Microsoft 365 CopilotPaid only
Paid from
$25.2 a month
View plans and limitsUpdated 4 September 2026 · Independent comparison
Microsoft 365 Copilot vs Read AI:
which should you use?
Microsoft 365 Copilot and Read AI, side by side. Find the one that fits what you need to do.
Find your best fitThe 30-second answer
Microsoft 365 Copilot is built for business, finance & professional work.
Read AI summarises meetings, email and messages together, so the follow-up lands in one place rather than three.
Pricing, simplified
Start free. Upgrade when you need more.
Read AIFree plan
Paid from
$19.75 a month
View plans and limitsThe 30-second comparison
If you only read one section, make it this one. Rows where both sides say the same thing are left out — the point is where they differ. Where each row came from is listed underneath.
| Category | Microsoft 365 Copilot | Read AI | Better fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it's built for | Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has. The closest thing to AI that needs no change of habit. | Summarises meetings, email and messages together, so the follow-up lands in one place rather than three. | Microsoft 365 Copilot |
| Fit for business, finance & professional work | Built for this | Strong fit | Microsoft 365 Copilot |
| Free plan | No. Paid from the start. | Yes. Free forever plan, no card required: 5 meeting transcripts a month, unlimited enterprise search, summaries across meetings, email and messaging, a personalised meeting coach, Topic Readouts, more than 20 languages and apps for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS | Read AI |
| Cheapest way to pay | $25.2 a month. | $19.75 a month. | Read AI |
| What the paid tiers cost |
|
| Tie |
| What to watch out for | An add-on rather than a standalone purchase: the enterprise Copilot seat is $30 a user a month on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 licence you must already hold, and Copilot Chat is only included if you already pay for an eligible subscription. Agents need an Azure subscription on top again. | Reaches across a lot of surfaces at once, which is the point and also the thing to check against your own data rules. The free plan stops at five meeting transcripts a month, and the compliance features sit in Enterprise+, which takes a minimum of five licences and so starts near $150 a month. | Tie |
| Made by | Microsoft — Redmond, US. | Read AI — Seattle, US. | Tie |
Neither leads on the 7 rows above: 2 each. The job decides it, not the table.
Microsoft 365 Copilot or Read AI
Neither leads on the rows above — the job decides it.
✓ The job is mainly business, finance & professional work
✓ Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has.
✓ It is built for business, finance & professional work
✓ The closest thing to AI that needs no change of habit.
Summarises meetings, email and messages together, so the follow-up lands in one place rather than three.
Read AI is the better answer when the job is what it was built for rather than what the pick above does broadly.
✓ The job is mainly business, finance & professional work
✓ Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has.
✓ It is built for business, finance & professional work
✓ The closest thing to AI that needs no change of habit.
How we know
Every row that separated these two, and where it came from. Nothing here is a hands-on test — if a line rests on a vendor’s own pricing page, it says so and links it.
| Row | Favours | Weight | Where it came from |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it's built for | Microsoft 365 Copilot | How well it does the job | From this site’s own catalogue record for each product — compiled by hand, not imported. How a product gets listed |
| Fit for business, finance & professional work | Microsoft 365 Copilot | How well it does the job | Both products are listed under business, finance & professional work in the catalogue, and this is the fit recorded against each listing. Everything listed under business, finance & professional work |
| Free plan | Read AI | How well it does the job | From each vendor’s own pricing page. Dates and pages are listed below. |
| Cheapest way to pay | Read AI | Everything else | From each vendor’s own pricing page. Dates and pages are listed below. |
The prices
Microsoft 365 Copilot. Read by hand off microsoft.com on 4 September 2026. It is not on the monthly re-check, so confirm there before paying. microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/pricing
Read AI. Read by hand off read.ai on 4 September 2026. It is not on the monthly re-check, so confirm there before paying. read.ai/plans-pricing
The ratings
The category these two share. Business, Finance & Professional Work — both are listed there in the catalogue, and the fit recorded against each listing is a judgement made here, by hand.
The nine-category grid below. Derived from what each product is listed for, by one script, once per build — so the same pair always reads the same. It is a derivation, not a review.
What this is not
Neither product was run side by side to produce this page. Nobody was paid to appear on it and nothing here is ranked by commission.
To put the same question to both and read the answers yourself, run them side by side — that is a live test, and this is not.
Choose based on what you’re doing
All ten categories, including the ones where neither of these is the answer. These ratings are derived from what each product is listed for, not from running it — a rating here is a reading of the record, and the record is linked.
