GILD verdict
Choose by where your employees already work.
Microsoft 365 Copilot fits a company that lives in Word, Outlook and Teams, because it reaches mail, files and meetings with no connector setup. Gemini Enterprise fits a company whose knowledge spans Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and SaaS apps, because one assistant reaches all of them through connectors. Price does not decide it: 500 standard seats list at US$15,000 a month on either.
GILD found no named team that has published running Gemini Enterprise and Microsoft 365 Copilot side by side or choosing between them; Case Western Reserve chose Gemini Enterprise campus-wide on October 16, 2026 without naming an alternative. Microsoft 365 Copilot works inside Microsoft 365: it grounds answers in each person's mail, files, meetings and chats and sits in Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams. Gemini Enterprise is a separate assistant and agent app that reaches Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and SaaS apps through connectors. At 500 seats both list at US$15,000 a month on their standard tiers paid yearly.
Choosing between Gemini Enterprise and Microsoft Copilot
Choose Gemini Enterprise if
- Your company works across Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and SaaS apps, and one assistant should reach all of them.
- You want Google-made agents such as Deep Research and no-code agents that employees build themselves.
- You build agents on Google Cloud and want to publish them to employees in the same app.
Choose Microsoft Copilot if
- Your company lives in Microsoft 365, and people want help inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams.
- You want answers grounded in mail, meetings and chats through Microsoft Graph without setting up connectors.
- You want Copilot Chat at no extra cost on eligible Microsoft 365 plans, with paid seats only for heavier users.
Side by side
| Dimension | Gemini Enterprise | Microsoft Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| Choose it if | Choose Gemini Enterprise if your company's data spans Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and SaaS apps that one assistant must reach1 | Choose Microsoft 365 Copilot if your company works inside Microsoft 365 and wants help in Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams12 |
| Seat price | Business US$21 per user per month paid annually, up to 300 users; Standard US$30; Plus US$5023 | Microsoft 365 Copilot US$30 per user per month paid yearly, on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan; Copilot Business US$21 paid yearly, up to 300 users1011 |
| Cost at a stated workload: 500 seatsGILD's calculation: seats times the listed annual-commitment price per user per month; Copilot Business and Gemini Enterprise Business stop at 300 users. | US$15,000 a month for 500 Standard seats at US$30, or US$25,000 on Plus at US$50, paid annually (GILD calculation, Oct 28, 2026)3 | US$15,000 a month for 500 Microsoft 365 Copilot seats at US$30 paid yearly, plus the Microsoft 365 plan each user already needs (GILD calculation, Oct 28, 2026)10 |
| Where it works | A separate Gemini Enterprise app that works across email, documents, code, data and business apps under each person's existing permissions1 | Inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote and Teams, plus the Microsoft Copilot app on web, desktop and mobile12 |
| Company data | Connectors to Microsoft 365, Slack, Confluence, Google Workspace, GitHub, Jira, Salesforce, ServiceNow, BigQuery, HubSpot, Notion and Asana15 | Microsoft Graph content each person can open: mail, files, meetings and chats, extended by connectors and agents12 |
| Models | Gemini 4 Argon and Gemini 3.8 Flash, with Claude Opus 5.5 and Claude Sonnet 5.5 once an administrator enables third-party models79 | OpenAI's models and, as a Microsoft subprocessor, Anthropic's models, on by default outside the EU, EFTA and UK15 |
| Agents | Google-made agents such as Deep Research, Gemini Notebook, and custom agents built with the no-code Workflow Builder24 | Agents from Microsoft and partners in Copilot Chat; custom agents in Agent Builder or Copilot Studio, metered in Copilot Credits beyond licensed use1214 |
| Usage limits | Daily Assistant query pools: 160 queries per Standard licence and 200 per Plus licence, shared per edition, project and location6 | Licensed seats with metered usage for agents and Copilot Cowork billed through Copilot Credits or an Azure subscription14 |
| Data handling | Google does not use customer prompts or outputs to train models; Standard and Plus add customer-managed keys and VPC Service Controls8 | Prompts, responses and Microsoft Graph data are not used to train foundation models; Anthropic models run as a Microsoft subprocessor where enabled1315 |
| Data residency | Data at rest in the us or eu multi-regions or listed in-country regions on Standard and Plus7 | Microsoft 365 data residency commitments and the EU Data Boundary, with Anthropic models outside the EU Data Boundary1315 |
What practitioners report, side by side
Each product's figures come from its own practitioners, for the group you pick.
Overall signal
All users rate Microsoft Copilot −15, 27 points above Gemini Enterprise at −42. Most of the gap is in praise, with 18 of Microsoft Copilot's 70 sources positive against 5 of Gemini Enterprise's 48. Microsoft Copilot has 29 negative and Gemini Enterprise 25.
