đ¤ What is Microsoft Teams Copilot?
Microsoft 365 Copilot in Teams is an AI tool that captures important conversation points during meetings and events. Each participant with a Copilot license can ask prompts that are only visible to them, learning things like who said what and where people agree or disagree.
Beyond the updated interface, Copilot in Teams can analyze chat history, meeting transcripts, and calendar content to generate smart recaps, rewrite messages, and surface relevant insights. It uses what was written in chat and spoken content captured in meeting transcripts to provide comprehensive information.
For organizations already using Microsoft 365, Teams Copilot represents a seamless integration that leverages existing infrastructure while adding powerful AI capabilities to every meeting.
đ Key AI Features
Real-Time Meeting Intelligence
Copilot provides real-time AI assistance during meetings. Participants can ask questions about the discussion, get summaries of what they missed if joining late, and receive instant clarification on complex topics discussed.
During-Meeting Capabilities
- Ask "What have I missed?" when joining late
- Get instant summaries of discussion points
- See where participants agree or disagree
- Private prompts visible only to you
Live Transcription & Captions
Teams offers live transcription during meetings, with automatic language detection. When Interpreter is enabled, spoken language is automatically detected and updated across Interpreter, live captions, and live transcription, keeping all speech features consistent.
â ī¸ Important Change (Late 2025): Using Copilot in Teams meetings will no longer enable and save transcripts automatically. To access Copilot's conversation history after the meeting ends, organizers must turn on live transcription separately.
Meeting Summaries & Recaps
Copilot uses AI to summarize meeting transcripts, extract action items, and assist with chat responses, making follow-ups faster. Post-meeting, users can open Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat to generate summaries and get suggested next steps.
What You Get After Each Meeting
- AI-generated meeting summary with key points
- Extracted action items and follow-up tasks
- Key insights and decisions highlighted
- Searchable transcript (if transcription enabled)
Audio Recaps (Podcast-Style)
Take a break from your screen and catch up on meetings with podcast-style audio recaps. This feature uses AI to transform meeting transcripts into engaging audio summaries, available with Microsoft 365 and Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses.
đĩ Perfect for commutes, exercise, or when you need eyes-free meeting catch-up.
Facilitator AI Agent
Add Facilitator, a meeting AI agent, to your Teams meetings to keep them running smoothly and efficiently. Facilitator reminds participants about agenda items and time remaining, captures real-time notes, and much more.
Facilitator Capabilities
- Agenda item reminders and time tracking
- Real-time note capture during meetings
- Meeting flow management
- Requires Microsoft 365 Copilot license
AI Interpreter
The Interpreter Agent enables real-time translation during meetings, supporting nine languages as of late 2025: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, and Portuguese.
âšī¸ Available for companies using both Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams Premium.
Teams Phone Integration
The post-call Copilot experience for Teams Phone on desktop and mobile is powered by Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. After a call ends, users can generate summaries, surface key insights, and get suggested next steps. By using data from Microsoft Graph and the web, Copilot Chat delivers responses that are more personalized and actionable.
â ī¸ Transcription Behavior Change
A significant change rolled out in late 2025 affects how Copilot handles transcriptions:
Using Copilot automatically enabled and saved transcripts
Copilot no longer saves transcripts by default
Persisted vs Non-Persisted Transcripts
- Persisted Transcript: Saved to OneDrive for Business, accessible after meeting
- Non-Persisted Transcript: Generated internally for Copilot to reference during meeting, deleted when meeting finishes
- To Access Copilot After Meeting: Organizers must manually turn on live transcription during the meeting to save transcripts
đ° Microsoft Teams Pricing
Microsoft Teams Copilot features are available through Microsoft 365 Copilot licensing, which adds to your existing Microsoft 365 subscription.
