Cohere North vs Microsoft Copilot (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick Microsoft Copilot: it is third in our ranking of AI assistants, and it grades higher too, 3.0 against 1.8.
Checked Oct 26, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 26, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Microsoft Copilot grades higher on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft's AI assistant for chat, images and Microsoft 365 apps
Which one is for you
Pick Cohere North if
- Makes sense if your company wants agents inside its own VPC
- Fits if a team will pay for a managed rollout
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you're an individual: it's sold to organizations
- Skip it if you want to try before talking to sales
- Watch out: no price is published, and hosting is quoted by GPU and replicas
- Watch out: no phone or desktop apps are listed
Pick Microsoft Copilot if
- Fits if your day is already spent in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
- Works for households that want Office apps and cloud storage on one bill, with the AI for one person
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if it's the Researcher and Analyst agents you want, as they need the $19.99 Premium plan
- Not for you if the whole family wants the AI, because on Family only the subscription owner gets it
- Tight if you're staying free and like to know where you stand: Microsoft publishes no numbers for the free limits at all
- Watch out: Family and Premium bought from 8 October 2026 share 2 TB of storage instead of 1 TB per person, and older subscriptions move over at renewals from 2 May 2027
- Pricey if you want the top limits, as Pro is $99.99 a month, billed monthly only
How we grade them
| 1.8GPACohere NorthWeak | 3.0GPAMicrosoft CopilotVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price is published and pricing is custom, so it sits in the middle. Model Vault hosting is priced separately by GPU. | BMicrosoft 365 Personal is $9.99 a month, or $99.99 a year, which works out at $8.33, inside this category's cheapest quarter of $9.00, and it buys Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook plus 1 TB of storage. Less than it did, though: Family and Premium bought from 8 October 2026 share 2 TB, not 1 TB each. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan, no trial and no self-serve. You request a demo first. | CThe free version covers chat, web-grounded answers and Copilot in Edge. The pricing page only promises paid plans higher usage for chat, images, voice and visual help; it never says what the free limits are. And copilot.com asks you to sign in before you can type. |
| Features | BAgents, automations, search over company knowledge, apps from chat, memory, admin guardrails and private deployment. The listing shows no gap. | BChat grounded in web search, voice, help from your screen or camera, image creation, and Copilot inside the Office apps, with Researcher and Analyst on Premium. The category's job is covered, though the spoken audio is English only and those two agents are off Personal and Family. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. It's an enterprise rollout needing sign-in, data connections and admin setup. | BWe have no App Store rating on record for it. It opens in a browser, and on a new Windows 11 PC the app is already installed, so there's nothing to set up before you start typing. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only through a browser sign-in. No phone or desktop apps and no integrations are listed. | AWeb, Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android. It also works inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, OneNote, OneDrive and Edge, which is a long list if you're a Microsoft household. |
| Best for | an enterprise AI workspace with agents | people who live in Word, Excel and Outlook |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Cohere North and Microsoft Copilot. How we grade
Where they differ
- Cohere North also covers workflow automation.
- Microsoft Copilot also covers research.
At a glance
| Cohere North | Microsoft Copilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $9.99 per month, or $99.99 per year (Microsoft 365 Personal) |
| Free plan | None | A free version of Copilot for chat, web-grounded answers and Copilot in Edge, with usage limits Microsoft does not publish. The copilot.com entry page asks you to sign in with a Microsoft account. |
| Free trial | None listed | One-month free trial of Microsoft 365 Personal, Family and Premium; terms vary by offer and region. |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Cohere | Microsoft |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | microsoft.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 26, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Cohere North
- No price is published; pricing is custom and starts with a demo request.
- It is sold to organizations, with no self-serve or free plan.
- The pages do not list apps for phones or desktops; it is reached through a browser sign-in.
- Model Vault, the hosting option, is priced separately by GPU type and number of replicas.
Microsoft Copilot
- The free version's limits are not published: the pricing pages only say that paid plans give higher usage for chat, image creation, voice and visual help.
