Microsoft Copilot Autopilot: what it is, UK price and how to get access

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Microsoft's announcement of the new Copilot with Home, Code and Copilot Autopilot

Microsoft Copilot Autopilot is a cloud-hosted agent in Microsoft 365 that you give a name, a role and a goal, and that keeps working while you are away. It is for organisations already paying for Microsoft 365 Copilot (£23.10 a user a month billed yearly, excluding VAT), with Autopilot's work charged on top in Copilot Credits. As of 18 October 2026 it is a private preview with no public sign-up or country list, so most UK firms cannot use it yet. Tidy your sharing permissions first, because Autopilot sees whatever its access allows.

Last updated 21 October 2026. Written by Annie, a search and digital marketing specialist. Based on official documentation, pricing pages and video tutorials; I have not tested it hands-on. See the editorial policy.

Key facts

  • What it is: An always-on Microsoft 365 agent with its own identity, memory and workspace; formerly Microsoft Scout
  • Made by: Microsoft
  • Price: Microsoft 365 Copilot licence (£23.10 a user a month billed yearly, excluding VAT) plus Copilot Credits, as of 18 October 2026
  • Free plan or trial: No free plan; preview places are by Microsoft's invitation
  • Runs on: Microsoft's cloud, inside your Microsoft 365 tenant; reached through the Copilot app, Teams and Outlook
  • What you need: A work Microsoft 365 tenant, Copilot licences, a spending policy and a preview place
  • Open source: No (its predecessor Scout was built on OpenClaw)
  • Available in the UK: Not openly; private preview only, with no country list, as of 18 October 2026
  • Best for: Larger Microsoft 365 organisations with an IT team to manage spend
  • Official site: blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2026/09/25/introducing-the-new-copilot-with-home-code-and-autopilot
Microsoft Copilot Autopilot at a glance: needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence at £23.10 a user a month plus Copilot Credits, no free plan, runs in Microsoft's cloud inside your Microsoft 365 tenant, private preview only, not open source, best for larger Microsoft 365 organisations with an IT team
Microsoft Copilot Autopilot, formerly Scout, at a glance. Prices and availability checked against Microsoft's pages on 18 October 2026.

On this page

What is Copilot Autopilot?

Autopilot is one of three parts of Microsoft's rebuilt Copilot app, unveiled on 25 September 2026 with Home (chat and Cowork together) and Code (small apps from plain English). Microsoft calls this AI agent "a persistent, proactive and personal agent" (Microsoft).

According to Microsoft's announcement and its admin notice MC1479277:

  • A job, not a prompt. You set a name, a role, a goal and boundaries. It watches channels, chases threads, runs recurring work and resumes projects days later.
  • Its own identity. Each Autopilot has its own identity, memory, computer and workspace inside your tenant (your organisation's private slice of Microsoft's cloud).
  • Always on. It runs in the cloud, so it carries on when your laptop is shut.
  • Where you meet it. Its own tab in the Copilot app, plus Teams, Outlook and documents, where colleagues can @mention it.

In Microsoft's launch demo, an Autopilot called Dot combined email, Teams, stock records and spreadsheets to spot a shipping problem hitting 18 stores. Even so, VentureBeat noted that one demo does not show how reliably Autopilot handles similar work. (Autopilot was unveiled four days before OpenAI's ChatGPT Dots.)

Formerly Scout. Autopilot is the renamed Microsoft Scout, launched on 2 June 2026 as an experimental desktop app built on the open-source OpenClaw agent (MC1332811). Autopilot moves it into Microsoft's cloud. It is unrelated to Windows Autopilot, Microsoft's laptop set-up tool.

What's new in Copilot Autopilot in October 2026?

  • From 19 October 2026: New Microsoft 365 Copilot Business subscriptions bought direct from Microsoft come with pay-as-you-go billing switched on and default spending limits. Subscriptions bought through partners follow from 2 November. Existing subscriptions are unchanged (MC1476200).
  • 12 October 2026: Microsoft updated MC1479277. Autopilot's rollout timing and admin controls are still to be announced.
  • 8 October 2026: Google Cloud announced a rival, the Gemini agent, which also gets its own email address and calendar (Forbes).
  • October 2026, planned: Microsoft said Today, a proactive command centre across mail, calendar, Teams, meetings and tasks, would enter private preview this month. It also said Agent 365 cost management would cover Copilot Studio agents. Neither is confirmed live as of 18 October 2026.
  • 25 September 2026: Autopilot unveiled, billed on usage in Copilot Credits, with its private preview due to expand at the end of the month (Microsoft).

