6 Best Microsoft Copilot Alternatives (October 2026)
Microsoft relaunched Copilot on September 25, 2026, and the bill changed shape. Chat stays on the seat. The agents now run on a meter.
Fewer than 7% of Microsoft’s 450 million commercial seats carry a Copilot license, per PYMNTS. If you’re in the other 93%, here is what else does the job.
The quick answer: the best Microsoft Copilot alternative in October 2026 is Carly. Copilot works inside the one Microsoft 365 tenant that licenses it. Carly works across all of your inboxes and calendars at once (Gmail and Outlook, several Microsoft 365 organizations, your personal accounts) and starts work the moment an email, lead or form arrives. It connects to thousands of apps, runs on the web and over SMS, and works inside Copilot, ChatGPT and Claude too. Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. If all you want is a better chatbot, ChatGPT or Claude below will do it.
Microsoft Copilot alternatives compared
| Tool | Best for | Reach beyond one Microsoft 365 tenant | How work starts | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carly | Running inboxes, calendars and follow-ups | Yes: Gmail, Outlook, several Microsoft 365 orgs and personal accounts at once | A new email, lead or form, a schedule, or a text | Free workflows; AI agents from $35/mo |
| ChatGPT Business | All-round AI plus the ChatGPT Work agent | Yes, through app connectors | A prompt, a schedule, or events from supported plugins | $25/user/mo ($20 billed annually) |
| Claude | Long documents and careful writing | Yes, one account per connector | A prompt or a schedule | Pro $20/mo; Team $25/seat/mo |
| Gemini in Google Workspace | Moving the company to Google | Google Workspace first | A prompt, a schedule, or Google-app events | Workspace from $7/user/mo (annual plan) |
| Glean | Company-wide search | Yes, indexes the company’s apps | Chat, a form, a schedule, or a change in a connected tool | Not published |
| Perplexity | Sourced research | The web plus your files | A question or a scheduled search | Pro from $17/mo billed annually |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot (for reference) | AI inside Word, Excel and Teams | One tenant per license | A prompt or a Copilot Studio agent; Autopilot in testing | $30/user/mo (annual) plus a Microsoft 365 plan |
What Microsoft changed on September 25
- Three destinations. Home (Chat and Cowork, with Word, Excel and PowerPoint inside the app), Code (describe an app, Microsoft builds and hosts it) and Autopilot, an always-on agent previously called Scout. Our Copilot Autopilot explainer covers how it works.
- Two meters. The $30 per user/month seat (annual plan, on top of a Microsoft 365 license) covers everyday Copilot. Code, Autopilot and the newest models move to usage-based billing, per Fortune, at rates Microsoft has not published. Copilot Cowork already bills at $0.01 per Copilot Credit.
- Mostly not shipping yet. Most new features are in an early test program with no general-availability date, and Autopilot is in a more restricted test.
- One Copilot, aimed at work. Consumer Copilot is being folded into the workplace product, and the always-on agents live inside a company’s Microsoft 365 tenant.
So the real question is which agent, billed how, reaching what. Here are the six worth your time.
1. Carly: best Copilot alternative for work across every account
Carly is an AI assistant that finishes the work instead of drafting it. Copilot answers inside the tenant that licenses it. Carly holds all of your accounts at once and acts across them.
Take Emily, who runs a small consultancy. She has her own Microsoft 365 tenant, guest access to a client’s tenant, a personal Gmail, and a calendar in each. Copilot sees one of those. Carly sees all of them, so “find me an hour with Josh next week” checks every calendar before it books anything.
- Email across every inbox. Carly triages all of your inboxes, applies labels, drafts replies in your voice and sends the ones you’ve told it to send, in Gmail and Outlook alike.
- Scheduling without the back-and-forth. CC Carly on a thread and it finds a time across all of your calendars and books it. Or send people a booking page.
- Work that starts on its own. A new email, lead or form fill kicks off a workflow with no prompt. An invoice gets filed and logged; a lead gets a reply and lands in the CRM. Copilot’s always-on agent, Autopilot, is in restricted testing, metered, and works inside one tenant.
- Thousands of apps. Carly connects to thousands of apps, including HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, Asana, QuickBooks and the Microsoft and Google tools you already pay for.
