The short version: From December 1, 2026, a new Microsoft 365 Copilot Business license bought through a Microsoft reseller arrives with pay-as-you-go Copilot Credits switched on and a default ceiling of 4,000 credits per user per month. At the $0.01 per credit rate Microsoft uses in its own documentation, that ceiling is $40 per person per month, almost twice the $21 list price of the seat itself. It is a limit, not a bill. But somebody else sets it, and the notice announcing it was written for the people who sell you the license, who are told it is a growth opportunity.
None of that makes the credits a bad deal. What they mainly pay for is Copilot Cowork, Microsoft’s agent that takes a task and carries it through your files, inbox and browser, and for a small office that is real time handed back every week. The point of this piece is narrower: make sure the hours arrive with a number you chose, before the first new seat lands on your account.
What changes on December 1 for Copilot Business?
Microsoft announced the change in its October 2026 Partner Center announcements, dated October 1 and read for this piece on October 5. The date has already moved once: the notice says the change was first communicated for November 2 and now starts December 1. The terms, in Microsoft’s words and order:
- It applies to new purchases of Microsoft 365 Copilot Business licenses, standalone and bundled, made through the Cloud Solution Provider program. That is the reseller channel most small firms use when an IT provider runs their Microsoft account.
- Pay-as-you-go becomes the default billing configuration, and new licenses include the Azure subscription setup that usage-based billing needs.
- The default spending limit is 4,000 Copilot Credits per user per month, adjustable by admins. Microsoft’s own example: a customer with 100 Copilot Business users could consume up to 400,000 credits a month.
- The rollout starts in supported markets. The United States is not among the eleven countries named as initially excluded.
Copilot Business is Microsoft’s Copilot tier for organizations under 300 users, the seat we looked at when Microsoft priced it below the enterprise license. The seat still covers Copilot Chat and Copilot inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams without spending credits. The credits pay for the newer agent work. Microsoft’s usage-based billing overview, updated October 2, lists the services billed this way today: Cowork, advanced work in SharePoint and OneDrive, the Work IQ API, Copilot Managed Runtime and Teams Phone Agent.
How much can 4,000 Copilot Credits cost?
Microsoft’s Copilot Credit pre-purchase page uses $0.01 per credit as the pay-as-you-go rate in its own worked example, and its Copilot Studio pricing page sells prepaid packs at $200 for 25,000 credits, which works out to $0.008 each. Both read October 5. At the pay-as-you-go rate, 4,000 credits is $40 per user per month. Here is what the default ceiling adds up to by team size, set against what the Copilot Business seats themselves cost at the $21 list price:
| Copilot Business users | Seats per month | Default credit ceiling per month | Ceiling per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | $63 | $120 | $1,440 |
| 8 | $168 | $320 | $3,840 |
| 15 | $315 | $600 | $7,200 |
| 40 | $840 | $1,600 | $19,200 |
Read across any row and the pattern is the same: the default ceiling on agent work is 1.9 times the price of the seats. An eight-person office paying $168 a month for Copilot Business could, under the default, run up $320 a month in credits on top of it. Most months will come in far lower. Microsoft does not publish a flat price per Cowork task; its Cowork admin page says model responses, tool and skill calls, image generation and browser tasks all count toward consumption, and points to a Cowork cost estimator. The ceiling matters for the unusual month, not the typical one.
If this feels familiar, it is the same shift ChatGPT made in July, when workspace agents moved onto a credit pool. The seat buys you the assistant. The agent that does the work runs on a meter.
Why a Copilot spending policy is more than a budget
Four details in Microsoft’s own admin documentation explain how the default behaves once it is live. None of them appears in the partner notice.
A spending policy decides who gets in. The Cowork admin page is blunt about it: a spending policy works as an access control, not only as a budget. Anyone inside a policy that includes Cowork can use Cowork, and a limit of one credit still grants access. To keep a person out, you leave them out of every such policy. Lowering their limit does not do it. Microsoft’s setup guide adds that the default policy targets your entire organization and all users.
New services join on their own. Each spending policy has a setting called Auto-apply new services, and it is on by default. Future Copilot services and agents that Microsoft adds to usage-based billing inherit the policy, and its ceiling, without anyone approving them. Teams Phone Agent, which answers calls, is already on the list.