01
General-Purpose AI Assistants
Questions, brainstorming, explanations, everyday tasks, decision-making, general advice.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Not a good fitRead AI
Not a good fitBest choice: Neither
02
Search, Research & Academics
Web research, deep research, books, academic papers, citations, news, fact-checking.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Not a good fitRead AI
Not a good fitBest choice: Neither
03
Writing, Communication & Language
Emails, reports, essays, editing, summarizing, translation, presentations.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Not a good fitRead AI
Not a good fitBest choice: Neither
04
Coding, Data & Technical Work
Programming, debugging, data analysis, spreadsheets, math, engineering, technical research.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Bad fitRead AI
Bad fitBest choice: Neither
05
Business, Finance & Professional Work
Business strategy, investing, market research, legal, sales, HR, accounting, consulting.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Built for thisRead AI
Good fitBest choice: Microsoft 365 Copilot
06
Image & Design
Image generation, photo editing, logos, graphics, product design, advertising creatives.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Bad fitRead AI
Bad fitBest choice: Neither
07
Video
Video generation and editing, clipping, subtitles, avatars, animation and motion capture.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Bad fitRead AI
Bad fitBest choice: Neither
08
Audio, Voice & Music
Voice generation, transcription, music, dubbing, sound cleanup and podcast production.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Bad fitRead AI
Bad fitBest choice: Neither
09
Marketing & Content Creation
Social media, SEO, advertising, copywriting, content ideas, scripts, brand development.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Not a good fitRead AI
Not a good fitBest choice: Neither
10
Productivity, Automation & Personal Life
AI agents, workflows, scheduling, meetings, organization, shopping, travel, personal finance.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Not a good fitRead AI
Not a good fitBest choice: Neither
Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has.
by MicrosoftThe job is mainly business, finance & professional work
Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has.
It is built for business, finance & professional work
The closest thing to AI that needs no change of habit.
Summarises meetings, email and messages together, so the follow-up lands in one place rather than three.
Seattle, USSummarises meetings, email and messages together, so the follow-up lands in one place rather than three.
You want to start without paying anything
You want the cheaper paid plan, $19.75 against $25.2
Free forever plan, no card required: 5 meeting transcripts a month, unlimited enterprise search, summaries across meetings, email and messaging, a personalised meeting coach, Topic Readouts, more than 20 languages and apps for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS
Pricing, simplified
The plans people actually compare, read from each vendor’s own page.
PricingSimple, up-to-date plan overview.
Microsoft 365 Copilotby Microsoft
Read AIby Read AIFree version
Microsoft 365 Copilot
No — paid from the startPaid from the start
Read AI
Yes — Free plan availableFree forever plan, no card required: 5 meeting transcripts a month, unlimited enterprise
Individual plans
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
—
Read AI
Pro
$19.75 / month$15 / month (annual)
Business plans
Microsoft 365 Copilot
From $25.20 / user / monthFrom $21 / user / month (annual)Microsoft 365 Copilot Business, Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot, Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot
Read AINot sold to teams
Enterprise
Microsoft 365 Copilot
From $30 / user / month (annual)Microsoft 365 Copilot, the enterprise seat
Read AI
From $29.75 / user / monthFrom $22.50 / user / month (annual)Enterprise+
View full details
Microsoft 365 CopilotView Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing
Read AIView Read AI pricing
Tell us what you use AI for
Pick your main job and the verdict below changes to match. Every answer is on the page already, so this works as a reader, not a lookup.
The verdict for that job
Evenly matched
Microsoft 365 Copilot. It is built for business, finance & professional work; Read AI does it well without it being its focus; only Read AI has a free plan; Read AI is cheaper to start paying for, $19.75 against $25.2.
7 rows compared
Frequently asked questions
Is Microsoft 365 Copilot or Read AI better?
Neither leads on the 7 rows above: 2 each. The job decides it, not the table. Microsoft 365 Copilot is built for business, finance & professional work; Read AI does it well without it being its focus; only Read AI has a free plan; Read AI is cheaper to start paying for, $19.75 against $25.2. Microsoft 365 Copilot: Sits inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, so it works on the documents and meetings a company already has. The closest thing to AI that needs no change of habit. Read AI: Summarises meetings, email and messages together, so the follow-up lands in one place rather than three.
Is Microsoft 365 Copilot or Read AI cheaper?
Read AI — paid plans start at $19.75 a month against $25.2 a month.
Do Microsoft 365 Copilot and Read AI both have free plans?
Read AI does — Free forever plan, no card required: 5 meeting transcripts a month, unlimited enterprise search, summaries across meetings, email and messaging, a personalised meeting coach, Topic Readouts, more than 20 languages and apps for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. Microsoft 365 Copilot does not.
What should I watch out for?
Microsoft 365 Copilot: An add-on rather than a standalone purchase: the enterprise Copilot seat is $30 a user a month on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 licence you must already hold, and Copilot Chat is only included if you already pay for an eligible subscription. Agents need an Azure subscription on top again. Read AI: Reaches across a lot of surfaces at once, which is the point and also the thing to check against your own data rules. The free plan stops at five meeting transcripts a month, and the compliance features sit in Enterprise+, which takes a minimum of five licences and so starts near $150 a month.
Read more
Microsoft 365 Copilot
What it is for, who makes it, what it costs and what to use instead.
Read AI
What it is for, who makes it, what it costs and what to use instead.
Best AI for Business
Business strategy, investing, market research, legal, sales, HR, accounting, consulting.