- Researcher and Analyst are not available on Microsoft 365 Personal or Family; they need Premium at $19.99 a month or Pro.
- On Microsoft 365 Family, AI features are available only to the subscription owner and cannot be shared with other members.
- Family and Premium bought from October 8, 2026 share 2 TB of storage instead of 1 TB per person; older subscriptions change at renewals from May 2, 2027.
Key features
Cohere North
- Agents and automations
- Agents and automations can be deployed and shared across teams to handle routine tasks and multi-step workflows.
- Search over company knowledge
- North answers questions grounded in a company's own knowledge and data, from simple Q&A to more involved queries.
- Applications and memory
- Users can build decks, dashboards, documents and apps from chat, and memory keeps context between sessions.
- Guardrails and admin
- Administrators get a control panel for users and agents, plus guardrails on how people interact with the AI.
- Private deployment
- North can run in the customer's own VPC, on premises, or on Cohere's Model Vault inference platform.
Microsoft Copilot
- Chat with web-grounded answers
- Helps with writing, brainstorming and summarizing in a chat, and gives real-time answers based on web search.
- Voice and Vision
- Spoken conversations with AI-generated audio in English only, plus visual help from your screen or camera. Usage is higher on Personal and Family than free, extensive on Premium and highest on Pro.
- Image generation
- Creates images inside Copilot. The allowance rises from standard usage on Personal and Family to extensive use on Premium and Pro.
- Researcher and Analyst
- Researcher finds and synthesizes information, and Analyst works through raw data. Both are unavailable on Personal and Family and included with Premium and Pro.
- Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps
- Paid plans add Copilot to the Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook desktop apps to draft, edit and summarize documents and email.
- Cowork and model choice
- Cowork takes on a multi-step project and returns finished files, and you can switch between OpenAI and Anthropic models. Microsoft notes some capabilities need specific licenses.
Plans
Cohere North
Pricing could not be confirmed. See cohere.com.
Microsoft Copilot
Free$0
Chat, web-grounded answers and Copilot in Edge, with lower usage limits than any paid plan for chat, images, voice and visual help.
Microsoft 365 Personal$9.99
per month, or $99.99 per year
For 1 person: higher Copilot usage than free, Copilot in the Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook desktop apps, and 1 TB of cloud storage.
Microsoft 365 Family$12.99
per month, or $129.99 per year
Everything in Personal for 1 to 6 people, with 2 TB of shared cloud storage. Copilot AI features are for the subscription owner only.
Microsoft 365 Premium$19.99
per month, or $199.99 per year
Extensive Copilot usage, the Researcher and Analyst agents, limited usage of agentic AI, and 2 TB of shared cloud storage.
Microsoft 365 Pro$99.99
per month, monthly billing only
Everything in Premium with the highest usage limits for chat, agentic AI, voice and vision, and 5 TB of shared cloud storage.
Ways to pay less
Cohere North
No public discounts listed.
Microsoft Copilot
- Annual discount
Save up to 17% with yearly billing
Microsoft's pricing page lists Personal at $99.99, Family at $129.99 and Premium at $199.99 per year, a saving of up to 17% against paying monthly. Pro is monthly only.
- Education
Student offers on Microsoft 365
Microsoft's pages link to a student offer of 50% off Microsoft 365 Personal, and say some students may get free access through their school. Offers vary by institution and region.
- Other savings
Microsoft Workplace Discount Program
Microsoft offers savings on select Microsoft 365 subscriptions through eligible employers, using a valid work email address.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Cohere North or Microsoft Copilot?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Cohere North has no price we could confirm, and Microsoft Copilot starts at $9.99 per month, or $99.99 per year (Microsoft 365 Personal).
Which has a free plan, Cohere North or Microsoft Copilot?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Microsoft Copilot has a free plan. Cohere North does not.
Which platforms do Cohere North and Microsoft Copilot run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Microsoft Copilot lists macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.