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Manage message capacity

This article describes the billing models for messages available with a Copilot Studio license. Prepaid messages are available for purchase since December 1, 2023. Pay-as-you-go is available for purchase since December 1, 2024.

A message is an interaction between a customer and an agent, representing one unit of consumption. A message is defined as any request or message sent to the agent that triggers an action or a response from the agent.

The purchase of a Copilot Studio license includes a specific number of billed messages. This capacity is pooled across the entire tenant. However, it must be assigned to an environment to enable Copilot Studio features for agents in that environment.

Allocation happens in the Power Platform admin center when you select Billing > Licenses > Copilot Studio, and then select Manage Capacity. For more information, see Capacity add-ons, the Power Platform documentation.

Common scenarios

The following table illustrates when messages are billed, free, or included in select Microsoft 365 subscriptions. These scenarios are examples only, and not all scenarios are covered.

Scenario Is session billed? Topic type Channel Power Automate flow Bot Framework extensibility Agent stored in
User logs vacation days in a conversation with the agent in Microsoft Teams. Included with select Microsoft 365 subscriptions Any topic type Microsoft Teams Yes (only standard connectors) Not used Dataverse for Teams
Agent greets user on your website. User escalates to a customer service representative directly or doesn't interact with the agent. Yes System Any channel Not used Not used Any environment type
Greeting topic redirects to Bot Framework Composer or a skill topic for advanced operations. Yes Any topic type Any channel Either used or not used Yes Any environment type
Greeting topic gets information about the user using a Power Automate flow to present a customized experience. Yes Any topic type Any channel Yes (any connector) Either used or not used Any environment type
User interacts with the agent on your website to ask about store hours, check order status, and so on. Yes Custom Any channel Either used or not used Either used or not used Dataverse

Overage

In an environment, when consumption exceeds available capacity, the environment is in overage and some features are progressively blocked. We allow some level of overage consumption, similar to a grace period, to avoid blocking business processes.

If your environment has no more capacity, you have the following options:

  • Reallocate existing capacity from the organization (tenant) or environment level.

  • Purchase more capacity and make it available to your environment.

  • Set up consumptive meter/Pay-as-you-go meter to handle the overage.

Frequently asked questions

Do preview features count against usage capacity?

Copilot Studio features that are in preview, unless otherwise stated, are free to use and don't count against your purchased capacity.

What happens to the remaining capacity at the end of the month? Can this capacity carry over to the following month?

No, unused capacity isn't carried over to the next month. Credit usage is counted on a monthly basis and reset on the first day of the month. Available capacity is based on allocated capacity.

When is the message consumption count reset? Is resetting based on the license acquisition date?

Credit usage is counted on a monthly basis, starting the first day of each month. Credit usage isn't based on the license acquisition date. Message usage of an environment shouldn't exceed the message allocation.

Where can I see message usage for this month?

Overall organization (tenant) level credit consumption is available in the Power Platform admin center in the Resources > Capacity > Summary tab.

The data is aggregated daily. Some data might be delayed; if so, the consumption bar shows all known consumption at the Last updated date in the tooltip box.

Do chats in the embedded test chat count as billable?

Messages that use the embedded test chat don't count toward billed sessions.

Set up pay-as-you-go consumptive meter

Pay-as-you-go is a way to pay for Copilot Studio using an Azure subscription, which allows you to get started building agents without any license commitment or upfront purchasing.

In the Power Platform admin center, you can link environments to an Azure subscription using a billing policy.

Once an environment is linked to an Azure subscription, the usage of apps and any Dataverse or Power Platform usage that goes above the included amounts are billed against the Azure subscription using Azure meters.

You can unlink your environment from the Azure subscription at any time and then usage is no longer billed.

Note

For instructions on how to set up your pay-as-you-go consumptive meter, see Set up pay-as-you-go.

View message consumption

You can view message consumption reporting in the Power Platform admin center.

  1. In Power Platform admin center, go to Billing > Licenses.

  2. Select the Environments tab and select the desired environmnent.

  3. Select Copilot Studio.

    Screen capture of consumption report.