how to acquire a license for copilot

Question

How do I get a license for Copilot to be able to use all agents?

Answer 1

To use Copilot agents broadly, a Microsoft 365 Copilot license is required, and in some scenarios a Copilot Studio license is also needed for creating and managing custom agents.

1. Get a Microsoft 365 Copilot license

Microsoft 365 Copilot is an add-on to qualifying Microsoft 365 enterprise or business plans.

1. Ensure the organization has a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan for enterprise or business.
2. Purchase Microsoft 365 Copilot as an add-on plan from the Microsoft 365 Copilot plans page.
3. In the Microsoft 365 admin center, create users (if needed) and assign the Microsoft 365 Copilot license to those users who should be able to use Copilot and its agents.

Once assigned, licensed users can access Microsoft 365 Copilot and its built-in agents in supported apps and experiences.

2. Get Copilot Studio licenses for custom agents

If the goal is to create, manage, and extend agents (beyond just using built-in ones), Copilot Studio licensing is required:

There are two main license types:

1. Tenant license (Copilot Studio)
   • Acquired by an admin in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Billing → Purchase services, searching for Copilot Studio, and completing checkout.
   • This is an organization-level license and isn’t assigned to individual users.
2. Per-user license (Copilot Studio User License)
   • After the tenant license is purchased, the admin acquires user licenses (under Billing → Purchase services → Add-ons → Copilot Studio User License).
   • The admin then assigns these licenses to makers under Users → Active users → Manage product licenses → Copilot Studio user license.

With both tenant and user licenses in place, users can sign in to Copilot Studio and create/manage agents.

3. Alternative ways to access Copilot Studio

To work with agents in Copilot Studio, any of the following configurations is sufficient:

1. Copilot Studio user license (with a tenant prepaid Copilot Credit pack subscription).
2. Copilot Studio authors role configured via Power Platform admin center and an Entra security group.
3. Microsoft 365 Copilot license (which also allows extending Microsoft 365 Copilot with agents via Copilot Studio).
4. Copilot Studio trial license (for individual sign-up and testing agents; note that trial users can’t publish agents beyond personal use).

Admins can also block or allow trial sign-ups, and Dataverse entitlement must be enabled in the user’s Microsoft 365 license for agent features to work correctly.

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References:

• Copy an agent to Copilot Studio
• Copilot Studio licensing
• Assign licenses and manage access to Copilot Studio
• Get access to Copilot Studio
• Service in Microsoft 365 Copilot licensing
• Agents admin guide for Microsoft 365