Free tool · 1 minute · M365 licensing · Australia
WHAT AI IS ALREADY IN YOUR
MICROSOFT 365 PLAN?
Most Australian businesses already pay for more AI than they use. Every plan in this checker includes Copilot Chat with enterprise data protection at no extra cost, and several include more. Pick your plan and see three honest lists: what is included today, what the paid add-ons cost in Australian dollars, and what genuinely needs a different licence.
Not sure? Microsoft 365 admin centre, Billing, then Your products.
Sizes the Copilot add-on and flags the 300-seat Business ceiling.
All prices AUD ex GST, Microsoft published list, checked August 2026. Indicative only: Australian businesses buy through a CSP partner against their own agreement.
The answer for Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium already includes 3 AI capabilities at no extra cost — Copilot Chat with enterprise data protection chief among them. The add-on decision is narrower than most businesses think: it is about who needs AI across their own files and meetings, not whether the business "has AI".
Included today — already paid for
- Microsoft 365 Copilot ChatIncluded
Microsoft 365 Business Premium is on Microsoft's Copilot Chat eligibility list, so every user with a Microsoft Entra account already has secure AI chat at no extra cost. It is grounded in the web, carries enterprise data protection (prompts and responses stay out of model training), and includes file upload, image generation, Copilot Pages and standard access to the latest models. What it does not do without a paid Copilot seat: search your emails, meetings, chats or files as part of the chat experience.
Microsoft source - Copilot Chat inside Teams, Outlook and EdgeIncluded
The same included chat is available side by side in Teams and Outlook, where it is aware of the content the user has open, and in the Edge browser sidebar when signed in with the work account. Users can also hand it a document directly through file upload.
Microsoft source - Clipchamp Standard, including its AI featuresIncluded
Microsoft's Clipchamp service description names Microsoft 365 Business Premium among the plans that include Clipchamp Standard. The AI features ride along: auto cut (removes pauses from recordings), auto-compose from your own footage, automatic transcripts and captions, image background removal, noise suppression and text-to-speech voiceovers. Video projects store in OneDrive and SharePoint.
Microsoft source
Paid add-ons from this plan
- Microsoft 365 Copilot (Business)Add-on
AU$31.40 per user/month ex GST, paid yearly · checked August 2026
The paid seat that turns Copilot Chat into the full product: answers grounded in your own emails, meetings, chats and files through Microsoft Graph, Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, priority access to the latest models, the Researcher and Analyst agents, SharePoint agents and Copilot Notebooks. Sold on Business plans for up to 300 users. Orders placed before 30 September 2026 price at AU$26.91 per user/month ex GST for the first year; monthly billing runs at AU$37.68.
Microsoft source - Microsoft Teams PremiumAdd-on
AU$15 per user/month ex GST, paid yearly · checked August 2026
The meeting-AI add-on: intelligent meeting recap with AI-generated notes and tasks, live translated captions and transcripts across 40 languages, multilingual meeting support, speaker timeline markers and autogenerated recording chapters, plus advanced meeting protection. It sits on top of an existing Teams licence, and Microsoft offers a one-month trial before committing.
Microsoft source - Pay-as-you-go agents in Copilot ChatAdd-on
Metered consumption, not a per-user licence. Microsoft publishes no AUD rate card for Australia on the pages this tool cites, so it is CSP quote required.
Agents that reach organisational data can be used from the included Copilot Chat without buying seats; Microsoft meters the consumption instead. That makes them a way to put AI on one process or one team's data before committing to per-user licences.
Microsoft source - Clipchamp premium add-onAdd-on
Microsoft publishes no AUD commercial list price for the premium add-on, so it is CSP quote required.
Extends the included Clipchamp Standard with the full premium stock library of video, images and audio. The AI editing features are already in Standard, so most businesses never need this one.
Microsoft source - Microsoft Security CopilotAdd-on
Consumption-priced through Security Compute Units, so it is CSP quote required.
AI-assisted security investigation and agents across the Defender stack. It is a separate consumption-priced product provisioned through Security Compute Units, not a per-user licence. Microsoft 365 E5 and E7 now carry it included, which is worth weighing before buying capacity standalone.
Microsoft source
Indicative annual spend — Microsoft 365 Copilot (Business)
AU$9,420/ year ex GST for 25 seats
AU$8,073 in year one at the current promotional rate.
Seats × AU$31.40 × 12. List price, checked August 2026. A CSP quote against your agreement is the real number.
Worth knowing at this size
- The AU$26.91 promotional rate has a date on itMicrosoft's published discount on the Copilot Business seat applies to orders placed before 30 September 2026. It is a first-year price, not a forever price, so budget against the AU$31.40 list rate and treat the promotion as a bonus.
Not on this plan — needs a different licence
- Work-grounded AI: Copilot across your own emails, meetings and filesNot included
No Microsoft 365 base plan includes it, and Microsoft 365 Business Premium is no exception. Microsoft is explicit that Copilot Chat is grounded in web data only; grounding in organisational content through Microsoft Graph, and Copilot working inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, arrive with the Microsoft 365 Copilot seat listed under add-ons. Until then, users can hand individual files to Copilot Chat manually, which is the honest workaround.
Microsoft source - Teams intelligent meeting recapNot included
Standard Teams shows a plain recap of meetings you attended. The AI version (generated notes and tasks, recap of meetings you missed, speaker markers, live translation) is named against Teams Premium, and Copilot in Teams arrives with the Microsoft 365 Copilot seat. Both paths are in the add-on list; neither is in the base plan.