- Sales from your own inbox. Sequences that send from your team’s Gmail or Outlook and stop on reply, a shared inbox with AI-drafted replies and intent labels, a built-in CRM, lead routing, and texts or AI voice calls to inbound leads. Bring the list from Apollo; Carly handles everything after the reply.
- Meeting follow-through. Notes from Fathom, Fireflies, Gong or Granola turn into follow-up emails, tasks and CRM updates.
- Text it. Carly runs on the web and over SMS, so “move my 3pm to Thursday” works from your phone.
- Inside the assistant you already use. The Carly plugin in ChatGPT, the Carly connector in Claude, and Carly in Copilot (here’s how). Keep the chat window, add the reach.
You describe what you want in plain English and Carly builds the agent. No Copilot Studio, no credit math.
Best for: Anyone whose work spans more than one Microsoft 365 tenant, mixes Gmail and Outlook, or has to keep moving while they’re in meetings.
Pricing: Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. No Microsoft 365 license required.
Limitations: Each account is connected individually, so a three-account setup is three sign-ins on day one, and a managed organization may need an admin to approve the app. Rolling Carly out to a team? Book a call and we’ll set it up with you.
2. ChatGPT Business: best all-round AI with an agent built in
ChatGPT is the default switch. Business adds a shared workspace, admin controls and SSO, and bundles the ChatGPT Work agent: give it an outcome and it works across connected apps, Outlook and SharePoint included, and hands back a file, deck or report. More in ChatGPT Work vs Copilot.
Best for: Teams that want the strongest general assistant without a Microsoft license underneath it.
Pricing: Business is $25 per user/month, or $20 billed annually, with a two-seat minimum. Plus is $20/month for individuals.
Limitations: OpenAI documents three apps whose events can start a task (Gmail, Slack and GitHub) and has not published the rest of its list, so a CRM stage change or a form fill usually still waits for someone to ask. Work tasks draw down a usage allowance that varies by task.
3. Claude: best for long documents and careful writing
Claude is the pick when the job is a 90-page contract or writing that has to sound exactly right. Anthropic folded Cowork, its agent mode, into ordinary Claude on September 16, rolling out to Pro and Max first. Claude for Microsoft 365 and Claude for Outlook come with Pro, so it reads your mail, SharePoint, OneDrive and Teams. See Claude vs Copilot.
Best for: People who want a stronger writer and reasoner than Copilot and still live in Microsoft 365.
Pricing: Pro is $20/month ($17 billed annually). Team is $25 per seat/month ($20 billed annually). Enterprise is $20 per seat/month billed annually plus usage at API rates.
Limitations: Anthropic’s setup guide says the Microsoft 365 write tools are blocked by default for organizations that connected before they launched, and sending, forwarding and drafting all reject messages with attachments. Scheduled tasks run on a clock, not on events.
4. Gemini in Google Workspace: best if you’re leaving Microsoft entirely
The mirror image of Copilot: Gemini inside Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Meet and Drive. Workspace Studio adds flows that start when an email arrives in Gmail, a form response comes in, a sheet changes or a file lands in Drive. Compare them in Gemini vs Copilot.
Best for: Companies ready to switch suites, not just assistants.
Pricing: Included in Google Workspace. Business Starter is $7 per user/month (Gemini in Gmail) and Business Standard is $14 (Gemini across Gmail, Docs, Meet and more), both on an annual plan.
Limitations: It’s a migration, not an add-on. Google documents its flow starters as events in its own apps (Gmail, Chat, Drive, Sheets, meetings and Forms), so Outlook sits outside them.
5. Glean: best for company-wide search across every app
Glean indexes everything a company uses (Microsoft 365, Google, Slack, Jira, Salesforce) and answers questions with citations while respecting each person’s permissions. Its agents can run from a chat, a form, a schedule, or a change in a connected tool. Our Copilot vs Glean breakdown goes deeper.
Best for: Larger organizations whose knowledge is scattered across many vendors.
Pricing: Not published. Glean’s pricing page redirects to its homepage; quotes come through sales.
Limitations: Bought and rolled out by IT for the whole company, so it is built around the organization’s data, not one person’s mix of work and personal accounts.