Is Copilot Autopilot available in the UK?

Not in practice. As of 18 October 2026, Autopilot is a private preview for organisations Microsoft selects, with no country list, sign-up form or release date. The licence it needs, Microsoft 365 Copilot, is sold in the UK in pounds, and Microsoft's Frontier early-access programme lists no country limits. Microsoft has said nothing about Autopilot for personal Microsoft 365 plans.

How much does Copilot Autopilot cost in the UK?

Autopilot has no price of its own. You pay a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence per user, then Copilot Credits for Autopilot's work. Microsoft keeps everyday AI in the licence and bills advanced AI in credits (Microsoft Tech Community). It has not said how many credits an Autopilot uses.

Microsoft 365 Copilot UK pricing in pounds, the licence Copilot Autopilot needs
Microsoft 365 Copilot business prices in pounds, excluding VAT, on 18 October 2026. Screenshot: aiagents.org.uk.

These prices come from Microsoft's UK pages as of 18 October 2026. All exclude VAT, which is usual for business plans, so add 20% if you cannot reclaim it.

What you buyUK price (excluding VAT)Notes
Microsoft 365 Copilot£23.10 a user a month billed yearly; £24.26 paid monthly on a yearly termThe licence Autopilot needs
Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (up to 300 users)£13.80 billed yearly (first-year offer for existing customers until 31 December 2026; normally £16.10); £19.32 monthlyNot confirmed for the Autopilot preview
Business Standard or Premium with Copilot£18.10 or £24.60 a user a month billed yearlyMicrosoft 365 apps plus Copilot Business
Copilot Credits, pay-as-you-go$0.01 a credit (about 0.75p)Billed monthly through Azure
Copilot Credit pack£153.80 for 25,000 credits a month (about 0.6p each)Prepaid, shared across the tenant
Agent 365£11.50 a user a month billed yearlyOptional agent governance; included in Microsoft 365 E7 (£81.60)

Sources: Microsoft UK Copilot pricing, enterprise, Copilot Studio and Agent 365 pages, and the Cowork launch post for the $0.01 rate. A one-year pre-purchase saves 5% to 20%, but unused credits expire (Copilot Credits guide).

Watch for:

  • No burn rate. With no published credit rates, set a per-user cap first.
  • Policy first. In enterprise tenants nothing metered runs until an admin creates a spending policy in Cost management in the Microsoft 365 admin centre (MC1479276).
  • Auto-apply. Partners report an "Auto-apply new services" option, on by default, that adds new metered services to your spending policy automatically (EPC Group).

For context, see what AI agents cost in the UK.

What do you need for Copilot Autopilot?

  • A work Microsoft 365 tenant. Scout's preview did not support personal accounts.
  • A Microsoft 365 Copilot licence for each user.
  • A Copilot Credits spending policy. Without one, users see a Request access message instead (MC1479277).
  • A preview place, which Microsoft decides.
  • Tidy permissions. Overshared SharePoint sites become Autopilot's reading list.

How do you get access to Copilot Autopilot?

There is nothing to install and no public sign-up. These steps, drawn from Microsoft's Frontier page and admin notices, get a tenant ready. None guarantees a place.

What you need for Microsoft Copilot Autopilot: a work Microsoft 365 tenant, Microsoft 365 Copilot licences at £23.10 a user a month, Copilot Credits with a spending policy, and a private preview place from Microsoft
What you need before Autopilot can run in your organisation. Checked against Microsoft's pages on 18 October 2026.
Microsoft Frontier programme page explaining early access to Copilot preview features such as Scout and Cowork
Microsoft's Frontier early-access programme page, still listing Scout, on 18 October 2026. Screenshot: aiagents.org.uk.
  1. Check licences in the Microsoft 365 admin centre.
  2. Turn on Frontier for Copilot in the admin centre and assign eligible users. Success: Frontier-labelled features appear for them.
  3. Create a spending policy with group or user limits and alerts.
  4. Ask your Microsoft account team or licensing partner whether your tenant can join the preview.
  5. Watch MC1479277, where Microsoft says rollout dates and admin controls will appear.
  6. Practise on Cowork. Copilot Cowork, generally available since 16 June 2026, uses the same credits and limits (Microsoft).

