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One naming note before anything else: “Bing Chat” was renamed “Copilot” back in November 2023, and by 2026 Microsoft has dropped the standalone “Bing Copilot” name entirely — what used to live at Bing as its own chatbot is now “Copilot Search,” a feature inside the broader Microsoft Copilot product. If you searched “Bing Copilot vs ChatGPT,” you’re really asking how Microsoft Copilot’s free, web-grounded search assistant stacks up against ChatGPT — so that’s the comparison below.
Microsoft Copilot: What You’re Actually Getting
The free version, available at copilot.microsoft.com and inside Bing/Edge, gives you cited, web-grounded answers at no cost — it searches the live web and shows sources by default, the same core behavior it’s had since the Bing Chat days. It includes a capped number of AI image generations per day (Microsoft’s own 2026 figures put this around 40/day on the current consumer tiers, though older marketing pages cited different numbers — treat any specific daily cap as approximate and check your account).
Microsoft retired the standalone $20/month “Copilot Pro” tier for new signups on October 1, 2025, folding it into a new consumer plan called Microsoft 365 Premium, priced at $19.99/month. It bundles the full Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), extended Copilot usage, more image generations, and access to agent features Microsoft calls Researcher, Analyst, and Actions. Existing Copilot Pro subscribers were set to roll onto the new plan by August 2026. For businesses, Microsoft 365 Copilot remains a separate add-on to a business M365 license, commonly cited around $30/user/month — grounded in your organization’s own Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint content, respecting whatever permissions and sensitivity labels are already in place.
ChatGPT: What You’re Actually Getting
ChatGPT’s free tier is usable but capped on message volume and now shows ads to U.S. free users. Go, a cheaper tier that went global in January 2026, runs about $8/month for meaningfully higher limits on the same base model. Plus, confirmed at $20/month, adds the current flagship model tier, Advanced Voice Mode, Canvas for document editing, Agent Mode, Tasks, Custom GPTs, and a limited monthly Deep Research allowance (OpenAI’s own materials aren’t fully consistent on the exact number, so treat it as roughly 10–25 runs a month rather than a fixed figure). Two Pro tiers sit above Plus at $100 and $200/month, mainly for much higher usage caps.
Unlike Copilot, ChatGPT doesn’t cite sources by default in normal chat — you get that behavior specifically inside Deep Research mode. And a correction worth flagging: Sora, OpenAI’s video generator, was discontinued as a standalone app/web product in April 2026, so any comparison still listing video generation as a current Plus perk is out of date.
| Feature | Microsoft Copilot (Free) | ChatGPT Plus ($20/mo) |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free (Premium tier ~$19.99/mo) | $20/mo |
| Cited web answers by default | Yes | No — only in Deep Research mode |
| Image generation | Capped daily (higher on Premium) | Included, usage-tiered |
| Long-document editing surface | No dedicated editor | Canvas |
| Office app integration | Deep (Word/Excel/PowerPoint, on paid tiers) | None native |
| Agentic multi-step tasks | Researcher/Analyst/Actions (Premium) | Agent Mode (Plus) |
| Custom assistants | No | Yes (Custom GPTs) |
Where Each One Actually Wins
Microsoft Copilot’s free tier is the better default when you just want a quick, sourced answer without paying anything — it’s effectively doing what Perplexity does, bundled into a browser you probably already use. If you’re already inside Word or Excel for most of your writing and data work, Microsoft 365 Premium extends that same assistant into the documents themselves, which ChatGPT can’t do natively.
ChatGPT Plus wins on flexibility and depth for actual writing work: Canvas is a real drafting-and-revision surface, Custom GPTs let you build a repeatable workflow (a style guide, a fact-check pass, a specific tone), and Agent Mode handles multi-step tasks that aren’t tied to Microsoft’s ecosystem. If your writing tools are Google Docs, a CMS, or plain markdown files rather than Office, ChatGPT is the more portable assistant.
A Real Workflow Example
Say you’re drafting a piece that references a recent statistic or a fast-moving news item. A workflow that holds up: start with Microsoft Copilot’s free tier (or Perplexity, if you don’t use Microsoft products) specifically to pull the current, cited fact — it’s built to answer “what is this number, and where does it come from” without extra prompting. Then move to ChatGPT Plus for the actual drafting and structuring of the piece, since that’s where Canvas, longer context handling for revisions, and Custom GPTs built around your house style actually help. Using ChatGPT for the citation-hunting step and Copilot for long-form drafting both work worse than this split, because neither tool’s core design matches the other job.
The Honest Downsides
Copilot’s downside: outside the Office-integrated paid tiers, it’s not a strong long-form drafting tool — it’s built around answering questions and quick tasks, not carrying a 1,500-word piece through multiple revision passes. The free tier’s image-generation caps and model access can also vary by time of day (“non-peak hours” language shows up in Microsoft’s own free-tier terms), which is a real limitation for anything time-sensitive.
ChatGPT’s downside: no default source citations outside Deep Research, ad-supported free/Go tiers now, and reporting around Deep Research quotas has been inconsistent even from OpenAI — don’t assume a specific number without checking your own account’s current limit.
Verdict
For a quick, free, cited answer, Microsoft Copilot’s free tier is hard to beat — and if you already live in Word/Excel, Microsoft 365 Premium extends that into your actual documents. For sustained drafting, editing, and building repeatable writing workflows, ChatGPT Plus is the stronger $20/month tool. Most writers doing citation-sensitive work end up keeping a free research assistant (Copilot or Perplexity) on hand alongside a paid drafting tool rather than picking just one.
[AFFILIATE CTA: Perplexity Pro (referral program)]FAQ
Is “Bing Copilot” still a real product name in 2026?
Not as a standalone brand. Bing Chat became Copilot in late 2023, and by 2026 Microsoft refers to it as “Copilot Search” inside the broader Microsoft Copilot product rather than a separate “Bing Copilot.”
Does the free version of Copilot cite its sources?
Yes — web-grounded, cited answers have been a core Copilot behavior since the Bing Chat days, and that hasn’t changed on the free tier.
Is Copilot Pro still available to buy?
No. Microsoft retired Copilot Pro for new signups on October 1, 2025, replacing it with Microsoft 365 Premium at $19.99/month.
Which is better for someone who writes mostly in Word?
Microsoft 365 Premium, since Copilot is integrated directly into Word/Excel/PowerPoint on that tier — ChatGPT has no equivalent native Office integration.
