If your company runs on Microsoft, you aren't leaving it for us. Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams stay where they are. One Outlook sign-in during Liftoff covers both mail and calendar for Nautis, and that is about as far as the two products overlap.
The decision is narrower: does a Copilot licence cover your company's AI needs, or is there a set of startup records it won't have? Microsoft's pages make this harder than it sounds, because "Copilot" now means several products at several prices. We start by sorting those out, using what Microsoft publishes as of October 2026.
First, which Copilot are you comparing?
Microsoft's newer pages often say "Microsoft Copilot", while people still search for Microsoft 365 Copilot. These five options matter to a small company.
- Copilot Chat. Included at no additional cost with eligible Microsoft 365 plans. Microsoft describes it as web-grounded, and its documentation says you must explicitly provide organizational content with your prompt. It can use declarative agents grounded in instructions and public websites, and other agents are metered.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot (Basic). Microsoft's documentation uses this name for people without the add-on who still have standard access to Copilot in apps such as Word and Excel. It says these experiences are more limited, depend on service capacity and aren't grounded in Microsoft Graph in chat. We couldn't confirm which plans include it.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot Business. A paid add-on for existing customers on an eligible Business plan, which its licensing guide lists as Business Basic, Standard or Premium, Apps for Business or Teams Essentials. Copilot then works in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, with chat grounded in work data. Microsoft's licensing guide caps it at 300 licensed users per tenant.
- Business Standard or Premium with Copilot. The same idea sold as one bundle, with a one-month trial that requires a card and converts to paid.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot for enterprise. An add-on that requires a separate qualifying Microsoft 365 plan. The licensing guide says Microsoft 365 E7 includes it.
Most of what follows is about the paid versions. Comparing Nautis with Copilot Chat would be unfair to Microsoft, since it reaches your company data only in limited ways.
What Microsoft's pages say about agents
Agents are where Copilot starts to resemble what Nautis does, so read this part closely. Everything below comes from Microsoft's agents and pricing pages and its documentation.
Pre-built agents
The pricing FAQ says a plan with Copilot gives access to agents like Researcher, Analyst and Facilitator. The agents page also names People Agent, App Builder, Workflows Agent, Workforce Insights Agent, Learning Agent, Sales Qualification Agent, Sales Research Agent, Case Management Agent, Customer Intent Agent, Account Reconciliation Agent and Supplier Communications Agent. It states that all agents are included with a Copilot license. The pricing table has a row for Sales, Service and Finance agents, but we couldn't confirm which plans it applies to, so check before relying on one.
Agents you build
You can select "New agent" in Copilot and describe one in natural language, ground it in your data, then add actions into your business systems. Microsoft's examples include querying HR, CRM or financial databases and updating CRM systems. Copilot Studio is the route for larger builds. So a Microsoft company could build something like a founder briefing. Doing so is real work, and we set out that trade in build vs buy an AI chief of staff.
Usage charges and Autopilot
A licence doesn't cover every AI experience. The pricing FAQ says usage-based experiences today include Copilot Cowork, Code, Autopilot and the Work IQ APIs, paid with Copilot Credits. The plan highlights also group advanced AI experiences in apps like SharePoint with Cowork and Autopilot, and Microsoft warns this can mean charges beyond your licence fees. Its main Copilot page describes Autopilot as an always-on personal agent with its own identity, memory and tools, and says it is in Private Preview.
Oversight
Microsoft describes a control plane to observe, secure and govern agents, and lets builders design agent flows for critical topics. A founder-facing queue that holds each action for approval is not listed on the pages we read. That doesn't prove it can't be built.
Nautis vs Microsoft 365 Copilot, by the question you'd ask
Features blur together on a page like this. It's more useful to look at who can answer each question and from what.
| What you need | Microsoft 365 Copilot (paid) | Nautis |
|---|---|---|
| "Turn these notes into a board memo" | Copilot in Word, in the document | A draft from chat, which you'd move into Word |
| "What did we agree in Tuesday's call?" | Copilot in Teams, and Facilitator named as an agent | Summary, action items and transcript on the meeting, when Fathom, Fireflies or Read.ai is connected |
| "Analyse this financial model" | Copilot in Excel, and Analyst | Financial planner and Sheets, which imports .xlsx files up to 10 MB |
| "Who on our investor list needs a nudge?" | Not listed as a built-in. Possible through an agent connected to wherever you keep that list | Fundraising CRM with Follow up today on Raise HQ |
| "How many months of cash do we have?" | Not listed as a built-in. It can read a workbook you maintain | Startup Health, from a monthly check-in |
| "What needs me today?" | Work IQ grounds Copilot in your company, roles and project context. A set morning briefing is not listed | Briefing at 7:00 am with Critical and Attention pills, each item linking to its module |
| "Send this for me" | Agents can act through connected systems, within the controls you set up | A card to review, unless an admin set that capability to Run without asking |
| "Pull in our CRM" | Copilot connectors feed line-of-business data into Work IQ | 1,000+ apps on demand through the catalog, or the built-in Leads CRM |
| "Lock down devices and identity" | Identity and access management in Business plans up to 300 users, with threat protection on Premium | Roles and permissions only. This isn't an IT admin product |
What does each cost for eight people?