What could you give Copilot Autopilot to do?

Nobody outside the preview can test these yet. They follow Microsoft's pattern of a name, a role and a goal.

  1. Supplier review. "You are Vera, procurement assistant. Run the Q1 supplier review and chase owners until each is filed."
  2. Channel watch. "Each morning, summarise new issues in the Customer escalations channel and chase any unanswered after a day."
  3. Weekly report. "Every Friday, summarise sales from the shared workbook and post it to the Sales channel."
  4. Project chaser. "Own the office move plan and remind owners three days before each deadline."
  5. Stock alerts. "Flag any store with under a week's stock of our top 20 products. Draft, but do not send, a note to the buyer."

Keep the first month draft-only.

Best Copilot Autopilot video tutorials

Video: M365 Copilot Connection on YouTube.

M365 Copilot Connection's 13-minute explainer covers Scout becoming Autopilot, the Dot demo, licences versus Copilot Credits, rollout timing and spend controls.

VideoChannelLengthUploadedBest for
NEW Copilot Wave 4: Home, Code & Autopilot ExplainedM365 Copilot Connection13:0525 September 2026Clearest overview of Autopilot, costs and rollout
The new Copilot: where work comes togetherMicrosoft Copilot1:3325 September 2026Microsoft's own short launch film
The NEW Microsoft Copilot Is Here! Home, Code, Autopilot & MoreReza Dorrani13:131 October 2026The Autopilot chapter, plus cost controls and Today
New Copilot: Capable. Complete. Complex?Bright Ideas Agency17:1830 September 2026A sceptical look at pricing and what Autopilot might cost
Hands-on with Microsoft Scout - New from Microsoft BuildShane Young23:444 June 2026Watching Scout, the predecessor, at work

Watch the M365 Copilot Connection explainer first, then Shane Young's Scout demo to see this kind of agent on screen.

LinkWhat it's for
Introducing the new CopilotLaunch announcement
Frontier programmeEarly access to preview features
Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing (UK)Licence and bundle prices
Copilot Studio and credits pricing (UK)Credit packs and pay-as-you-go
Microsoft Agent 365 (UK)Agent governance and price
Microsoft 365 Copilot privacyData use and training
Copilot data residencyWhere Copilot data is stored

Is Copilot Autopilot safe? Privacy, security and UK GDPR

There is no Autopilot privacy page yet, so this covers Microsoft 365 Copilot and the Scout preview.

Identity and approvals. Microsoft says Autopilot works with permissions, audit and governance behind it. At Scout's launch it said each agent gets its own Entra ID identity and Purview data-loss rules apply before anything is sent (CFOtech UK). Scout also needed your confirmation before sending, sharing, replying or forwarding (Microsoft Learn). Microsoft has not said whether Autopilot keeps those rules, though Satya Nadella said every agent needs an identity and "Everything it does needs to be observed" (VentureBeat).

Permissions and training. Autopilot sees what its access allows, so fix overshared sites first. Copilot prompts, responses and work data do not train Microsoft's foundation models (Microsoft Learn).

Where data lives. The UK is outside Microsoft's EU Data Boundary, which covers the EU and EFTA (Microsoft Learn). Copilot is covered by Microsoft's data residency commitments, and Cowork stores prompts and responses at rest in the UK for UK tenants (Microsoft Learn). UK in-country processing of Copilot prompts is now expected by the end of 2026, a year later than first planned (Microsoft); until then, requests can be processed elsewhere.

Preview terms. Previews come as is, outside Microsoft's service level agreement, and may not be covered by support (Product Terms).

Known incidents. CVE-2025-32711, published on 11 June 2025, was an AI command injection flaw in Microsoft 365 Copilot that could leak information over a network, rated 9.3 (critical) by Microsoft (NVD). Prompt injection (hidden instructions in emails or pages) is a leading risk for an agent that reads everything.

