Microsoft has told partners that from December 1, 2026, new Microsoft 365 Copilot offers can be bought without a Microsoft 365 base subscription, priced the same as the current offers. The change was reported in coverage of October 16 pricing news built from Microsoft's partner communications.

The same coverage says usage-based billing will be on by default for new Copilot Business licenses sold through Microsoft's CSP channel. That shifts new buyers toward paying for agent work as it is used, rather than only per seat.

Until now Copilot has generally required a qualifying base plan underneath it, so unbundling changes the entry cost for organisations that want Copilot seats without the full suite. The December 1 date, not any new feature, is the deadline budget holders need to plan around.

Update, October 19: the usage-based side of that change now has dates and a cap in partner and admin reporting. For new Copilot Business licences bought directly from Microsoft, pay-as-you-go billing is the default from October 19, with the CSP/reseller channel following on December 1; Microsoft creates the Azure billing setup automatically. The preset spending limit is 4,000 Copilot Credits per user per month — at the $0.01 list rate, up to about $40 per person per month on top of the seat — and admins can raise, lower or zero it. Existing licences are not switched over; until now the metered features stayed locked until an admin connected Azure and set a policy themselves.