Microsoft source - Security Copilot as an inclusionNot included
Microsoft includes Security Copilot with Microsoft 365 E5 and E7, and Microsoft 365 Business Premium is neither. From this plan it is bought as consumption-priced capacity (see add-ons), or it arrives with a move to E5. That comparison is worth running properly rather than assuming either way is cheaper.
Microsoft source
Why this is worth checking
The cheapest AI rollout starts with what is already licensed.
Microsoft updated the boundary between the included Copilot Chat and the paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seat, and the current split is generous on the free side. Copilot Chat gives every Entra signed-in user secure, web-grounded AI chat with enterprise data protection, file upload, image generation and the latest models, on Business Basic just as much as on E5. The paid seat exists for a narrower question: which roles need AI grounded in their own emails, meetings and files, working inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams.
Priced properly, that question has a number attached. The Copilot seat lists at AU$31.40 per user per month ex GST on Business plans, currently promoted at AU$26.91 for orders before 30 September 2026, and AU$44.90 on enterprise plans. Teams Premium carries the meeting AI at AU$15.00. A 25-seat business weighing “Copilot for everyone” against “Copilot for the five people who live in documents, Copilot Chat for the rest” is comparing roughly AU$9,400 a year against roughly AU$1,900, and the second option is very often where the value actually is.
Every statement in the tool is checked against the Microsoft page it cites, August 2026. Where Microsoft publishes no Australian price, as with the Clipchamp premium add-on, metered agents and Security Compute Units, the tool says CSP quote required rather than inventing a figure. Licensing can be complex; Frontrow walks clients through it with the tenant's real numbers.
Frequently asked questions
What Australian businesses ask about Microsoft 365 AI licensing.
Is Copilot Chat actually included, or is it a trial?
Included, and Microsoft is specific about it. Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is available at no extra cost to users signed in with a Microsoft Entra work account on an eligible subscription, and the eligibility list covers every plan in this checker: Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium, E3, E5, F1 and F3, plus the Office 365 E and F plans. It is not a time-limited trial and there is no per-user charge. It carries enterprise data protection, meaning prompts and responses are protected in transit and at rest and are not used to train the underlying models. What it deliberately does not do is search your organisation's emails, meetings or files as part of the chat; Microsoft draws that boundary at the paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seat. For a business that has never rolled Copilot Chat out properly, this is the cheapest AI capability decision available: the licence cost is zero and the work is adoption, not procurement.
What does the paid Microsoft 365 Copilot add that Copilot Chat does not?
One word does most of the work: grounding. Microsoft states plainly that Copilot Chat is grounded in data from the web only, while the Microsoft 365 Copilot seat grounds answers in your own work data (emails, Teams meetings and chats, SharePoint and OneDrive files) through Microsoft Graph. The paid seat also puts Copilot inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams with in-app editing, adds priority access to the latest models rather than capacity-dependent standard access, and opens the Researcher and Analyst reasoning agents, SharePoint agents and Copilot Notebooks. The practical test Frontrow applies with clients: if a role's value from AI comes from summarising their meetings, finding their documents and drafting from their own content, that role needs the seat. If web-grounded drafting and analysis is enough, the included Copilot Chat already covers it at no cost.
What does Microsoft 365 Copilot cost in Australia right now?
Two prices, both AUD ex GST, both checked against Microsoft's Australian pricing pages in August 2026. On Microsoft 365 Business plans the Copilot Business seat lists at AU$31.40 per user per month paid yearly, with a published promotional rate of AU$26.91 for orders placed before 30 September 2026 and a monthly-billing option at AU$37.68. On enterprise and frontline plans (E3, E5, F3 and their Office 365 equivalents) the seat is AU$44.90 per user per month paid yearly. The Business SKU carries a 300-user maximum, matching the ceiling on the Business base plans themselves. Microsoft 365 E7 is the exception to all of this: it includes the Copilot seat outright. Treat every figure here as a list price; Australian businesses buy through a CSP partner against their own agreement, and the promotional rate is a first-year price, not a forever price.
Why do our Teams meetings not have AI recap when we already pay for Teams?
Because Microsoft names intelligent meeting recap against two licences, and standard Teams is not one of them. Every Teams user can see a plain recap of meetings they attended. The AI version, meaning generated notes and recommended tasks, recap of meetings you missed, speaker timeline markers, autogenerated chapters and live translated captions and transcripts, arrives with Microsoft Teams Premium at AU$15.00 per user per month ex GST paid yearly, or with the Microsoft 365 Copilot seat, which brings Copilot into meetings as part of the wider product. Which path is right depends on what else the business wants: a firm that mainly wants meeting intelligence buys Teams Premium and saves the difference; a firm that wants AI across documents and email as well usually finds the Copilot seat absorbs the meeting use case. Frontrow prices both paths side by side before a client commits to either.
Does Microsoft 365 E5 really include Security Copilot?
Yes, with a catch worth knowing before anyone budgets around it. Microsoft's documentation states that Security Copilot is included with the Microsoft 365 E5 and E7 licences, with security agents and AI-assisted investigation across the Defender stack. The catch is Microsoft's own wording: eligibility alone does not enable access, and the inclusion is rolled out per tenant, so an E5 customer should confirm Security Copilot is actually provisioned in their tenant rather than assume it. For everyone not on E5 or E7, Security Copilot remains a separate consumption-priced product provisioned through Security Compute Units. There is no per-user price to quote, and any real figure comes from a CSP against expected usage. For E5 tenants the action is simpler and free: check whether an inclusion already paid for is switched on.