Many businesses are turning to Generative AI tools to boost productivity. Two top choices for offices are Google’s Gemini, which integrates with Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365 Copilot, part of the Microsoft Office suite. Both provide AI support across documents, emails, spreadsheets, and meetings. So, how can they compare infeatures, integrations, and pricing? This article examines Microsoft Co-Pilot and Google Gemini, focusing on what each offers to Microsoft 365 users.  

Microsoft 365 Co-Pilot: Overview and Features 

Microsoft 365 Copilot is Microsoft’s AI tool that helps people work more efficiently. Released in 2023, Co-Pilot uses OpenAI’s GPT-4 language models, along with Microsoft’s own AI and data systems. It uses Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. Users can ask Co-Pilot to create content, analyze information, or automate tasks in these programs.  

Capabilities: Microsoft 365 Co-Pilot is closely connected with the Office suite and Microsoft’s cloud. With Word Co-Pilot, you can:  

• Draft documents  

• Summarize or rewrite text.  

• Suggest ways to improve voice or style in Outlook.  

It can also draft email replies or summarize long email threads to help you manage your inbox in PowerPoint. Co-Pilot can turn your prompts into presentations, create outlines or speaker notes, and generate images or design ideas using OpenAI’s DALL-E 3.  
 
In Excel, it can analyze data, create formulas and charts from natural language requests, and deliver insights from your spreadsheets. Microsoft Teams users can use Co-Pilot to summarize meeting discussions and tasks, even for meetings they missed, and it connects with your calendar and chats to keep you updated.  
 
Overall, Co-Pilot serves as an AI assistant throughout Microsoft 365, whether you are writing reports, working with data, or joining meetings.  

A key feature of Co-Pilot is its ability to use your business data and context in its responses, with the right permissions. Microsoft 365 Co-Pilot can access your work content via the Microsoft Graph, which lets it refer to your latest emails, meetings, documents, and other files to provide relevant answers. Microsoft says Co-Pilot grounds its answers in business data, such as your documents, emails, calendar, chats, meetings, and contacts, combined with the context of the current project or conversation, to provide useful and actionable responses.  

For example, you can ask Co-Pilot in Teams to summarize the status of project X based on our latest documents and email threads, and it will collect details from SharePoint files, Outlook messages, and meeting notes. You can access this business chat feature, which connects across your organization’s data, and it is a strong advantage for Co-Pilot in business settings. In comparison, Google’s Gemini currently helps with individual Google Workspace suite apps and documents you use rather than searching for all company content.  

Security and privacy: Microsoft designed Co-Pilot with enterprise security compliance and privacy as priorities. Like Google, Microsoft promises that Co-Pilot will not use your organization’s data to train public AI models. All data remains within your company’s secure environment and is used only temporarily to generate responses. Co-Pilot integrates with Microsoft’s identity and compliance controls, ensuring adherence to document permissions and data loss prevention (DLP) policies. Microsoft 365 Co-Pilot is described as offering enterprise-grade security, privacy, and compliance as standard. Firms can control and monitor Co-Pilots’ use via an admin dashboard and expect outputs to align with their policies. These features are especially important for large companies, including those in regulated industries that worry about sensitive data leaks when using AI tools.  

Pricing: Microsoft 365 Co-Pilot is sold as an add-on license for organizations with eligible Microsoft 365 plans. It costs $30 per user per month when paid annually. Companies with Microsoft 365 E3/E5 or business standard/premium plans can add Co-Pilot to each user at an additional cost. Monthly billing is also available at $31.50 per user with an annual commitment.  

This price is similar to Google’s Gemini Enterprise tier. Unlike Google, Microsoft does not offer a lower-priced business tier for Co-Pilot: There is just one add-on option for enterprises. Microsoft has also tested Co-Pilot for consumers and small businesses by adding some AI features to Bing (free with Bing Chat Enterprise) and, in late 2024, launching a Co-Pilot plan for Microsoft 365 personal users at $20 per month. For more AI features in Word, Excel, and other apps, however, the $ 30-per-user Enterprise Co-Pilot remains the primary option for organizations that want to use AI in Microsoft 365.  

Google Gemini in Workspace: Overview and Features 

Google Gemini for Workspace (formerly Duet AI for Workspace) is Google’s Generative AI Assistant built into Workspace apps, launched in early 2024. Google renamed its add-on AI add-on to Gemini and made it available in Gmail, Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, and other apps. With Gemini, users can get AI help while writing emails or documents, generating ideas, analyzing data, or creating presentations. There is also a separate chat interface where users can talk to Gemini to research or generate content, and more. Strong privacy controls protect interactions.  

Google sees Gemini as an AI assistant that is always available and can help with many tasks. For example, Gemini can spot trends in data, summarize information, draft proposals for clients, and help write or reply to emails. In Google Slides, you can create images and design ideas for presentations. In Zoom, you can take notes and summarize meetings.  

The Enterprise version can translate live captions in over 100 languages and will soon be able to generate meeting notes, which is helpful for global teams. In Google Docs and Gemini, Gmail helps write and edit text in Sheets. It can make formulas or summarize data in Slides. It creates visuals. Overall, Gemini brings Google’s latest AI technology within daily business tasks.  

Google says Gemini in Workspace meets high security standards. Content you create or share with Gemini is not used to train Google’s models or for ads. Google promises strong data privacy for Workspace customers. Gemini can only access content you have permission to view, such as a document you are editing, or an email you are replying to but not files you do not have permission to access.  

All interactions with Gemini are kept confidential and protected in accordance with Google’s regulatory certifications, such as ISO, SOC, and HIPAA. This is important for large organizations.  

Google offers Gemini for Workspace as an extra subscription. On top of regular workspace plans, there are two options for businesses of different sizes:  

• Gemini Business costs about $20 per user per month, with an annual commitment. This lower-priced option is meant for small and mid-sized teams. It includes Gemini’s main features, with workspace apps and access to the separate Gemini Chat.  

• Gemini Enterprise costs about $30 per user per month, with an annual commitment. This plan, which helped replace Duet AI Enterprise, is for large companies and heavy AI users. It includes all Gemini features: higher usage limits and extra tools like live translations and automated meeting notes in Meet. Enterprise users also get full access to Gemini’s most advanced model, Gemini 1.0 Ultra, for handling large query volumes.  

Keep in mind that Gemini Add-On subscriptions are separate from regular Google Workspace platform licenses for individuals. Google also offers generative AI features through the Google One AI Premium plan, Gemini Advanced, for about $19.99 per month. However, for businesses, the Gemini Business and Enterprise plans are the main options to consider.  

Rolling out Generative AI across a company can be expensive. Google’s Gemini Enterprise and Microsoft 365 Co-Pilot both cost about $30 per user each month for enterprise-level service. Google also has a Gemini Business plan for $20 per user. Smaller teams (which might appeal to mid-sized companies or those starting with a pilot) – Microsoft currently offers only the $30 option for its business co-pilot. These prices are in addition to existing Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 subscriptions, so companies need to budget carefully. For large organizations with thousands of users companywide, AI licenses can cost millions of dollars each year.

Source: Google Gemini vs Microsoft Copilot: AI Integration in Google Workspace and Microsoft 365