Guides / Copilot Autopilot · By Phillip Hanasz · Published 25 October 2026

Microsoft Copilot Autopilot

Autopilot is the persistent, proactive agent in the new Microsoft 365 Copilot, announced on 25 September 2026 and previously called Scout. It works without prompts: it watches channels, follows up on threads and runs recurring work, with its own identity, memory, computer and workspace. It went into private preview at the end of September and is billed by usage in Copilot Credits.

What is Copilot Autopilot?

It is Microsoft’s answer to Claude Duet and Gemini agent: an agent that keeps working in the cloud when you are not talking to it. Microsoft says you set the objective and the boundaries, and Autopilot keeps you informed. It lives in your company’s Microsoft 365 tenant with its own identity, under the same permissions, audit and governance as the rest of Copilot.

The new Copilot: Home, Chat, Cowork, Code and Autopilot

Autopilot is one of five parts of the Copilot app Microsoft announced together:

Part	What it does	Status (Microsoft, 25 Sep 2026)
Home	Start page; will route requests to Chat, Cowork or Code	Rolling out to Frontier in the coming weeks
Chat	Quick questions and drafts	Available
Cowork	Delegated tasks run end to end, such as an RFP response	Usage-billed
Code	Small apps, trackers and automations from plain language, in a sandbox	Frontier from end of September; preview for Microsoft 365 Premium and Pro later in 2026
Autopilot	Persistent agent that works without prompts	Private preview from end of September

Microsoft Ignite runs 17 to 20 November 2026, where more detail is likely.

What does Copilot Autopilot cost?

Microsoft has not published an Autopilot rate. It says Cowork, Code, Autopilot and frontier models are billed by usage, while Chat and Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams stay on the per-user license. The numbers that are public, as collected by Cloudwell on 24 September 2026:

Copilot Credits: $0.01 each, pay as you go.
Microsoft 365 Copilot: $30 per user per month, billed yearly. Copilot Business (up to 300 users): $21, or $18 in the first year for purchases until 31 December 2026.
Cowork tasks: about 70 to 200 credits ($0.70 to $2) for light ones, 400 to 600 ($4 to $6) for medium, over 1,500 (more than $15) for heavy. The license includes no Cowork usage.

Bar chart: a light Cowork task costs $0.70 to $2, a medium one $4 to $6 and a heavy one over $15 in Copilot Credits, next to $21 and $30 per user per month for the Copilot Business and Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses — A handful of heavy agent tasks a month costs more than the license itself.

Admins can set spending policies through an API, send credit requests into approval workflows and limit which model families each group can use. If you run Autopilot on a recurring job, set a cap first.

Does Copilot Autopilot support MCP?

Not directly, as far as Microsoft has said. The Autopilot announcement does not mention MCP; it introduces a plugin registry where IT approves Microsoft, partner and custom plugins that bundle skills and connectors. MCP comes in elsewhere in Microsoft’s stack:

Copilot Studio supports remote MCP servers as tools for agents (Microsoft, May 2026).
Declarative agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot can be built from an MCP server in the Microsoft 365 Agents Toolkit for VS Code: you enter the server URL, pick its tools and set up authentication. Microsoft listed SSO and static OAuth 2.0 as supported (December 2025).

For Next Everything that means the endpoint https://mcp.nexteverything.io/mcp. Our server authenticates with an API key in the Authorization: Bearer header or in the URL (?key=<your key>), not with OAuth, so in Microsoft’s tools the URL form is the one to try. We have not tested it in Copilot Studio or Autopilot yet; tell us if you do. Setup for clients we have tested is on the docs page.

Copilot Autopilot vs Gemini agent

	Copilot Autopilot	Gemini agent
Announced	25 Sep 2026	8 Oct 2026
Status	Private preview	Private preview
Price	Usage, in Copilot Credits; rate not published	Not published; reportedly included with Gemini Enterprise
Own identity	Yes, in your tenant	Yes; coworker agents get a Workspace account
MCP	Through Copilot Studio and declarative agents	Any MCP server, plus a company tool registry
Lives in	Microsoft 365, Teams	Workspace, Gemini Enterprise, also Microsoft 365 and Slack

The full Google side: Gemini agent. Agents for individuals rather than companies: personal AI agents in 2026.

FAQ

Is Copilot Autopilot the same as Scout?

Yes. Microsoft says Autopilot was previously called Scout.

Can I use Copilot Autopilot today?

Only in private preview, which Microsoft began expanding at the end of September 2026.

Is Autopilot included in the Microsoft 365 Copilot license?

No. Microsoft lists it with the usage-billed features, paid in Copilot Credits.

Can Copilot order electronic parts?

Only through a tool that has parts data, with a person approving payment. See can an AI agent order electronic parts.

Sources

About this guide

We build Next Everything, an MCP server that lets AI assistants and agents check a BOM against the JLCPCB/LCSC catalog and live Mouser and DigiKey prices, and order the parts you approve. Features, prices and availability here are as announced by each company and reported in the press on the date above. These products are in beta or preview and change often.

Next Everything is not affiliated with Anthropic, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, xAI, Hark or the other companies named here. Product names belong to their owners.