Feature Comparison

Detailed side-by-side comparisons of Microsoft AI technologies. Use this page after you’ve clarified requirements in the Decision Framework, so the tables confirm trade-offs (rather than driving the decision by brand names alone).

Sanity check before you compare: If the work is deterministic, repeatable, or can be expressed as a clear function/workflow, don’t use an agent—use a workflow, API integration, or traditional code. Agents are best when the task is ambiguous, multi-step, and conversational, where the steps can’t be fully specified up front.1

Table of contents

  1. Comprehensive Platform Comparison
  2. Developer Agent Comparison
  3. Workflow Orchestration Platform Comparison
  4. When to Use Each Workflow Technology
  5. Data Grounding Technology Comparison
  6. Agent Development Approach Comparison
  7. Custom Engine Agent Tool Comparison

Comprehensive Platform Comparison

Quick view of core platforms (M365 Copilot, Studio, Foundry, Agent Framework, Logic Apps) across UX, governance, orchestration, and hosting trade-offs.

How to use this section: Start with the columns that match your trust boundary and channel needs, then compare orchestration and governance features to validate whether you should stay in SaaS, step into low-code, or move to pro-code.

Feature M365 Copilot Copilot Studio Microsoft Foundry (Azure) Microsoft Agent Framework AG-UI Protocol (Preview) Microsoft Foundry Agent Service M365 Agents SDK Azure Logic Apps  
User Experience M365 apps (Frontier creation agents Preview2) + mobile parity for custom engine/message-extension agents3 Custom channels Custom apps Embedded in apps Protocol-based web/mobile UI Custom apps Copilot/Teams/Web Custom/Conversational  
Build Approach No-build (consume) Low-code to pro-code Code-first Pro-code (orchestration SDK) Pro-code protocol integration (ASP.NET Core, FastAPI) Code-first Pro-code Visual designer + code  
Data Boundary M365 tenant M365 or Azure Azure Any Inherits host runtime Azure M365 or Azure Azure  
Governance Tenant-integrated (automatic) + registry lifecycle (publish/activate/deploy/pin/block/remove/delete/owner transfer/export)4 Tenant or workload Workload-tailored (custom) Application-level Inherits host app controls; approvals via middleware Workload-tailored (custom) Tenant or workload Azure RBAC  
Admin Center M365 admin center Power Platform admin Azure RBAC Application-level Host platform (Azure/App) Azure RBAC M365 admin center Azure portal  
Licensing Model Per-user (/month) Metered messages Azure consumption Open-source (free) Open-source adapters (no license) Azure consumption Included in M365 Consumption or Standard 5
Extensibility Via Studio/SDK + Copilot Search API (Preview, OneDrive hybrid search)6 Plugins, connectors Full custom Workflow orchestration Seven protocol features (streaming, backend tool rendering, human approvals, generative UI, shared/predictive state) Full custom Full custom 1,400+ connectors  
Deployment Microsoft-managed Microsoft-managed Self-managed Self-managed (SDK) Self-hosted endpoints (ASP.NET Core, FastAPI) Microsoft-managed Self-managed Self-managed (Azure)  
Time to Value Immediate Days to weeks Weeks to months Weeks (with dev skills) Weeks (requires pro dev + UI build) Weeks to months Weeks Days to weeks  
Skill Level End user Maker to developer Developer/engineer Developer (C#/Python) Developers (front-end + back-end) Developer/engineer Developer Developer  
Orchestration Built-in Built-in Custom Workflow-based (Executor/Edge) Inherits Agent Framework orchestration Managed orchestration BYO orchestrator Visual workflow  
Checkpointing N/A No Custom Yes (built-in) Inherits from orchestrator No Via orchestrator State management  
AI Agent Workflows N/A Via agent flows Via Microsoft Foundry Agent Service7 N/A N/A (UI protocol) ✅ Yes N/A ✅ Yes (Preview)8  
MCP Server N/A ❌ No ✅ Yes (MCP tool)9 N/A N/A ⚠️ Custom N/A ✅ Yes (Preview)10  
Optimized For Productivity at scale Speed to market + connectors Latency & control Workflow orchestration Bespoke agent UI with streaming & approvals Managed agents Pro-code flexibility Enterprise integration  
Latency Profile <1s (M365 apps) <1s (managed platform) <100ms (direct API) Workflow processing SSE streaming (depends on backend) <100ms (direct API) <1s (M365 integration) Workflow processing  
Infrastructure Model Microsoft-managed SaaS (managed) PaaS (self-managed) SDK (self-managed) SDK bridging host + client PaaS (self-managed) SDK (self-managed) PaaS (self-managed)  
Best For Broad productivity Custom agents Custom AI apps Workflow orchestration Custom branded experiences and generative UI atop Agent Framework Managed agents Pro-code extensions Enterprise integration + AI  

Developer Agent Comparison

Contrast packaged Microsoft agents (Coding, SRE, App Modernization) by trigger, action scope, and human-in-the-loop expectations.

