The gap between paid seats and actual use is the real story
On September 27, 2026, a Developer Relations Engineer posted a pointed question under Satya Nadella’s announcement of the “new Copilot”: “Serious question: does ANYONE use Copilot?” It got 200,000 views. That number tells you something about how many people quietly share the same doubt.
If you’re a business owner in New Jersey paying for Microsoft 365, this matters directly to your budget. Microsoft confirmed 30 million paid Copilot seats on its July 2026 earnings call. But a paid seat only tells you a company bought the license. It says nothing about whether anyone on your team opens the app once a week or ever.
Why the adoption numbers are messier than they look
Windows Latest reported in July 2026 that Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption was under 4.5% after three years, with only 1% of users opening it weekly. Those are not numbers that justify a premium line item for most small businesses.
A Microsoft employee named Nicolas Bustamante pushed back on the “nobody uses it” criticism by pointing out that enterprise customers have genuinely different needs. His argument: large companies need AI that works with their existing data and meets privacy and compliance requirements, often across multiple countries. Copilot handles that. A 20-person accounting firm in Hoboken does not have those same requirements.
That’s an honest distinction. If you’re running a regulated business with hundreds of employees, strict data governance, and complex permissions across departments, Copilot’s deep integration with Microsoft 365 identity and compliance tools is a real argument. If you’re running a 15-person operation where people mostly use Word and Outlook, the case is much weaker.
The bundling problem
One reply to Bustamante’s post put it plainly: “Copilot is the Teams of AI. People use it because they have no option with their employer paying for those nice annual Microsoft Azure and Office all-inclusive enterprise deals.” That’s a fair read. A lot of Copilot “adoption” is really just the feature existing inside tools people already have open.
Microsoft also made a series of decisions that hurt Copilot’s reputation before the September 2026 relaunch. Earlier versions bundled a full copy of Microsoft Edge and used as much as 1GB of RAM at idle. Microsoft pushed Copilot into Notepad, Snipping Tool, and other corners of Windows 11 in 2025, then pulled it back in 2026. If your team’s first impression of Copilot was an unwanted button slowing down their machine, that impression sticks. Our post on whether Windows 11 Copilot is useful or just RAM hungry goes deeper on the performance side of that.
What to actually do before your next renewal
The new Copilot announced in September 2026 is a bigger pitch than what came before. Home, Code, and Autopilot are meaningful additions. Whether they’re worth the cost for your team depends on one thing: are your employees actually using it now?
Before your next Microsoft 365 renewal, pull your usage data. Microsoft 365 admin reporting shows per-user activity. If Copilot-licensed seats show near-zero engagement over 90 days, you’re paying for shelf space. Either invest in proper onboarding so people actually use what you’re paying for, or drop the Copilot add-on until the product matures further.
Also worth checking: if you’re still on Microsoft 365 Business Basic or another lower tier, the Microsoft 365 price changes in 2026 may already be affecting what’s included in your plan. Adding a Copilot seat on top of a price increase you haven’t fully absorbed is a decision worth making deliberately, not by default.
- Check Microsoft 365 admin usage reports before renewing any Copilot licenses.
- Identify one or two specific tasks where Copilot would save your team real time, then test it there first.
- If you’re in a regulated industry, the compliance and permissions integration is the strongest argument for paying.
The honest takeaway: Copilot may be worth it for your business, but “Microsoft included it in the bundle” is not a reason to keep paying for it. Treat it like any other software line item and measure it. If you want a second set of eyes on your Microsoft 365 licensing before your next renewal, Exine offers IT assessments for NJ businesses that include exactly that kind of review.
FAQ
Is Microsoft Copilot included in my Microsoft 365 subscription?
Not automatically. Microsoft 365 Copilot is a paid add-on on top of standard Microsoft 365 plans. Some enterprise agreements bundle it, but most small business plans require a separate Copilot license purchase. Check your admin portal or invoice to confirm what you’re actually paying for.
How do I check if my employees are actually using Copilot?
Log into the Microsoft 365 admin center and go to Reports, then Usage. You can see per-app and per-user activity. If Copilot-licensed accounts show no activity over 30 to 90 days, that’s a clear sign the seats aren’t delivering value for your current setup.
Does Copilot slow down Windows 11 computers?
Earlier versions of the Copilot app used as much as 1GB of RAM at idle after Microsoft bundled a full copy of Edge into it. The September 2026 version is a different build, but it’s worth monitoring resource usage on older or lower-spec machines before rolling it out broadly.
Should a small business pay for Microsoft 365 Copilot right now?
Only if your team has a specific, tested use case for it. Microsoft reported adoption under 4.5% after three years, with 1% weekly active use. For most small businesses, the smarter move is a 30-day pilot on a few seats before committing to company-wide licensing.
