Free Copilot Chat Now Has Limits, and Microsoft Won't Say What They Are
From November 9, staff without a paid Copilot license can hit a daily wall in Copilot Chat. Here is how to keep that from stopping the work.
By John Martines · November 6, 2026 · 6 min
Microsoft is adding fair use limits to Copilot Chat for everyone without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, and it will not publish the numbers. Here is what changes, who it hits, and what to do before a busy afternoon finds the limit for you.
It is 3:40 on a Thursday at a six-chair dental office. The office manager is halfway through the recall letters for next month, using Copilot Chat in Edge the way she has every week since spring. She pastes in the next batch and asks for the same friendly reminder, shorter. This time Copilot answers with a notice instead: that feature is not available right now, try again later.
She assumes something is broken and calls whoever looks after the computers. Nothing is broken. She has hit a limit that Microsoft set, that her IT partner cannot see, and that nobody can raise.
That will be a common call this month. On November 3, 2026, Microsoft told Microsoft 365 admins that Copilot Chat is getting usage limits for everyone who doesn't pay for a Copilot license, with a second wave starting November 9.
Copilot Chat is the free AI chat that comes with Microsoft 365 business plans. Staff reach it on the web, in the desktop apps and on their phone. It answers questions, drafts text and summarizes files you give it. The paid add-on, Microsoft 365 Copilot, goes further: it can read your mail, calendar and files on its own.
Microsoft is now putting "fair use" limits on more Copilot Chat features for people without that paid license. Image making already had them. The new limits cover more of the chat itself.
What Microsoft has said, in its two notices to admins and its support page:
- Who: users without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, in business accounts. Personal Microsoft 365 plans are not part of these notices.
- Where: the web, desktop and mobile apps.
- How it works: the limits can change through the day. When someone hits one, Copilot tells them in the app, and tells them when to try again. An answer already being written is not cut off.
- What admins can do: nothing. "Microsoft sets and manages these limits. Admins can't view or adjust the limits."
- The numbers: not published. The support page says that because service limits can vary, Microsoft does not publish or share specific numeric limits, and that hitting one "isn't an error or product malfunction."
How it got here:
- 2025: Microsoft launched Copilot Business, a cheaper paid add-on for organizations with up to 300 people.
- Earlier: image making in Copilot Chat was limited for unlicensed users.
- July 1, 2026: Microsoft raised prices on some Microsoft 365 plans, and said Copilot Business stays at $21 a person a month.
- November 3, 2026: two Message Center notices, both titled "Limits in Copilot Chat." One says the new limits are rolling out now; the other says they start November 9.
- December 1, 2026: new Copilot Business licenses bought through a reseller arrive with pay-as-you-go billing switched on.
Most small offices never bought the paid add-on. They use the free chat, and some have quietly built routines on it: the weekly job summary, the patient letters, the bid write-ups, the product descriptions. Those routines now sit on a limit you can't see.
The limit shows up at the worst time. It varies through the day, and the people who hit it are your heaviest users, usually doing the most work at the busiest hour.
Nobody can tell you the number. Your IT partner can't look it up and can't raise it. You can only see who hits it, and how often.
It points toward a purchase. Microsoft's notice suggests admins review how staff can request licenses for themselves. Hitting a wall is a sales moment. That is fine if the license is worth it for that person, and a waste if it isn't.
1. Tell your staff before they find it. One short message this week: "Copilot Chat now has daily limits Microsoft doesn't publish. If you see a notice saying a feature isn't available, it isn't broken. Note the time and what you were doing, and tell me." Microsoft's own advice to admins is to tell the help desk. In a small office, that's whoever gets the "is the computer broken" calls.
2. Find the routines that depend on it. Ask each person: what do you use Copilot Chat for every week, and what happens if it's unavailable for an afternoon? You're looking for the two or three jobs with a deadline attached.
3. Give each deadline job a fallback. Start it earlier in the day. Keep the last good version as a template, so a person can finish it by hand. Or know which other AI tool the business already pays for that can do the same job. Don't let a 4:30 deadline rest on a limit you can't see.
4. Keep a two-week log. Who hit a limit, when, and doing what. If one person hits it most days, that's your evidence for one paid seat. If nobody hits it, you've spent nothing.
5. Buy one seat, not ten, and set the meter first. If the log says someone needs more, start with one Copilot Business seat for that person. If you buy through a reseller after December 1, pay-as-you-go billing comes switched on, so set your own spending limit on day one. Our piece on that change, [Copilot's Meter Turns On by Default December 1](/articles/copilot-billing-december-1), walks through it.
6. Check who can buy licenses. Microsoft points admins to the setting for self-service license requests. Make sure a frustrated employee can't buy a Copilot license on their own card, or on yours, without someone deciding.
- Is it the limit, or the task? Some jobs work better split into smaller pieces. Try that before buying.
- Does the person need the paid features, or just more room? The paid license reads mail, calendar and files on its own. If the person only drafts text, a cheaper fix may do.
- What does the business already pay for? Many offices already have ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini somewhere. Check before adding a fourth tool.
- What is the job worth? If the work takes an hour by hand once a week, compare that to the seat price for a year.
- Who owns the decision? Pick one person to approve AI purchases, so seats don't pile up one request at a time.
Every AI company is drawing the same line between free and paid, and the line moves. OpenAI and Anthropic set allowances on their plans too, and they change them with little warning. Microsoft's notices say these limits "may expand to additional capabilities over time."
The habit that protects you is the same everywhere. Know which jobs depend on an AI tool, keep a way to finish them without it, and buy more only when a log shows someone needs it. Do that this week, and November 9 is a notice on a screen, not a missed deadline.
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Sources (checked November 5, 2026). The new limits, who they cover, the platforms, in-app notices, answers not interrupted, "Microsoft sets and manages these limits. Admins can't view or adjust the limits," rollout now and from November 9, image making already limited, and the advice to inform the help desk and review self-service license requests: Microsoft 365 Message Center, "Limits in Copilot Chat," MC1536158 and MC1536163 (both published Nov 3, 2026, as archived at mc.merill.net). No published numbers, limits varying through the day, "isn't an error or product malfunction," applies to work accounts without a Copilot license: Microsoft Support, "Limits for features in Microsoft Copilot Chat" (checked Nov 5, 2026). Coverage of the change: "Microsoft expands undisclosed usage limits across Copilot Chat" (Mezha, Nov 5, 2026). Copilot Business at $21 a person a month from July 1, 2026: Microsoft Tech Community, "Act now: lock in current pricing on Microsoft 365 Copilot" (Microsoft 365 Copilot blog, 2026). Copilot Business for organizations up to 300 users: "Microsoft Launches Cheaper Microsoft 365 Copilot Business, AI Add-On for Small Organizations" (Office Watch, 2025). Pay-as-you-go billing on by default from December 1: "Update: Usage-based billing is default on for new Microsoft 365 Copilot Business licenses starting December 1, 2026" (Microsoft Partner Center announcements, Oct 1, 2026, updated Oct 14, 2026).