6. Perplexity: best for sourced research
Perplexity answers with citations by default, runs deep research, and can schedule recurring searches. Enterprise Pro adds SSO, admin controls and answers from your own files and work apps.
Best for: Analysts, consultants and anyone whose Copilot use is mostly “go find out.”
Pricing: Pro from $17/month billed annually, Max from $167/month billed annually. Enterprise pricing is per seat.
Limitations: It’s built for research: it finds the answer, and the email, the meeting and the CRM update that follow are still on you.
What happens when an email arrives
Microsoft’s answers are agents a maker builds in Copilot Studio, and Autopilot, which is in restricted testing, metered and confined to one tenant. Google’s Workspace Studio starts flows from events in Google’s own apps. For the two assistants most people switch to:
ChatGPT can start a task from an event, but only when the app's plugin supports it. OpenAI documents three: a new Gmail message, a new Slack message and GitHub pull request activity. On September 29, 2026 it said other supported plugins can start automations too, without publishing which. Claude's scheduled tasks still run on a clock alone. A deal moving, a form coming in, an invoice clearing: neither one promises to wake up for any of it. Carly watches all of them, across the thousands of apps it connects to.
What happens with a second account
Microsoft 365 Copilot is licensed per tenant, so a client’s organization means a second license inside that organization, and the two don’t share context. Microsoft’s “multiple account access” covers the document open in front of you, not the other organization’s mail and files (details).
The assistants stopped answering this the same way in August 2026. ChatGPT takes several Google accounts on Gmail, Calendar and Contacts, and since September 17, 2026 on more plugins, though OpenAI publishes no list and documents a second Outlook account only "where supported." Claude and Gemini still authorize a single Google account, and a second sign-in replaces the first. Carly carries all of them, Gmail and Outlook, on every assistant.
How to pick a Copilot alternative
- If your work spans more than one tenant, mixes Gmail and Outlook, or needs to keep moving while you’re in meetings, go with Carly. It acts across all of your accounts at once.
- If you want the best general chatbot plus an agent for deliverables, ChatGPT Business.
- If the work is long documents and careful writing, Claude.
- If you’re moving the whole company to Google, Gemini in Workspace.
- If the problem is finding things across dozens of company apps, Glean.
- If it’s research with sources, Perplexity.
- If you’re one tenant, all in on Microsoft, and want AI inside Word and Excel, keep Copilot and add Carly for the inbox, calendar and follow-up work across your other accounts.
FAQ
What is the best alternative to Microsoft Copilot?
For an assistant that does the work across all of your accounts, Carly: Gmail and Outlook together, several Microsoft 365 organizations and personal accounts, acting the moment an email, lead or form arrives. For a general chatbot, ChatGPT or Claude. For the Google-side equivalent, Gemini. For company search, Glean. For research, Perplexity.
How much does Microsoft Copilot cost now?
Microsoft 365 Copilot is $30 per user/month on an annual plan, or $31.50 paid monthly on an annual commitment, plus a qualifying Microsoft 365 license. Copilot Business lists at $21 per user/month paid yearly, with an $18 first-year promotion available through December 31, 2026. Cowork, Code and Autopilot bill by usage on top. Carly: free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month.
What is Copilot Autopilot?
An always-on agent inside Microsoft 365 that you give a name, a role and a goal; it tracks decisions and deadlines and reminds colleagues when commitments are due. It’s in restricted testing and billed by usage (explainer). For work that starts on a new email today, across every account you have, use Carly’s workflows.
Is there a Copilot alternative that works with Gmail and Outlook at the same time?
Yes. Carly connects all of your Gmail and Outlook accounts at once, plus their calendars, and works across them in one conversation, on the web or by text.
Can I keep Copilot and add another assistant?
Yes. Keep Copilot for drafting in Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and let Carly run the inbox, calendar and follow-ups across your other accounts. Carly works inside Copilot, ChatGPT and Claude, and connects to thousands of apps.
Do these alternatives need a Microsoft 365 license?
No. ChatGPT, Claude, Glean, Perplexity and Carly stand on their own, and Gemini needs Google Workspace instead.
Related: Best AI assistants for Microsoft 365 · Best AI assistants for Outlook · Carly vs Glean
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