Feature GitHub Copilot Coding Agent Azure SRE Agent GitHub Copilot App Modernization
Primary Role Autonomous Developer Site Reliability Engineer Migration Specialist
Trigger GitHub Issue Azure Monitor Alert Manual Invocation
Action Space Codebase (Read/Write), Tests Azure Resources (Read/Action), Logs Codebase (Mass Refactor)
Output Pull Request RCA Report, Fix PR Upgrade Plan, PR
Human Loop PR Review Alert Acknowledgment Plan Approval, PR Review
Underlying Model Optimized Coding Models Specialized SRE Models Migration-Tuned Models
Context Window Repository-aware Log/Metric-aware Dependency-aware
Status Preview Preview Preview

Workflow Orchestration Platform Comparison

Agentic workflows automate business processes and orchestrate AI agents through deterministic sequences with AI integration. Microsoft provides three primary technologies for different development approaches and team skills.

Use this matrix to choose between Agent Framework Workflows, Logic Apps AI Agent Workflows, and Copilot Studio agent flows based on skills, hosting, connectors, and checkpointing needs.

Technology Options

Feature Agent Framework Workflows Logic Apps AI Agent Workflows Copilot Studio Agent Flows
Approach Pro-code (C#, Python) Visual designer + code Low-code (natural language/visual)
Architecture Graph-based (Executors + Edges) Workflow designer + connectors Workflow designer + connectors
Checkpointing ✅ Yes (built-in) ✅ Yes (state management) ❌ No
Type Safety ✅ Yes (compile-time) ⚠️ Partial (schema validation) ⚠️ Partial (schema validation)
AI Integration Native (\IChatClient) Azure OpenAI, Microsoft Foundry (Azure), Microsoft Foundry Agent Service Azure OpenAI, Microsoft Foundry (Azure), Microsoft Foundry Agent Service
Connectors Custom code (any API) 1,400+ connectors + custom code 1,000+ (Power Platform)
Hosting Self-managed (Azure) Azure Portal Microsoft SaaS (managed)
Licensing Open-source (free SDK) Azure consumption/Standard Copilot Studio Credits
DevOps ✅ Yes (code-based CI/CD) ✅ Yes (GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps) ✅ Yes (Pipelines, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps)
MCP Server ⚠️ Custom ✅ Yes (Preview) ❌ No
Status Public Preview Preview (Consumption agent workflows), GA (core) GA
Best For Multi-agent orchestration + checkpointing Enterprise integration + AI agents Fast automation within Studio agents

Sources:

Last Updated: 2024-10-30 Confidence Level: High (official Microsoft documentation for all three technologies)

When to Use Each Workflow Technology

Agent Framework Workflows

Use When:

  • Type-safe workflow orchestration with compile-time validation is required
  • Checkpointing needed for long-running or human-in-the-loop processes
  • Multi-agent patterns required (Sequential, Concurrent, Handoff, Magentic)
  • Pro-code development team (C#, Python) available
  • Integrating with M365 Agents SDK

Don’t Use When:

  • Low-code approach preferred
  • Need 1,000+ pre-built connectors
  • Fast time-to-market is critical priority
  • No development team available

Sources:

Logic Apps AI Agent Workflows

Use When:

  • Enterprise integration with 1,400+ connectors (cloud + on-premises) required
  • Visual designer + code hybrid approach fits team skills
  • Azure-native hosting with DevOps deployments needed
  • MCP server capabilities required (expose workflows as AI tools)
  • Autonomous or conversational agent workflows with Azure OpenAI

Don’t Use When:

  • Purely low-code approach needed (use Copilot Studio instead)
  • Budget constraints prohibit Azure consumption costs
  • M365-only governance required
  • Compile-time type safety is critical (use Agent Framework instead)

Sources:

Copilot Studio Agent Flows

Use When:

  • Native automation within Copilot Studio agents needed (no separate license)
  • Fastest time-to-value with low-code/natural language approach required
  • Managed SaaS preferred (no infrastructure management)
  • Business process automation for Studio agents
  • Makers without coding skills available

Don’t Use When:

  • Checkpointing or state persistence required for long workflows
  • Complex multi-agent orchestration needed
  • Full DevOps control and Azure-native hosting required
  • MCP server capabilities needed

Sources:

Data Grounding Technology Comparison

Side-by-side grounding options (Copilot connectors, AI Search, Fabric, Cosmos, PostgreSQL, SQL Database Engine family) by search mode, boundary, and best-fit workloads.