Teams Free
- Basic meetings (60 min limit)
- Live captions
- No transcription
- No Copilot access
Microsoft 365 Business
- Unlimited meetings
- Meeting recordings
- Live transcription
- No Copilot (add-on required)
Microsoft 365 Copilot
- Full Copilot in meetings
- AI summaries & insights
- Facilitator agent
- Audio recaps
Teams Premium
- Advanced meeting protection
- Custom meeting templates
- AI Interpreter access
- Watermarks & sensitivity labels
đĄ Enterprise Advantage: For organizations already on Microsoft 365 E3/E5, adding Copilot ($30/user/month) provides comprehensive AI meeting features without switching platforms.
Pros and Cons
â Pros
- Native Microsoft Integration: Seamless integration with Microsoft 365 ecosystem including Outlook, SharePoint, and OneDrive
- Real-Time AI Assistance: Ask questions during meetings and get instant answers from Copilot
- Enterprise Security: Built on Microsoft's enterprise-grade security and compliance infrastructure
- Comprehensive Features: Audio recaps, Facilitator agent, and AI Interpreter for complete meeting intelligence
- Microsoft Graph Integration: Leverages data across your Microsoft 365 environment for personalized insights
â Cons
- Premium Pricing: Copilot requires $30/user/month on top of existing Microsoft 365 subscription
- Transcript Complexity: New behavior requires manual transcription enabling, which may confuse users
- Microsoft Ecosystem Lock-in: Best value only for organizations fully committed to Microsoft 365
- Limited Language Support: AI Interpreter supports only 9 languages currently
- Learning Curve: Multiple AI features (Copilot, Facilitator, Interpreter) can be overwhelming to manage
đ¯ Best Use Cases
Microsoft Teams Copilot is Ideal For:
- Enterprise organizations on Microsoft 365
- Teams needing real-time meeting AI assistance
- Organizations requiring enterprise security compliance
- Global teams needing multi-language interpretation
Consider Alternatives If:
- You're not using Microsoft 365 ecosystem
- Budget constraints make $30/user/month prohibitive
- You need standalone transcription without platform commitment
- You require more than 9 interpreter languages
Microsoft Teams Alternatives
1. Otter.ai
Real-time transcription for meetings with speaker identification. More affordable starting at $8.33/month for Pro. Better for teams not committed to Microsoft ecosystem who need straightforward transcription.
Free, Pro $8.33/month, Business $20/month
Best For: Budget-conscious teams needing simple transcription
2. Fireflies.ai
Strong transcription with soundbite clips and sentiment analytics. Works across Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet. Better team collaboration features with CRM integrations.
Free, Pro $10-18/month, Business $19-29/month
Best For: Teams wanting cross-platform meeting intelligence
3. Fathom AI
Free unlimited recordings with AI summaries. Rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot. The most reliable free option for professionals who need basic meeting transcription.
Free unlimited, Premium $16/month, Team $14/month
Best For: Individual professionals on a budget
4. Zoom AI Companion
Native AI features for Zoom meetings including summaries and smart recordings. Included with paid Zoom plans, making it a natural choice for Zoom-centric organizations.
Included with Zoom paid plans ($13.99+/month)
Best For: Organizations primarily using Zoom for meetings
Overall Assessment
Microsoft Teams with Copilot represents a powerful, enterprise-grade meeting intelligence solution that's deeply integrated with the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. The AI features are comprehensive, from real-time meeting assistance to podcast-style audio recaps, and the Facilitator agent adds unique meeting management capabilities.
However, the 2025 transcription behavior change requires attention â meeting organizers must now manually enable transcription to retain Copilot conversation history. This change aims to give users more control but may disrupt existing workflows.
Final Verdict
Microsoft Teams Copilot is the natural choice for enterprises already invested in Microsoft 365. The $30/user/month add-on provides comprehensive AI meeting features that leverage your existing Microsoft infrastructure.
For organizations not on Microsoft 365, standalone alternatives like Fireflies or Otter.ai offer better value and platform flexibility.
Best For: Microsoft 365 Organizations
Deep ecosystem integration
Copilot Add-on: $30/user/month
On top of M365 subscription
