When Microsoft introduced Copilot Studio in November 2023, a “Microsoft Copilot Studio Viral Trial” license could be enabled. Microsoft added 10,000 free licenses to your tenant, with no expiration date.
It appears that the license SKU was not intended for public use. The internal name indicates it’s a private preview SKU.
Later, Microsoft replaced the Viral license with a 30-day limited Copilot Studio user license, but existing Viral licenses were not canceled. I still have the license in my tenant. The Copilot Studio access worked.
However, Copilot Studio now notifies me my account doesn’t have a license. It seems Microsoft has changed the licensing requirements for Copilot Studio. The previous viral license is no longer accepted.
The Copilot Studio licensing requirements note users have three options to access Copilot Studio.
- Users need the “free” Copilot Studio user license.
This “free” license requires that your tenant has at least one Copilot Studio message pack. Without it, you won’t be able to order the free user license. For this reason, the prerequisite is not a real free license. For more information, refer to the Prerequisites tab in the Copilot Studio license information.
- A Microsoft 365 Copilot license with an active Copilot Studio service plan. The Microsoft 365 Copilot license is not a free option.
- A Power Platform administrator configures Copilot Studio Authors in the Power Platform tenant settings.
Users assigned as Copilot Studio Authors can access Copilot Studio without requiring a Copilot Studio user license. However, it’s unclear if this is still a preview feature. Typically, preview configurations do not enforce license requirements. The documentation mentions nothing about the preview for authors.
Copilot Studio author members can access Copilot Studio at copilotstudio.microsoft.com to build Copilot Studio Agents.
