The Copilot Cowork Pricing Playbook: Budgeting Microsoft's Usage-Based Agent

What's inside the playbook

• The two-layer cost modelThe $30 Copilot seat floor plus the Copilot Credit meter, and why budgeting only one half goes badly wrong.
• The four cost inputsHow model use, context retrieval, tool calls, and runtime convert into the credits you pay for.
• Light, medium & heavy bandsWhat each task type runs at $0.01/credit, with worked examples across the 7-to-10x cost spread.
• The persona forecasting modelThe four user personas, why headcount and cost run in opposite directions, and how to build a defensible number.
• The worked 10,000-seat exampleHow a real estate lands between $50k and $150k a month — and what moves it.
• Governance & spending limitsThe control system: tenant/group/user limits, alerts, credit requests, and the 200-credit default.
• MACC & the P3 decisionApplying your Azure commitment, and when committing to volume helps versus when it becomes waste.
• The renewal negotiation leversWhat to pin down before Microsoft frames the offer, from the seat floor to the commitment terms.

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