The licensing reality
Prices as listed by each vendor on October 22, 2026. Vendors change these often, so check the linked page before you buy.
| Product | Listed price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Copilot Business (add-on, organizations on Microsoft 365 Business plans) | $18 per user/month paid yearly (listed as reduced from $21); $25.20 paid monthly (Microsoft) | Copilot inside Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams, grounded in your organization's files and email |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot (enterprise add-on) | $30 per user/month (Computerworld, Nov. 19, 2025) | Same core features for larger organizations |
| Google Workspace Business Standard | $14 per user/month list price (Google) | Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Meet and other apps is included in the plan |
| Google Workspace Business Starter | $7 per user/month list price (Google) | Gemini in Gmail and the Gemini app; no Gemini in Docs |
Two things follow from this table.
Microsoft shops pay per Copilot seat. For 40 people, Copilot Business at the yearly price is $720 a month, or $8,640 a year. That's worth it for the people who live in email, documents and meetings. It's often not worth it for staff who spend most of the day in a field-service app or on a shop floor. We help you decide seat by seat.
Google shops already have Gemini. On current Business plans, Gemini is part of what you pay for. The work is configuration, permissions and training, not licenses.
Why permissions come first
Copilot answers from what each user can already open. Microsoft's own documentation says it "only surfaces organizational data to which individual users have at least view permissions" (Microsoft Learn, updated Aug. 2026). Gemini in Workspace works on the same principle.
That's good design. It also means years of "share with everyone" folders become instantly searchable. The salary spreadsheet someone shared company-wide in 2021 used to be hard to find. With an AI assistant, it's one question away.
So before anyone gets a license, we review:
- Company-wide and "anyone with the link" sharing on SharePoint, OneDrive and Google Drive
- Sensitive folders: HR, payroll, finance, legal, client files
- Former employees' accounts and orphaned files
- Guest and external access
- Sensitivity labels or data classification, where your plan supports them
We fix what we find, or give your IT provider a prioritized list if they'd rather handle it.
The rollout method
1. License plan (week 1)
We map who does what and estimate who will get real value from a seat. You get a seat-by-seat recommendation with the monthly cost.
2. Permissions cleanup (weeks 1–3)
The review above, followed by fixes. This is the step most rollouts skip and the one that prevents the worst surprises.
3. Pilot group (weeks 2–4)
Five to fifteen people from different roles use it for two to three weeks on real work. They track what saved time and what didn't. We adjust settings and the license plan based on what we learn.
4. Adoption training
Role-based training built on pilot results: the tasks that actually saved time in your business, taught to everyone who gets a seat. Plus a short guide on what not to put in prompts, tied to your AI use policy.
5. Measure and adjust (30 days after launch)
Microsoft and Google both provide usage reporting. We review it with you, reassign seats from people who aren't using them and plan follow-up training where usage is low.
When not to buy Copilot
We'll tell you to hold off if:
- Your files are a mess and nobody has time to fix them. Copilot on a disorganized tenant gives mediocre answers and creates risk.
- Most of your team doesn't work in Microsoft 365 apps all day. Field crews, warehouse staff and technicians usually get more from a custom assistant or an automation.
- You need one or two heavy AI users, not 40 light ones. A couple of ChatGPT Business or Claude Team seats may cost less and do more. We'll run that comparison for you during the license plan.
- Nobody owns adoption. Licenses without training and follow-up are the most common way small businesses waste money on AI.
What it costs
Most Kansas City rollouts land between $3,000 and $12,000, plus licenses paid directly to Microsoft or Google. Three to six weeks. A 15-person office with tidy permissions sits at the low end. A 100-person company with years of loose sharing and multiple departments sits at the high end.
Licenses are always separate. If we supply them, they're itemized so you can compare with buying direct. See the full pricing table.
Book a Free AI Assessment Call
Industry notes: professional services firms usually need the strictest permissions cleanup; manufacturing and distribution companies usually need the most careful seat planning.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need Copilot for everyone?
Almost never. Copilot pays off for people who spend most of the day in email, documents, spreadsheets and meetings. It pays off less for people who mostly work in other software or away from a desk. Most of our rollouts license a portion of staff first and add seats based on pilot results and usage reports.
We already use Google Workspace. Do we have to pay extra for Gemini?
On Google's current Business plans, Gemini features are included in the plan price, with more features on higher tiers. Business Starter, for example, doesn't include Gemini in Docs. We check which edition you're on, what's turned on and whether an upgrade is worth it for specific users. Often the answer is training, not spending.
Is Copilot safe for client data?
Microsoft states that prompts, responses and data accessed through Microsoft Graph aren't used to train foundation models. The bigger risk is internal: Copilot can surface any file a user already has access to. That's why we clean up permissions before rollout. For regulated data, your AI policy should define what's allowed.
Can you work with our existing IT provider?
Yes. Many Kansas City businesses have an outside IT firm managing their Microsoft 365 or Google tenant. We can make the changes ourselves with their sign-off, or hand them a prioritized list and focus on licensing, pilot and training. We just need someone with admin access to coordinate with.
How long until people actually use it?
Pilot users typically find their first real time-saver within the first week, provided they get some guidance. Company-wide habits take longer. We plan for 30 to 60 days after launch before reading usage numbers seriously. Follow-up training at the 30-day mark is where adoption usually jumps.
Can we build custom agents inside Copilot or Gemini?
Yes. Both platforms let you build lightweight custom agents or Gems that answer from specific documents or follow a set process. For many internal use cases, that's cheaper than a separate assistant. We'll recommend a custom assistant build only when the built-in option can't do the job.
Get a straight answer on Copilot or Gemini
Tell us your plan, team size and what people spend their days on. We'll tell you how many seats make sense and what the rollout involves.