Feature Copilot connectors Azure AI Search Microsoft Fabric Cosmos DB PostgreSQL SQL Database Engine (Azure SQL DB, SQL MI, SQL Server 2025, SQL database in Fabric)
Vector Search No (semantic index only) ✅ Yes (IVF, HNSW) ✅ Yes (Lakehouse via external tools) ✅ Yes (IVF, HNSW, DiskANN) ✅ Yes (pgvector, IVF) ✅ Yes (DiskANN, ANN Index Preview)
Hybrid Search No ✅ Yes (vector + keyword) ✅ Yes (SQL endpoint + external) ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes
Data Boundary M365 tenant Azure Azure (OneLake) Azure Azure Azure SQL DB & SQL MI: Azure. SQL Server 2025: On-prem or Azure VM. SQL database in Fabric: Fabric.
Index Target Microsoft Graph (connector ingestion) Azure AI Search index / knowledge bases (agentic retrieval, preview) Lakehouse Delta tables, Warehouse tables Cosmos DB collection PostgreSQL table SQL table (VECTOR column)
Access Method Graph API (Copilot connector APIs) REST API, SDKs (2025-11-01-preview for knowledge bases) ADLS Gen2 APIs, SQL endpoint, Fabric Data Agents SDKs, REST API SQL, pgvector T-SQL, VECTOR type, VECTOR_DISTANCE, VECTOR_SEARCH
Best For M365-centric knowledge (Copilot, Search, Context IQ) Azure-native RAG with ACL/label enforcement and agentic retrieval Analytics data + unified data platform Transactional + vector data PostgreSQL workloads with AI SQL workloads with AI — choose deployment by existing estate (cloud PaaS, lift-and-shift, on-prem, Fabric)
Licensing Included with M365 Azure consumption (agentic retrieval preview on free tier quotas) Fabric capacity (F2+) Azure consumption Azure consumption Azure SQL DB/MI: Azure consumption. SQL Server 2025: SQL license. SQL in Fabric: Fabric capacity.
Status GA GA (agentic retrieval preview) GA (Platform), Preview (Data Agents) GA GA VECTOR type GA. ANN index (DiskANN) Preview.

Sources:

Confidence Level: High for GA technologies (VECTOR type GA across SQL engine family), Medium for ANN Index (DiskANN) Preview

Azure AI Search Agentic & Hybrid Preview Highlights

Feature Status Notes API Version Documentation
Knowledge bases (renamed from knowledge agents) Preview Routes /knowledgebases/*, outputMode replaces outputConfiguration, retrievalReasoningEffort (minimal/low/medium) replaces fast path; partial responses supported. 2025-11-01-preview Agentic retrieval migration
Knowledge sources Preview Indexed/remote SharePoint, indexed OneLake, web/Bing, search index, Azure Blob; ingestionParameters wrap embeddings/chat models, schedules, contentExtractionMode (Content Understanding). Portal uses 2025-08-01-preview objects—migrate for 2025-11-01-preview. 2025-11-01-preview Knowledge sources
Content Understanding skill Preview Rich Markdown/table extraction and chunking without Text Split; billed to Foundry resource. 2025-05-01-preview Content Understanding skill
Semantic ranker on free tier GA Semantic reranking available on free tier with volume limits. n/a Semantic ranker
Hybrid/vector debug & control Preview truncationDimension for MRL embeddings, filterOverride for vector-only filters in hybrid queries, debug subscores for RRF, token-based Text Split parameters. 2024-09-01-preview Hybrid search preview

Last Updated: January 28, 2026

Agent Development Approach Comparison

Declarative vs custom engine: when to stay low-code with managed orchestration versus bringing your own orchestrator and hosting.

