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Microsoft rebuilt Copilot around Home, Code and Autopilot, and bills the agent work by usage

The agent you leave running, and the app builder, are the parts Microsoft now charges for by use.

By Think Facility · September 25, 2026 · Microsoft AI products

On September 25, 2026, Microsoft rebuilt its Copilot app around three new sections: Home, Code and Autopilot. Word, Excel and PowerPoint now run inside the app as well, in full.

You may know Autopilot already. Microsoft used to call it Scout. The part that surprised me was the bill, though, because the pieces that do the most work are exactly the ones Microsoft now charges for by use.

Rolling out

now through the Frontier program

New sections

Home, Code and Autopilot

Autopilot

previously called Scout

Autopilot preview

private preview at the end of the month

Next event

Microsoft Ignite, November 17–20 in San Francisco

What each part does

Home is where you land. Chat is for quick questions; Cowork takes a whole task (an RFP response, say) and hands back the finished thing. Later on, Microsoft says, you won't have to pick between them at all.

Code is for people who don't write code. Describe a tracker or a dashboard and Copilot builds it in a sandbox (your company can host it inside its own Microsoft 365 tenant). Under the hood it's the same technology as GitHub Copilot.

Autopilot is the odd one, and the one I'd watch. You give it a name, a role and a goal. Then it goes off and works by itself, watching channels and picking a project back up days later, with nobody prompting it.

Who pays for what

There are two prices now. A per-user license covers everyday Copilot in Chat and the Office apps, and there a mode called Auto chooses the model for each request. Agent work is metered instead, on what Microsoft calls usage-based billing.

So picking Astra or Fable in Copilot puts you on the meter too. Admins can decide which model families each group of staff gets (and Auto can only choose among those).

What Nadella said

Nadella's post went up at 8:05 am Eastern. He counts four pieces where the blog has three, since he gives Office a line of its own.

When you'll get it

Most people will have to wait a bit. I think the blog is muddled on Code, too, since it gets two dates. Near the top, Home and Code both start rolling out in the Frontier early-access program "in the coming weeks." Further down, Code reaches Frontier "at the end of the month," then comes to Microsoft 365 Premium and Pro subscribers as a preview later this year.

Autopilot goes to private preview at the end of the month. A feed called Today, which drafts your replies and proposes schedule changes, follows in October. Microsoft Ignite runs November 17–20 in San Francisco and online.