Some work runs while nobody is at a desk. Cowork can run scheduled prompts at a set time and event-driven tasks that start when a matching email or Teams message arrives. Microsoft says each runs with its creator’s permissions, asks for approval before sending or posting by default, and has rate limits and loop protection. A task that fires on every incoming email still spends credits on every incoming email.
Prepaid credits roll into pay-as-you-go. The setup guide says that when prepaid credits run out, usage automatically continues on a pay-as-you-go basis. The only stop is the limit.
Who is the default really for?
The partner notice has a section titled “What this means for partners.” It says the default means less setup friction for resellers, and then: “Early usage can create a natural path to expanded consumption.” It lists upsell conversations and a Copilot Cowork activation incentive in the same sentence. On the same day, Microsoft’s growth margin program went live, paying resellers extra margin for growing customer adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot.
That is not a scandal. Resellers are paid when customers use what they sell, and a default that works on day one is also good for an owner who wants Cowork doing something useful the week it arrives. It does mean the person setting up your new seats has no reason to move the dial unless you ask. So ask.
Five Copilot Credit settings to choose before December 1
All of these live in the Microsoft 365 admin center under Copilot, then Cost management. If your IT provider holds the admin role, send them this list.
- Decide who gets Cowork. Put the people who will actually use it in a security group and scope the policy to that group, not to everyone. Access follows the policy, not the limit.
- Set a per-user monthly limit you would actually pay. Microsoft calls this setting optional. A 1,000-credit limit is $10 per person at pay-as-you-go; raise it for the one or two people who prove it pays.
- Set an organization limit. One number for the whole account, so a single month cannot surprise you.
- Turn on alerts. Alerts can trigger at a credit amount or a percentage and repeat daily until the month resets. Send them to whoever pays the bills.
- Decide on Auto-apply new services. Leave it on if you trust new agents to arrive under your limits. Turn it off if you would rather approve something like a phone agent before it can start spending.
One more useful touch: give your bookkeeper a reader role such as Global Reader or AI Reader. Microsoft’s documentation says reader roles can see consumption reports without changing any setting.
The notice speaks only of new purchases. If you already own Copilot Business and never switched on usage-based billing, this notice does not switch it on. If you add seats after December 1, ask your provider whether the new licenses arrive with the default policy, and look at the Cost management page yourself that week. For a wider view of what is worth paying for, our guide to AI software for small business covers the rest of the stack, and our earlier breakdown of Microsoft 365 Copilot for small business covers the break-even on the bundles.
Paying for agent work by the unit is the right model; an agent that drafts the quote, chases the invoice and files the paperwork is doing variable work, and a flat seat was never going to fit it. The default is reasonable for Microsoft and its resellers. The number is still yours to choose.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a Copilot Credit cost?
Microsoft’s own pre-purchase documentation uses $0.01 per credit as the pay-as-you-go rate, and its Copilot Studio pricing page sells prepaid packs of 25,000 credits for $200, or $0.008 each, both checked October 5, 2026. Credits pay for Cowork, advanced work in SharePoint and OneDrive, the Work IQ API, Copilot Managed Runtime and Teams Phone Agent.
Does the December 1 change affect Copilot Business licenses I already own?
Microsoft’s October 1 partner notice applies to new purchases of Copilot Business licenses made through the Cloud Solution Provider program from December 1, 2026. It does not say existing licenses are switched over, so if you add seats after that date, check the Cost management page in the Microsoft 365 admin center the same week.
Is the 4,000-credit default a monthly charge?
No. It is a ceiling, worth $40 per user per month at the $0.01 rate, and Microsoft says charges are based on actual usage. You pay only for the credits your team uses, up to whatever limit is set.
How do I stop someone using Copilot Cowork?
Leave them out of every spending policy that includes Cowork. Microsoft’s Cowork admin page says a spending policy is an access control, and that even a one-credit limit still grants access, so lowering a person’s limit does not keep them out.
If Cowork could take one recurring job off your desk this winter, which job would you hand it first, and what would you cap it at?
