BizAI Weekly
Glean logo GleanContact sales
Microsoft 365 Copilot logo Microsoft 365 CopilotEnterprise add-on $30/user/mo paid yearly (o…

Glean vs Microsoft 365 Copilot

For knowledge mainly inside Microsoft 365 and work in its apps, investigate Copilot first. For sources spread across a wider set of business systems, scope Glean's connectors and permissions. A broad source list is useful only when it covers the information staff are allowed to use. Pricing facts last verified 2026-10-26.

Short answer
  • Glean starts at Contact sales (per-user seats + FlexCredits), no free plan.
  • Microsoft 365 Copilot starts at $30/user/mo (annual, enterprise add-on), no free plan.
  • From our Glean review: Grounded mainly in Microsoft Graph (Outlook, Teams, SharePoint). Glean is vendor-neutral across 250+ apps.
  • From our Microsoft 365 Copilot review: Enterprise search and agents across many SaaS apps, not tied to Microsoft 365.

Glean review · Microsoft 365 Copilot review · Glean alternatives · Microsoft 365 Copilot alternatives

A proposed knowledge question should end in the correct cited record, with restricted information excluded. Compare that result under an ordinary employee's identity, not an administrator's. Microsoft's public add-on needs its qualifying licence; Glean's quote includes seats and applicable FlexCredits. Don't turn either model into a guessed cost per correct answer.

Work AI platform: permission-aware enterprise search, an AI assistant and agents grounded in all your company data through 250+ connectors.

Starting price
Contact sales
Free tier
No
Deployment
About 1–3 weeks for a standard deployment (vendor estimate); larger orgs 3–4+ weeks
Consider Glean if the work you want to stop doing manually is siloed intranet search, manual knowledge hunting across apps, one-off internal chatbots.
Try Glean Direct vendor link.
Microsoft 365 Copilot logo

Microsoft 365 Copilot

Full listing →

Microsoft's AI assistant inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, grounded in your Microsoft 365 data, with Researcher and Analyst agents and agent building in Copilot Studio.

Starting price
Enterprise add-on $30/user/mo paid yearly (o…
Free tier
No
Deployment
Microsoft 365 tenant + qualifying licence; admin rollout
Consider Microsoft 365 Copilot if the work you want to stop doing manually is manual drafting, inbox triage and meeting recaps across Microsoft 365.
Try Microsoft 365 Copilot Direct vendor link.
Side by side

Full comparison

Feature Glean logo Glean Microsoft 365 Copilot logo Microsoft 365 Copilot
PricingContact sales; no public seat price. Enterprise Flex model: per-user, per-month seats plus a pooled allowance of pay-per-use FlexCredits for advanced AI (premium models, agents, APIs). Discounts for your own LLM keys or customer-hosted deployment.Enterprise add-on $30/user/mo paid yearly (or $31.50 paid monthly on an annual commitment); requires a qualifying Microsoft 365 licence. Copilot Business add-on for up to 300 users from $18/user/mo paid yearly (promo; list $21) or $25.20 monthly. Copilot Chat included at no extra cost.
Free tierNoNo
DeploymentAbout 1–3 weeks for a standard deployment (vendor estimate); larger orgs 3–4+ weeksMicrosoft 365 tenant + qualifying licence; admin rollout
No-codeNoNo
ReplacesSiloed intranet search, manual knowledge hunting across apps, one-off internal chatbotsManual drafting, inbox triage and meeting recaps across Microsoft 365
Best forMid-market, Enterprise, Regulated industriesMid-market, Enterprise, Regulated industries on Microsoft 365
Integrations250+ connectors, SharePoint/OneDrive, Google Drive, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Confluence, Jira, Zendesk, Salesforce, ServiceNow, GitHub, MCP serverWord, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Loop, Copilot Studio, 100+ Copilot connectors
Pros**Permission-aware by design**: answers only use content each user can already access.; Very broad connector coverage (250+) and embedded use in Slack, Teams, ServiceNow, Zendesk and Salesforce.; Flexible deployment, including customer-hosted in your own GCP or AWS account, with EU regions.; Bring-your-own model keys, with discounted pricing.**Built into Microsoft 365 apps** people already use, so less change management.; **Grounded in your own Graph data** with existing permissions respected.; **Strong compliance story:** EU Data Boundary, data residency commitments, ISO 27001/42001, HIPAA.; **Agents and Copilot Studio** for custom processes with governance.; **Copilot Chat included** at no extra cost for eligible users.
Cons**No public pricing**: seat price and the FlexCredit rate card are only available from sales.; Advanced features (premium models, agent runs, APIs) consume credits, so heavy usage needs budgeting.; Weeks-long deployment with security and app-owner approvals.; No free plan or self-serve trial.**$30/user/mo add-on** on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 licence.; **Annual commitment** even when paying monthly.; **Usage-based billing** for some advanced AI features makes total cost harder to predict.; **Oversharing risk:** Copilot surfaces anything a user can access, so permissions need cleanup first.; **Anthropic models are excluded** from the EU Data Boundary, which matters for EU tenants.
Partner programReferral program: 5% of first-year ARR (up to 10% by tier) for net-new mid-market/enterprise deals; plus $50 eGift 'give $50, get $50'.No public affiliate program. Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program / CSP for resellers and service partners.
Sources

Which should you choose?

We would start with the source footprint and actual in-app job. Get written scope for the connectors, data controls and usage before treating the offers as substitutes. We haven't benchmarked retrieval or implemented either deployment, so this is a shortlist by documented fit rather than an accuracy award.

Try Glean Try Microsoft 365 Copilot

Glean vs Microsoft 365 Copilot: FAQ

How much does Glean cost compared with Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Glean: Contact sales (per-user seats + FlexCredits). Microsoft 365 Copilot: $30/user/mo (annual, enterprise add-on). Prices from each vendor's pricing page, checked 2026-10-26.

Do Glean and Microsoft 365 Copilot have a free plan?

Glean: no free plan is listed. Microsoft 365 Copilot: no free plan is listed.

What is the main difference between Glean and Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Grounded mainly in Microsoft Graph (Outlook, Teams, SharePoint). Glean is vendor-neutral across 250+ apps.

Which is better, Glean or Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Start with the work you need done. Glean mainly replaces siloed intranet search, manual knowledge hunting across apps, one-off internal chatbots; Microsoft 365 Copilot mainly replaces manual drafting, inbox triage and meeting recaps across microsoft 365. We haven't run hands-on tests of either yet, so we don't declare a winner.

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