Microsoft restricts free Copilot access and throttles basic users
Starting April 15, Microsoft is pulling free Copilot Chat access from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for unlicensed users in organisations with more than 2000 seats. The basic AI assistant will only remain available in Outlook for these larger enterprise accounts. Mid-sized companies with fewer than 2000 seats will retain free access across all core apps. However, Microsoft will now throttle this basic tier during peak usage times to preserve service capacity. To clarify its confusing product lineup, Microsoft is also renaming the tiers. The free version becomes Copilot Chat Basic, while the paid version is now officially Microsoft 365 Copilot Premium.
Until now, IT departments could rely on the free version of Copilot to test the waters before committing to expensive licensing. Employees could experiment with AI in their daily documents without triggering budget approvals. The line between what was free and what cost a monthly fee was completely blurred. Microsoft is now forcing a hard divide between casual users and serious adopters. By throttling the basic tier for mid-sized companies, they are making the free experience intentionally unreliable. Teams wanting consistent AI performance that actually saves time instead of stalling out during a morning rush will have to pay the premium.
Analysis
Stop letting your team rely on the free basic chat when your company is already paying for premium licences. Use this upcoming throttling as the catalyst to audit who actually needs reliable AI access. Pull the usage reports today and reassign those premium licences to the employees who have proven they know how to prompt effectively.
Citation
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