Approach Declarative Agents Custom Engine Agents
Definition Pre-built orchestration; configure instructions, knowledge, actions Bring your own orchestrator (Agent Framework (Preview) recommended, LangChain (Third-party))
Best For Simple → Moderate complexity; fast time-to-market Complex workflows; multi-agent systems; custom reasoning
Development Model Low-code (Copilot Studio) or Pro-code (M365 Agents Toolkit) Pro-code only; full control over logic
Orchestration Microsoft-managed orchestration (GPT-based) You control orchestration framework and model selection
M365 Integration Native M365 Copilot integration Can integrate via M365 Agents SDK
Typical Timeline Days to weeks Weeks to months
Skill Level Makers (low-code) or Developers (pro-code) Developers required

Sources:

Confidence Level: High (official Microsoft guidance)

Custom Engine Agent Tool Comparison

Tooling snapshot for custom engine agents across Copilot Studio, Teams SDK, and M365 Agents SDK (channels, orchestration fit, developer experience).

Tool Copilot Studio Teams SDK M365 Agents SDK
Primary Use Case Low-code custom engine agents Bot Framework migration path Multi-channel pro-code agents
Orchestration Options Agent Framework (Preview) recommended, LangChain (Third-party) Teams SDK (Action Planner) Agent Framework (Preview) recommended, LangChain (Third-party)
Deployment Channels Teams, M365 Copilot Teams-focused 10+ channels (Teams, Slack, web chat, etc.)
Developer Experience Visual designer + code Code-first Code-first with Toolkit in VS Code
Target Audience Makers and developers Bot Framework developers Professional developers
Licensing Model Per-user subscription Included with M365 Included with Azure Bot Service
Status GA GA GA

Publishing scope: Only agents built with the Teams SDK, M365 Agents SDK, or Foundry can be published to the Microsoft Commercial Store via Agents Toolkit; Copilot Studio agents are org-only by default. Source: Custom engine agents for Microsoft 365 overview.

Sources:

Confidence Level: High (all GA, official Microsoft documentation)

Related Pages

Next: Quick Reference - Fast lookup tables to accompany the matrices

  1. Agent Framework guidance on when not to use an agent (prefer deterministic functions/workflows). Source: Microsoft Agent Framework overview. ↩

  2. Frontier Word/Excel/PowerPoint creation agents (Preview) require admin Frontier opt-in (Frontier is the early access program for experimental/preview Copilot features), Anthropic provider connection, and acceptance of Anthropic commercial terms; data is processed outside Microsoft-managed environments. Sources: Word/Excel/PowerPoint Agents, Microsoft 365 Copilot admin user access. ↩

  3. Microsoft 365 Copilot release notes (Nov 24, 2025) – mobile support for custom engine agents and message-extension agents on iOS/Android. Source: Microsoft 365 Copilot release notes - Nov 24, 2025 (Retrieved: 2025-01-27). ↩

  4. Agent Registry lifecycle actions (publish, activate, deploy, pin, block, remove, delete, reassign owner, export inventory). Source: Agent Registry in the Microsoft 365 admin center (Retrieved: 2026-01-23). ↩

  5. The Agent Pre-Purchase Plan (P3) lets organizations buy Agent Commit Units (ACUs) in a single pool covering both Copilot Studio (metered messages) and Microsoft Foundry (Azure consumption) usage. This does not change per-platform licensing models but provides a unified pre-purchase option across platforms. Source: Agent Pre-Purchase Plan (Updated: 2026-01-15). ↩

  6. Overview of the Microsoft 365 Copilot Search API (Preview) for hybrid semantic + lexical search across OneDrive via Graph /beta. Source: Microsoft 365 Copilot Search API overview (Retrieved: 2025-10-20). ↩

  7. What’s new in Microsoft Foundry Agent Service, Microsoft Learn. May 2025 GA update includes Azure Logic Apps triggers for agents. Source: Foundry Agent Service - What’s new (Retrieved: 2025-10-08). ↩

  8. Workflows with AI agents and models in Azure Logic Apps (Preview), Microsoft Learn. Source: Logic Apps agent workflows concepts (Retrieved: 2025-11-18). ↩

  9. What’s new in Microsoft Foundry Agent Service, Microsoft Learn. June 2025 update announces the MCP tool. Source: Foundry Agent Service - What’s new (Retrieved: 2025-10-08). ↩

  10. Set up Standard logic apps as remote MCP servers (Preview), Microsoft Learn. Source: Set up Standard logic apps as remote MCP servers (Retrieved: 2025-11-18). ↩

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