What are Copilot Credits?

Copilot Credits are the unit Microsoft uses to bill advanced AI in Microsoft 365 Copilot, such as Copilot Cowork, Work IQ APIs and new frontier models. Everyday tasks like summaries and drafts stay covered by the per-user licence.

Does usage-based billing apply to existing Copilot subscriptions?

Existing subscriptions keep their terms. However, Microsoft says that buying a new Copilot Business seat deploys usage-based billing across all Microsoft 365 Copilot subscriptions in the tenant, so a single new purchase can change the whole setup.

How do we turn usage-based billing off?

Admins or the CSP partner can set the spending limit to zero, or avoid creating a spending policy. Users then keep the features included in the licence but cannot use experiences that require Copilot Credits.

Does the change apply in Bulgaria?

Microsoft has not published a full list of supported markets, but Bulgaria is not on the initial exclusion list, which includes Germany, France, Poland, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. Bulgarian companies should plan as if the default applies to them.

Who should own Copilot spending inside the company?

One named person should own spending policies, credit requests and the monthly review of cost against outcomes. This usually sits between IT, finance and whoever leads AI adoption, rather than with IT alone.

Copilot Credits: What to Set Before 1 December 2026

TL;DR: From 1 December 2026, new Microsoft 365 Copilot Business licences bought through a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partner come with usage-based billing switched on and a default spending limit of 4,000 Copilot Credits per user per month. Direct purchases have worked this way since 19 October. If your company buys or adds Copilot seats in the coming weeks, finance and IT should agree on spending policies, model access and ownership before the first invoice arrives, not after.

Key facts

What changes: Microsoft is splitting Copilot into "everyday AI" covered by the per-user licence and "advanced AI" paid through Copilot Credits, according to Microsoft's message center post MC1479276.
Default on for Copilot Business: From 1 December 2026, new Copilot Business purchases in CSP get pay-as-you-go billing by default, per Microsoft's October 2026 Partner Center announcements. The date was moved from 2 November; partner sandbox environments open on 2 November instead.
Default limit: 4,000 Copilot Credits per user per month, adjustable by admins. Microsoft's own example: 100 Copilot Business users could consume up to 400,000 credits a month under the default limit. CRN puts the default cap at about $40 per user per month.
One seat can switch on the whole tenant: For existing customers, buying a new Copilot Business seat deploys usage-based billing across all Microsoft 365 Copilot subscriptions in the tenant, according to MC1476200.
New paid models: GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1 reach the model selector in Copilot Chat, Word, Excel and PowerPoint from early to mid-November 2026, available only to users with usage-based billing enabled and credits allocated (MC1519122).
EU availability: The default-on change will initially not be available in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain, among others. Bulgaria is not on that initial exclusion list.

Why this matters for companies in Bulgaria and the wider EU

For most of the last two years, Copilot was a predictable line in the budget: a number of seats multiplied by a monthly fee. That model is changing. The licence still covers summaries, drafts, analysis and the Auto model picker. Long-running and agentic work, such as Copilot Cowork, Work IQ APIs, GitHub Copilot Harness, Copilot in SharePoint and the newest frontier models, now draws on Copilot Credits.

The logic from Microsoft's side is straightforward: long-running agent work costs more to serve than a short email draft. For the buyer, it means AI spend starts to behave like cloud spend. It grows with use, it varies by team, and nobody sees it until someone looks at the dashboard.

Three groups are affected first:

Companies with up to 300 users on Copilot Business. This is the segment where usage-based billing becomes the default. Microsoft's Partner Center documentation confirms that the enterprise Microsoft 365 Copilot SKU is out of scope for the automatic set-up.
Enterprise tenants. Here the logic is the opposite: according to MC1479276, usage-based features are visible to users but do not work until an admin creates a spending policy. The risk is not surprise spend but confusion and requests piling up with no owner.
Teams that relied on AI Builder. AI Builder capacity add-ons were retired from sale on 1 November 2026, and Microsoft tells partners to plan for Copilot Credits once existing credits run out. Power Platform flows and apps that use AI Builder features belong in the same budget discussion.

The CSP route matters in Bulgaria and the rest of CEE because many mid-sized companies buy Microsoft licences through a local partner rather than directly. Per CRN, consumption charges flow through the partner's invoice, and the transacting partner is responsible for all charges, including unexpected consumption. That makes the spending policy a commercial topic between you and your partner, not only an IT setting.

How to prepare: 6 settings to check before 1 December

1. Find out how and where you buy Copilot

Ask your Microsoft partner or licensing owner three questions: do we buy Copilot Business or enterprise Microsoft 365 Copilot, do we buy through CSP or directly, and are any new seats or upgrades planned before year end? A single planned seat purchase is enough to trigger the default for the whole tenant.

2. Decide the real spending limit, per group

The 4,000-credit default is a ceiling, not a recommendation. Microsoft lets admins assign models and effort levels by group in the spending policy, starting with Cowork. A practical starting point is a low or zero limit for most users and a defined allowance for a small pilot group with a clear use case. Setting the limit to zero turns usage-based billing off.

3. Decide who may use the new frontier models

GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1 will only appear for users with billing enabled and credits allocated. Decide which roles need them, for example analysts working with long documents, and write down why. Everyone else stays on the models included in the licence.

4. Name an owner for credit requests

Microsoft plans to let users request more credits from their admin directly in the interface. Without a named owner and simple approval criteria, these requests either stall or are approved by default. This is where an AI governance policy stops being a document and becomes a weekly routine.

5. Connect credits to outcomes, not just usage

The new consumption dashboard is designed to link credit use to completed work. Pick two or three measurable scenarios, such as RFP responses or meeting follow-ups, and review cost against result monthly. If the numbers do not justify the spend, lower the limit. This review belongs to AI Ops: model changes, cost drift and quality checks after go-live.

6. Tell employees what changed

Usage-based features are visible to all users by default. People will see new models, banners about remaining credits and request buttons. A short internal note on what is included, what costs extra and how to ask for access prevents frustration and shadow workarounds. Role-based AI training should now cover cost awareness as well as prompting: which tasks need the advanced tier and which are fine on the included models.

What to watch next

Market availability: Microsoft has not published the full list of supported markets. Watch for updates on when the excluded countries, including Germany, France and Poland, get the default-on change, especially if your group buys licences in several EU countries.
Credit rates for frontier models: The model rollout notice does not list credit rates per request. Budget a pilot before company-wide access.
New SKUs on 1 December: From the same date, new Copilot offers no longer require a qualifying Microsoft 365 base subscription, according to Microsoft's October Partner Center announcements. Licence reviews planned for Q1 2027 should reflect the new catalogue.

Bottom line

Copilot is moving from a fixed seat price to a licence plus a meter. That is not a reason to slow adoption, but it does mean someone in the company has to own the meter. Companies that set group-based limits, decide model access and review cost against outcomes in December will start 2027 with a predictable AI budget. Those that leave the defaults in place will learn their real usage from the invoice.

If you need an owner for that work across licensing, governance and adoption, an AI Director as a Service can take it on until you build the role internally. Talk to Encorp.ai about setting up Copilot spending policies and a 2027 AI budget your finance team can plan around.

Copilot Credits: 6 Settings to Check Before Usage Billing Goes Default