Microsoft's new reseller Copilot seats can add usage charges to the $21 monthly fee. The default cap is 4,000 credits per user.
Microsoft's partner notes, updated on 29 October, say pay-as-you-go billing will be switched on by default for new Copilot Business licences sold through its resellers from 1 December.
The meter covers advanced AI work such as Copilot Cowork and is billed on actual use.
Microsoft's own example: 100 users could consume up to 400,000 credits a month under the default limit. Neither Microsoft page cited here gives a currency price for one credit, so the example does not tell finance what that ceiling costs.
A second default sits in the admin centre. Spending policies have "Auto-apply new services" switched on, so a policy covers new Microsoft AI services as they arrive unless an admin turns it off.
Our reading for CFOs: the 4,000-credit ceiling is Microsoft's number until finance or IT sets a different one, and the credit price is the figure to ask for before the first new seat is bought.
Sources
Our file on Microsoft
- 2 Nov
Microsoft, Oracle and three peers cut buybacks 83% to $13.6bn. AI spending is eating their cash, a Reuters analysis found.
- 1 Nov
Microsoft's browser update left some New Outlook users unable to open email attachments. Classic Outlook, which Microsoft is phasing out, kept working.
- 1 Nov
Microsoft said Foundry will get the tool GitHub uses to run AI agents. SAP may cut off agents skipping its approved routes.
- 30 Oct
Microsoft's GitHub said AI agents wrote first drafts of over 40% of code change requests in September. In March it was 17%.
- 30 Oct
Microsoft is borrowing at least $25 billion, Bloomberg reported. Its CFO says cloud demand still exceeds what Microsoft can supply.
For your next steering committee
- 1Ask when each major software contract renews and what notice period applies.
- 2Ask which price protections are written into the contract and which rest on a sales conversation.
- 3Ask what a price rise on that line would do to the run budget, and who would notice it first.
Issue 01 of the ERP LEADERS brief puts a timeline, the three-number review and six questions on one page. Read issue 01
Welcome back. · Issue 01
