Microsoft Copilot: Your AI companion
Depends
Confidence: Medium
The free chatbot is fine to try; the $30/user/month Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on only pays off if your team lives in Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Comparison
Microsoft Copilot: Your AI companion and Gemini both land on Depends.
The free chatbot is fine to try; the $30/user/month Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on only pays off if your team lives in Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Start with the free tier: Gemini is a capable everyday AI assistant and Plus is cheap at $4.99/mo.
| Compare | Microsoft Copilot: Your AI companion | Gemini |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Microsoft 365-heavy offices | Everyday AI assistant users |
| Who it's not for | Anyone wanting a standalone chatbot | Privacy-first buyers |
| Privacy | Actively targeted by researchers; critical one-click flaw CVE-2026-24301 was patched and the bug bounty was expanded.⁸ | Active 2025-26 vulnerability record: a CVSS 10.0 CLI RCE plus phishing and data-exposure flaws, all reportedly patched. |
| Support quality | No support evidence in sources. | No support evidence in sources |
| Public sentiment | Reddit users question Copilot's value versus rival chatbots and gripe about pushy placement and surprise billing.⁴ | Opinion is split: editors rate it around 4.2/5 and praise ease of use, while some Reddit users pan recent model versions.16 |
| Biggest gotcha | The $30 fee is per user, per month, on top of existing Microsoft 365 licenses.³ | CVSS 10.0 RCE in Gemini CLI (2026). Patch fast if you use the developer tooling. |