How does Copilot Studio licensing work?

Copilot Studio gives you flexibility with two powerful ways to build AI agents: a Lite experience built right into Microsoft 365 Copilot, and a Full experience through the standalone Copilot Studio application. Both let you create intelligent, customised agents, but they’re designed for different needs.

Lite Experience (formerly Agent Builder)
Perfect for quickly creating an agent for yourself or a small team, the Lite experience lets you use natural language and existing content (like SharePoint files or emails) to build a helpful bot in minutes. It’s simple, no-code, and fully integrated into the Microsoft 365 Copilot environment, so you can create and interact with your agent directly in context.

Full Experience
Choose the Full experience when you need an agent for a wider audience—your department, organisation, or even external customers. It offers advanced capabilities such as multi-step workflows, custom integrations, and full control over deployment, management, and governance. Accessible via a dedicated Copilot Studio web portal, this version provides the depth and flexibility to build scalable, enterprise-grade solutions.

Access and Licensing
Both experiences are included with the Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on license for authenticated users.

If you don’t have a Copilot license, you can still use Copilot Studio through Copilot Credits or a pay-as-you-go plan.

You can also try the Lite experience for free to build agents grounded on public web knowledge only.