Microsoft Introduces Usage-Based Pricing for Copilot Cowork

Microsoft has announced a major change to its AI-powered Copilot Cowork platform by introducing usage-based pricing for enterprise customers. Instead of a fixed subscription model, businesses will now be charged according to the amount of AI processing and computing resources they consume. The move comes as demand for advanced agentic AI tools continues to grow rapidly. Unlike traditional chatbots, Copilot Cowork can autonomously perform complex tasks by accessing data, calling AI models repeatedly, and using external business applications, resulting in significantly higher computing costs.

To reduce operational expenses, Microsoft is also evaluating a customized version of DeepSeek V4 and other open-source AI models as lower-cost alternatives to models from OpenAI and Anthropic that currently power Copilot Cowork. The company emphasized that any DeepSeek-based option would be optional and fully hosted on Azure, ensuring customer data remains protected under Microsoft's enterprise security framework. Microsoft recently made Copilot Cowork generally available after a three-month preview period, with more than half of the Fortune 500 companies reportedly testing the platform. The company is also preparing to launch its own AI model, Cowork 1, as a cost-effective solution for routine enterprise workloads.