Microsoft puts a cap on free Copilot Chat in businesses

If you use Copilot Chat at work without a paid Microsoft 365 Copilot license, you may run into a cap. In a notice in its admin tool (Message Center, MC1536158, dated November 3, 2026), Microsoft said it is introducing so-called "fair use" limits on several Copilot Chat features.

"Fair use" roughly means you can use a feature, but not without limit. How much room there is has not been disclosed.

Who is affected?

The limits apply to users without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license in commercial tenants. A tenant is a company's own section of Microsoft's system, so this concerns business customers. The limits apply in Copilot Chat on web, desktop and mobile.

According to the notice, the limits are rolling out now.

New for more features

Microsoft already applies limits to some features, such as image generation. The same approach is now being extended to more features in Copilot Chat, and more may follow over time.

Access to a feature is limited and may vary during the day. Microsoft has not published specific thresholds, so it is unclear how many messages or which features will be hit first.

What does the user experience?

When a feature or capability is unavailable, the user is notified in the product. They can try again later, and according to the notice, Microsoft states when the feature may be available again. Responses already in progress are not interrupted by the limits.

What can the IT department do?

Microsoft sets and manages the limits itself. Administrators can neither see nor adjust them.

No action is required from organizations. However, administrators are advised to brief the help desk on the limits for unlicensed users, review Microsoft's support documentation and consider turning on self-service license requests in the Microsoft 365 admin center. That way, employees can request a license themselves if they hit the cap.

All three renderings come from the same Microsoft notice.