The score counts the authors from all users that take a side, one vote each with their latest view, and is how far positive votes lead negative ones, per 100 votes, so Gemini Enterprise's −42 rests on votes split 5 positive, 15 mixed and 23 negative and Microsoft Copilot's −15 on 18, 19 and 28.
A lead of a fifth of the votes reads positive and a lead of half strong positive, with the same lines below zero. The dots show each source, positive, mixed, negative. Run a pilot on your team's recurring tasks to measure how often answers are used without rework.
Footprint on the AI Knowledge Work stack
They differ on one of 7 layers. On Meeting notes, Gemini Enterprise touches it and Microsoft Copilot supports it. Coverage is each product's placement on this stack, as its product page shows it. Core is a job the product owns; Supports and Touches are jobs it helps with. Coverage says nothing about how well a product does them.
| Layer | Gemini Enterprise | Microsoft Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| Create | ||
| Meeting notes | Touches | Supports |
The 6 layers where they match
| Layer | Gemini Enterprise | Microsoft Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| Assist | ||
| AI assistant | Core | Core |
| Find | ||
| Web research | Supports | Supports |
| Enterprise search | Core | Core |
| Create | ||
| Documents | Supports | Supports |
| Analyze | ||
| Data analysis | Supports | Supports |
| Automate | ||
| Automation | Supports | Supports |
What practitioners praise
Among all users, Microsoft Copilot alone has four praise themes that reach 5 sources from 3 authors. Meeting Recaps and Microsoft 365 Reach lead, at 9 of 10 and 9 of 16. Both carry Answer Quality. It is praised in 4 of the 7 Gemini Enterprise sources that discuss it, against 4 of 16 for Microsoft Copilot. Gemini Enterprise alone has three praise themes that reach 5 sources from 3 authors. Search Across Company Data and Agents & Agent Designer lead, at 5 of 8 and 3 of 14.
| Praised for | Gemini Enterprise | Microsoft Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| Answer Quality | 4 of 7 | 4 of 16 |
| Search Across Company Data | 5 of 8 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Agents & Agent Designer | 3 of 14 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Connector Range | 2 of 7 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Meeting Recaps | Not a theme in its sources | 9 of 10 |
| Microsoft 365 Reach | Not a theme in its sources | 9 of 16 |
| Enterprise Data Terms | Not a theme in its sources | 7 of 9 |
| Agents & Cowork | Not a theme in its sources | 6 of 13 |
Each count is the sources that praise a theme, or raise it as a concern, out of those that discuss it. A row pairs the two products when both carry a theme under the same or an equivalent name.
A count ending in "so far" has under 5 sources from 3 authors among all users. "Not a theme in its sources" means GILD found no theme of that name in that product's sources.
What practitioners raise as concerns
Among all users, Microsoft Copilot alone has six concern themes that reach 5 sources from 3 authors. Inconsistent Output and Admin Controls lead, at 10 of 10 and 8 of 8. Gemini Enterprise alone has five concern themes that reach 5 sources from 3 authors. Setup & Admin Work and Billing & License Pushes lead, at 12 of 12 and 10 of 10.
| Raised as a concern | Gemini Enterprise | Microsoft Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| Setup & Admin Work | 12 of 12 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Billing & License Pushes | 10 of 10 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Unclear Return | 9 of 9 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Product Naming Confusion | 8 of 9 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Slow Responses & Bugs | 8 of 9 | Not a theme in its sources |
| Inconsistent Output | Not a theme in its sources | 10 of 10 |
| Admin Controls | Not a theme in its sources | 8 of 8 |
| Feature Gaps | Not a theme in its sources | 8 of 8 |
| License Cost & Confusion | Not a theme in its sources | 6 of 7 |
| Oversharing | Not a theme in its sources | 5 of 5 |
| Low Adoption | Not a theme in its sources | 5 of 7 |
15 sources
- Google Cloud: Gemini for Business (Gemini Enterprise)
- Google Cloud: Gemini Enterprise Business edition
- Google Cloud SKUs: Gemini Enterprise
- Google Cloud: Gemini Enterprise FAQ
- Google Cloud: Connectors for Gemini Enterprise editions
- Gemini Enterprise documentation: Quotas and pay-as-you-go usage
- Gemini Enterprise documentation: Locations and data residency
- Gemini Enterprise documentation: Compliance and security controls
- Gemini Enterprise documentation: Release notes
- Microsoft: Microsoft Copilot for enterprise, plans and pricing
- Microsoft: Microsoft Copilot for business, plans and pricing
- Microsoft Learn: What is Microsoft Copilot?
- Microsoft Learn: Data, privacy, and security for Microsoft Copilot
- Microsoft: Copilot Studio plans and pricing
- Microsoft Learn: Anthropic models in Microsoft Online Services