” available in its ecosystem, allowing users building custom agents or orchestrations to explicitly select between multiple models, including different versions of GPT-4.1, a range of GPT-5 variants, and even external models such as Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Claude Opus 4.1 for selected regions.
The model documentation specifies not only the availability of standard and experimental models—such as GPT-5.2 chat or GPT-5.2 reasoning—but also critical operational parameters like context window size, model cost, and regional support, which can affect both performance and billing.
Microsoft maintains a rolling model retirement policy within Copilot Studio, meaning certain models (such as GPT-4o or earlier OpenAI releases) are periodically deprecated and replaced, with customers sometimes given a temporary grace window to update agents and orchestration logic before being forcibly migrated to the newest default.
This builder-focused approach gives experienced users both fine-grained control and operational responsibility, as well as a clear view of Microsoft’s multi-model, multi-provider direction for Copilot development.
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Copilot Studio Model Lineup and Lifecycle Management
Model | Status | Context Window | Usage Notes |
GPT-4.1 mini | Default, GA | Up to 128K tokens | Fast, low-cost general use |
GPT-4.1 | GA | Up to 128K tokens | Strong general-purpose model |
GPT-5 chat | GA | Up to 128K tokens | Modern chat and tool workflows |
GPT-5 reasoning | GA | Up to 400K tokens | Deep, multi-step reasoning |
GPT-5.2 chat | Experimental | Up to 128K tokens | Early access improvements |
GPT-5.2 reasoning | Experimental | Up to 400K tokens | Early access deep reasoning |
Claude Sonnet 4.5 | Experimental | Up to 200K tokens | General reasoning, external provider |
Claude Opus 4.1 | Experimental | Up to 200K tokens | Premium deep reasoning, external provider |
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GitHub Copilot extends model choice and premium access across multiple providers and plan levels.
Distinct from the consumer and productivity-facing Copilot experiences, GitHub Copilot offers users and organizations a wide selection of coding models, explicitly referencing OpenAI’s GPT series, Anthropic’s Claude family, and, in premium and enterprise plans, Google Gemini models.
Model availability in GitHub Copilot depends on the user’s subscription tier and, in business or enterprise environments, administrative policies that can allow or restrict certain models for compliance and governance reasons.
GitHub Copilot’s “premium request” budget determines how much access a user has to high-performance or frontier models within a given period, directly tying model selection not just to plan, but to real-world usage patterns.
Over time, GitHub deprecates older models and introduces new releases, making model documentation and upgrade notices essential for maintaining optimal workflows in development teams.
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GitHub Copilot Model Access and Plan Comparison
Feature | Entry Plan | Premium/Business Plan | Admin Control |
Model catalog | Core OpenAI models | Anthropic, Google, advanced OpenAI | Customizable per org |
Premium request budget | Limited | Expanded | Set by policy |
Model governance | Basic | Advanced | Enforced by admin |
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Microsoft 365 personal and family plans have added Copilot, creating a new “personal productivity Copilot” tier.
In addition to the business-oriented Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft now includes Copilot access with Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, and Premium plans, unlocking Copilot features inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote for personal and household subscribers.
While the scope of integration and underlying model availability is designed to align with consumer privacy and usage needs, these plans nevertheless provide direct access to the same generative and agentic tools, supporting individual workflows across devices and applications.
Microsoft’s approach ensures that advanced Copilot capabilities are no longer reserved exclusively for enterprise customers, but are instead embedded as a core part of the modern Office suite for both individuals and families.
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Microsoft 365 Consumer Plans and Copilot Inclusion
Plan | Copilot Inclusion | Distinctive Features |
Microsoft 365 Personal | Yes | Single-user bundle, productivity suite |
Microsoft 365 Family | Yes (owner) | Multi-user storage, owner controls AI |
Microsoft 365 Premium | Yes (owner) | Highest-usage tier, advanced features |
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Version differences and model upgrades are an ongoing feature of Copilot’s evolving architecture.
The experience of using Copilot changes not only as new models are integrated, but also as Microsoft actively retires older models and enforces upgrades in builder and enterprise environments.
Within Copilot Studio, for example, models such as GPT-4o have been retired in favor of GPT-4.1 or GPT-5, and agents are periodically migrated to new defaults unless customers intervene during grace periods.
Model selection in Copilot is not only about choosing a name, but also about adapting to Microsoft’s orchestration logic, lifecycle policies, and rollout schedules, all of which can affect compatibility, context length, and the set of available tools for both end users and developers.
The dynamic nature of Copilot’s architecture means that what works today may be replaced or expanded in the near future, requiring close attention to official documentation and update notices for sustained professional use.
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Copilot Model Lifecycle Events and Migration Examples
Event | What Triggers It | User Impact |
Default model switch | New model released, old retired | Agents update automatically |
Grace window | Short-term extension for old model | Manual migration possible |
Automatic migration | Major platform upgrade | User prompts move with system |
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Capability comparison across Copilot models is shaped by depth, multimodality, context, and governance.
When users compare Copilot “versions” or notice differences in performance and results, these are typically the consequence of underlying model capabilities such as depth of reasoning, ability to handle multimodal inputs, consistency under organizational load, and compliance with governance or admin policy.
Models like GPT-5 reasoning are optimized for multi-step analytical work, while chat-optimized variants focus on speed and conversational flexibility.
Support for images, files, and agent orchestration can differ not only between models, but also across Copilot products and user entitlement levels, making the overall experience less about “which single model” and more about how model selection, routing, and access policy combine to deliver the right tool for the workflow at hand.
This nuanced reality reflects Microsoft’s transition to a layered, adaptive Copilot ecosystem, where understanding capability differences and access requirements is essential for planning robust and reliable use in both personal and professional environments.
In day-to-day practice, the most critical variable for Copilot users is not a single model name, but the combination of entitlement, surface, and routing policies that together determine the consistency, scope, and reliability of every session—meaning that technical planning and license management are now just as important as tracking individual model advancements.
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