Microsoft 365 users might have noticed a friendly-looking message this month, letting them know that Copilot, Microsoft’s AI tool, is now included in their plan. You should know that this “gift” comes with a price—that could be easy to miss.
Microsoft 365’s Copilot Bundle Triggers an Automatic Price Increase
As of January 2025,Microsoft 365 Office apps automatically come with Copilot, Microsoft’s AI tool. The bundle is a shift away from the company’s former structure, which only offeredCopilot Proas a robust, optional add-on to your Microsoft 365 workflow. Now, you no longer have a choice: Copilot is busting down the door of your Office apps, including Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and so on.
The update, which occurs automatically with your next Microsoft 365 renewal, prompts a price increase of $3 on your subscription. If you’re not fond of Copilot or AI features in general (or at least not ready to pay for them), you have the power to downgrade—or go back to a non-Copilot plan.
How to Go Back to a Classic Microsoft 365 Plan
The process of finding your way back to a standard or “Classic” plan, as Microsoft has dubbed them, is not quite straightforward. This isn’t surprising, considering that Microsoft hopes you’ll stay on the AI-inclusive plan.
Here are the steps to switch your plan to one without Copilot built in:
PerMicrosoft Support, the Personal Classic or Family Classic plan “may not always be offered,” so it’s possible that the price increase will catch up with us somewhere down the line. Hopefully, that’s not any time soon.
The Price Limit Does Not Exist
It’s not a great feeling when a subscription service jacks up its price for a feature you didn’t opt to add yourself, but it’s nice that you have some control, in this case. Price increases are inevitable; we’re certainly seeing it with streaming services, fromNetflix inflating its ad-free subscriptionto $17.99 andYouTube TV bumping its monthly feeby $10 to a whopping $82.99.
Productivity apps are no different. InMicrosoft’s announcementof the Copilot bundle, the company made sure to remind us that this is the “first time since its release” in 2013 that it has increased the price.
Equally inevitable is AI, which is coming into our apps whether we like it or not. That being said, AI-related laws and regulations are still playing catch up. So, as long as AI remains prohibited in specific situations, there will always be some level of control in separating, or disabling, these features from our day-to-day tools.
