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🚨 Mission 12: Understanding Licensing ​

🕵️‍♂️ CODENAME: OPERATION KNOW WHAT YOU OWE ​

⏱️ Operation Time Window: ~15 minutes – intel only, no fieldwork required

🎯 Mission Brief ​

Welcome, Recruit. Before you deploy agents into production, you need more than working prompts and polished responses, you need a clear understanding of how those agents are measured and billed. Licensing surprises tend to show up after an agent goes live, when usage scales and costs rise faster than expected.

This mission exists to help prevent that moment. You’ll learn how Copilot Studio usage is tracked, how different deployment choices affect cost, and why pre-planning matters before publishing an agent to real users. Understanding licensing early helps you design agents that are not only effective, but also predictable and sustainable in production.

Think of this as your cost-control briefing. With the right context, you can make informed design decisions, estimate impact ahead of time, and avoid unpleasant surprises once your agent is in the wild.

🔎 Objectives ​

In this lesson, you'll learn:

  1. How Copilot Studio licensing works using the Copilot Credits consumption model
  2. How Copilot Credits are acquired through pay-as-you-go, capacity packs, and prepaid commitments
  3. What Microsoft 365 Copilot user licenses include — and where Copilot Studio credits are still required
  4. How different agent scenarios (internal, external, automated, and integrated) affect credit consumption
  5. How to plan, estimate, and monitor usage to avoid unexpected costs when deploying agents at scale

🔎 What are Copilot Credits? ​

Copilot Credits are the currency used to measure usage in Copilot Studio.

Think of credits like metered usage, similar to minutes on a phone plan or miles on a taxi.

  • Copilot credits are used whenever an agent:
    • looks up information
    • answers a question
    • run workflows and actions
  • Every topic invocation, tool call, grounding operation, and custom skill consumes Copilot Credits.
  • More complex behavior uses more credits than simple answers

Every time your agent does real work behind the scenes, it uses Copilot Credits.

Copilot Credits replace the older “message” concept. Instead of counting interactions, you now count credits, which map more directly to work done by the agent (including actions and advanced tooling).

How Copilot Studio Licensing Works ​

1. Copilot Studio Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) Meter ​

This option includes:

  • No upfront commitment
  • You pay for actual Copilot Credits consumed in a billing month
  • Billed at $0.01 per Copilot Credit via Azure (credits consumed = cost)
  • Provides flexible, scalable usage without capacity limits upfront
  • This is ideal for early development, variable usage, or unpredictable agent workloads

2. Copilot Studio License (Copilot Credit Capacity Pack) ​

  • Monthly subscription that gives you 25,000 Copilot Credits per pack
  • Capacity packs are pooled at the tenant level
  • You can buy multiple packs depending on estimated consumption
  • Unused credits do not roll over month-to-month
  • Best for predictable usage
  • This option provides better predictable capacity for production environments

3. Copilot Credit Pre-Purchase Plan ​

  • Annual, prepaid option for large volumes of Copilot Credits
  • Credits are purchased as Copilot Credit Commit Units (CCCUs)
  • Each Copilot CRedit Commit Unit converts to 100 Copilot Credits
  • Unused credits do not roll over month-to-month
  • This option gives cost advantage at scale and predictable budgeting for big agent fleets

📌 Copilot Studio User Licenses ​

Even with capacity or credits available, your makers need the right access:

  • Copilot Studio Tenant License (credit capacity pack or pay-as-you-go) enables Copilot Studio in your tenant.
  • Copilot Studio User License ($0 license) must be assigned to any person who will create or manage agents in Copilot Studio.

This separation allows admin control of capacity while still enabling individual makers to build agents.

🧠 What Microsoft 365 Copilot Licenses Include ​

Microsoft 365 Copilot (e.g., $30/user/month business plans) includes:

  • Copilot access in apps like Word, Teams, Outlook, and Excel.
  • The ability for licensed users to create and interact with agents in hosted channels like Teams or Microsoft 365 Copilot.

When Copilot Studio Credits Still Apply ​

Even when users have Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses, Copilot Credits from your Copilot Studio capacity are used when agents do more advanced work, including:

  • Running agent flows
  • Using connectors or external services
  • Publishing and using agents outside of internal Microsoft 365 experiences
  • Executing topics, triggers, or workflows that involve actions beyond simple responses

These usages draw from your Copilot Studio capacity (paid credits), not just from an individual’s Copilot user subscription.

Simple rule of thumb ​

  • Internal interaction in M365 and basic responses — usually covered by the Microsoft 365 Copilot user license when the user is signed in and using built-in channels.
  • Automation, integrations, and external publishing — consume your Copilot Studio credits, regardless of individual Copilot subscriptions.

📊 Capacity Planning Tips ​

Before you launch an agent:

  • Estimate consumption using the Copilot Studio Agent Usage Estimator which helps you forecast credits used per agent per month.
  • Disable unused tools if you aren't using them in your agent to avoid incurring extra costs.
  • Mix credit packs + pay-as-you-go to prevent service interruptions if capacity packs run out.
  • Assign Copilot Studio User Licenses to all builders to avoid access issues.
  • Monitor consumption in the Power Platform admin center (Billing > License > Copilot Studio).

TIP

✅ Run the Copilot Studio Usage Estimator early in the planning process and again after building to compare expected vs. actual usage.

🧠 Real-World Licensing Scenarios ​

ScenarioLicensing / Credits
Internal Teams agent answering questions from default knowledge sourcesCovered by user license for basic interaction; external actions still use credits
Agent with Power Automate/connector actionsUses Copilot Credits
Autonomous agentsUses Copilot Credits
Published on external web or systemUses Copilot Credits
Maker building agentsRequires Copilot Studio User License

🏁 Mission Complete ​

You now understand:

  • How Copilot Credits work in Copilot Studio
  • What Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses include and what they don’t
  • How to plan with capacity packs, pay-as-you-go, and prepaid plans

With this knowledge, you’re ready to manage agent usage cost-effectively and confidently as you scale your solutions.

📚 Tactical Resources ​

Learn more about licensing and billing in Copilot Studio

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