Microsoft Copilot

How to Tell If You Have Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium or Basic

Chris Menard

Chris Menard

— 5 min read
How to Tell If You Have Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium or Basic

If your organization uses Microsoft 365 Enterprise, you likely have a mix of users — some with a paid Copilot license and others using the free Copilot Chat. Until recently, figuring out who had which version was surprisingly difficult. Microsoft has now added clear Premium and Basic labels throughout the interface, making it much easier to identify your license tier at a glance.

Why It Was Confusing Before

Every M365 Enterprise user gets Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat for free. The paid upgrade — Microsoft 365 Copilot — adds the ability to reason over your Microsoft Graph data (emails, files, meetings, and more). The old way to tell the difference was to look for Work and Web tabs at the top of the Copilot app: licensed users saw both tabs, while free users did not.

Then Microsoft rolled Copilot into the ribbon of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for everyone — licensed or not. That removed the last easy visual distinction and made it even harder to know which version you were running.

Find the Premium Label in the Copilot App

Open the Microsoft 365 Copilot app from your desktop or the web. Look in the bottom-left corner of the window. Below your name, you will now see M365 Copilot (Premium) if you have a paid license.

Microsoft 365 Copilot app showing Work and Web tabs with M365 Copilot Premium label in bottom-left corner
The Copilot app now shows "M365 Copilot (Premium)" in the bottom-left corner for licensed users.

Click on that label to see exactly what your Premium license includes, such as Work IQ — the ability to reason over all your Microsoft Graph items like emails, documents, and calendar events.

Close-up of the bottom-left corner showing Chris Menard name and M365 Copilot Premium label with red highlight
A close-up of the Premium label beneath the user's name. Click it to see what your Premium license includes.

What the Basic Label Looks Like

For users on the free tier, the same bottom-left corner tells a different story. Instead of "M365 Copilot," it reads Copilot Chat (Basic). There is also an Upgrade button, and the Work and Web tabs are missing from the top of the interface.

Carol Wilson Copilot Chat showing Basic label and Upgrade button in bottom-left corner
A free-tier user sees "Copilot Chat (Basic)" instead of "M365 Copilot (Premium)" along with an Upgrade button.

Check Your License in Word

The same labels appear inside Office apps. Open Word and click Copilot in the ribbon to open the Copilot task pane. At the bottom-right of that pane, you will see either M365 Copilot (Premium) or Copilot Chat (Basic).

Microsoft Word with Copilot task pane open showing M365 Copilot Premium label at bottom-right
In Word, click Copilot in the ribbon to open the task pane. The Premium or Basic label appears at the bottom-right.

This works in Excel and PowerPoint as well — any Office app with the Copilot pane will display the label.

Confirm Your Enterprise Account Type

If you are not sure whether your organization is on an Enterprise plan in the first place, open any Office app (Word, Excel, or PowerPoint), click File, then click Account. Under Product Information, you will see your subscription type — look for the word Enterprise next to "Microsoft 365."

Word File Account page showing Microsoft 365 Apps for business subscription information
Go to File > Account to confirm whether your organization runs a Microsoft 365 Enterprise plan.

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  • Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium) = paid license with full capabilities including Work IQ
  • Copilot Chat (Basic) = free version included with M365 Enterprise
  • Check the bottom-left of the Copilot app or the bottom-right of the Copilot pane in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint
  • Go to File > Account in any Office app to verify your Enterprise subscription

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