UK GDPR. Your organisation stays the controller, and Microsoft's processing terms sit in its Data Protection Addendum. Do a data protection impact assessment first, and read AI agents and UK GDPR.

Safe settings: a named human owner for each Autopilot, draft-only actions, a per-user credit cap and a weekly look at the audit log.

Copilot Autopilot vs alternatives

Prices and availability as of 18 October 2026.

AgentMade byUK priceUK availabilityWorks in
Copilot AutopilotMicrosoftCopilot licence from £23.10 a user a month billed yearly, plus credits (excluding VAT)Private preview onlyMicrosoft 365
Gemini agentGoogle CloudNot publishedNot broadly available yetGmail, Docs, Slack, Microsoft 365
ChatGPT DotsOpenAIWith a Business Premium seat, £75 a month billed yearlyBusiness Premium and Enterprise onlyChatGPT, Slack, Teams
ChatGPT Work and workspace agentsOpenAIWork on every plan, limited on Free; workspace agents need Business, from £15 a seat a month billed yearlyYesChatGPT, Slack
Claude CoworkAnthropicPro £18 a month plus VATYesClaude desktop app and connected apps
Salesforce AgentforceSalesforceFlex Credits £400 per 100,000Yes, priced in poundsSalesforce and Slack

Sources: Forbes for Gemini agent, Salesforce for Agentforce.

Pick Autopilot only if you already run Microsoft 365 Copilot and can get into the preview. For an always-on agent this month, ChatGPT Dots is the nearest rival a UK firm can buy, while Copilot Cowork and Claude Cowork handle long tasks today. If your customer data lives in Salesforce, Agentforce fits better.

Who should use Copilot Autopilot?

Autopilot suits UK organisations already on Microsoft 365 Copilot, with an IT team to manage spending and agent identities, and plenty of chasing and coordination work.

Skip it, for now, if:

Frequently asked questions

What is Copilot Autopilot?

Copilot Autopilot is Microsoft's always-on agent for Microsoft 365, unveiled on 25 September 2026 and previously called Microsoft Scout. You give an Autopilot a name, a role and a goal, and it works in Microsoft's cloud with its own identity and memory, watching Teams channels, following up on threads and returning to projects days later.

Is Copilot Autopilot available in the UK?

Copilot Autopilot is not openly available in the UK. As of 18 October 2026 it is a private preview for organisations Microsoft selects, with no country list, public sign-up or release date. UK firms can prepare by licensing Microsoft 365 Copilot, enabling Frontier and setting a spending policy, then asking their Microsoft account team about joining.

How much does Copilot Autopilot cost?

Copilot Autopilot has no standalone price. Each user needs a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, £23.10 a month billed yearly in the UK excluding VAT, and Autopilot's work is charged in Copilot Credits at $0.01 each pay-as-you-go, or £153.80 for a 25,000-credit monthly pack. Microsoft has not published how many credits Copilot Autopilot uses, as of 18 October 2026.

What is Microsoft Scout?

Microsoft Scout was an experimental always-on agent introduced on 2 June 2026. Scout ran as a desktop app on Windows and Mac, was built on the open-source OpenClaw agent, and needed Frontier enrolment plus Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot licences. On 25 September 2026 Microsoft renamed Scout as Copilot Autopilot and moved it into the cloud.

Is Copilot Autopilot the same as Windows Autopilot?

No. Copilot Autopilot is an AI agent that does ongoing work in Microsoft 365, such as chasing project updates in Teams. Windows Autopilot is a separate Microsoft tool that IT teams use to set up new company PCs. GitHub Copilot's command-line tool also has an autopilot mode, which is unrelated to Copilot Autopilot.

Copilot Autopilot vs ChatGPT Dots: which is better?

Copilot Autopilot and ChatGPT Dots are both always-on agents with their own workspace. Copilot Autopilot lives inside Microsoft 365 and is still a private preview. ChatGPT Dots come with a ChatGPT Business Premium seat, £75 a month billed yearly in the UK, and work in ChatGPT and Slack today, with Teams in an invite-only alpha for workspaces. For most UK firms, Dots are the one they can actually buy.

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