Eight people is a useful size, because Nautis Launch stops at five members and Voyage covers up to ten. Microsoft figures come from its US English pricing page as of October 2026, which shows dollars without naming a currency. Regional prices may differ, and we didn't read any other region.
| Setup | Sum | Monthly total | What's left out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Standard with Copilot, everyone | 8 x $23.50 | $188 | Usage-based AI, Nautis |
| Business Premium with Copilot, everyone | 8 x $32 | $256 | Usage-based AI, Nautis |
| Copilot Business add-on, two founders only | 2 x $18 offer price | $36, or $42 at $21 | The Business plan underneath, which we couldn't confirm |
| Business Standard with Copilot, plus Nautis Voyage | $188 + $99 | $287 | Usage-based AI, AI credit top-ups |
| Add-on for two founders, plus Nautis Voyage | $36 + $99 | $135 | The Business plan underneath |
The add-on's offer has a date on it. The page shows $18 struck down from $21, and a footnote says the discount runs from July 1 to December 31, 2026, for existing customers on an eligible Business plan, with the offer price lasting the first year only. The monthly view lists $25.20, while the same footnote and Microsoft's licensing guide describe an annual commitment, so confirm the terms at checkout.
Monthly bundles cost more. Business Standard with Copilot is $28.20 and Premium with Copilot is $38.40 without yearly billing. The enterprise page lists its add-on at $30 per user per month paid yearly, and notes that its prices are for marketing purposes and may not reflect the actual list price. We couldn't confirm the prices of Microsoft 365 plans without Copilot, so those aren't shown here.
Nautis has its own limit. It is $49, $99 or $129 a month by plan, or ₹3,999, ₹8,999 and ₹11,999 in India, and yearly plans give 2 months free. Voyage includes 2,000 AI credits a month, shared by the whole team. It has a 14-day trial with no card and no free tier. See Nautis pricing for regional rates.
The week before a board meeting
Take an eight-person startup preparing for a Series A. The model is an Excel workbook on OneDrive, the board deck is in PowerPoint, and the team talks in Teams. The board meets on Friday, and two warm investors have gone quiet.
- Copilot's part is large. Analyst and Copilot in Excel work through the model. Copilot in PowerPoint and Word turns that into slides and a memo. Teams calls get summarised, so nobody retypes decisions. Everything happens in the files where the work already lives, and a Nautis workspace has nothing like that.
- Nautis's part is smaller and different. Monday's briefing shows that runway slipped after the last check-in, that an invoice is overdue, and that a decision review is due. Raise HQ flags the two quiet investors, and Beacon drafts a note for each one. The Investor Snapshot Editor gives you a shareable monthly summary. By default, nothing goes to an investor until you approve it.
- Keep the model in one place. Nautis Sheets can import your .xlsx and export it again, but we'd leave the live model in Excel. Enter the three numbers in Startup Health each month rather than maintaining the model twice.
Without a live raise, this picture changes. If the two quiet investors were two quiet customers and you already had a CRM connected to Copilot, an agent could serve you well, and the Nautis fee would be hard to justify.
Connecting Outlook and Teams to Nautis
Setup is short. On the second Liftoff step, click Connect next to Outlook, sign in using the small window that opens, and one sign-in covers mail and calendar. A calendar connection is required before you can move on. Only the workspace owner sees Liftoff, and it takes about four minutes in total, starting from your website or deck.
Once connected, Nautis can find free time, avoid clashes and book meetings you approve, and your external events block slots on booking pages. To offer Microsoft Teams as a meeting location, the matching integration has to be connected. MailBox can also show your Outlook mail next to your contacts, though your messages stay with Microsoft and disconnecting only removes access.
OneDrive and SharePoint aren't named in the Nautis guides we read, so don't expect the Chief of Staff to read your files there. If you need an app beyond those, search the integrations catalog during the trial. Connecting an app and enabling it for agents are separate steps, and only owners and admins can do either.
Where Nautis falls short next to Copilot
- It isn't in your documents. The Nautis guides don't offer the Chief of Staff inside Word or Excel, so finished documents still get made in Microsoft's apps.
- Scale. Copilot Business supports up to 300 licensed users per tenant, with enterprise options above that. Nautis startup plans stop at 25 members.
- Security and IT controls. Microsoft's Business Premium plan lists identity management, threat protection and data classification. This page makes no claim about Nautis security certifications, so if a customer questionnaire depends on one, ask us before committing.
- Maturity. Nautis launched publicly in July 2026 with few independent reviews.
- Building your own. Copilot Studio and Agent Builder let you shape agents around your business. Custom advisors and Routines in Nautis are simpler and bounded by plan limits.
- Accounting and payroll. Nautis tracks runway, invoices, expenses and pay runs, but does no bookkeeping or statutory filing, so you still need other systems. Neither product is a substitute for your accountant.
When to stop at Copilot
Buy only Copilot, or stay on Copilot Chat, in these situations. The decision is simple once you know which job you're paying for.
- Your output is documents. Proposals, reports, models and decks are the product, as in many professional services firms.
- You aren't raising. Without a round, most of the Nautis fundraising tools sit unused.
- You have an IT owner. Someone who can build and govern agents will get far more from Copilot Studio than a founder working alone.
- You're past 25 people. Nautis won't fit your headcount.
- Your records already live elsewhere. A working CRM and finance stack may only need connecting, rather than a new home.
Add Nautis if you can answer yes to two things: you're a founder-led startup of 25 or fewer, and investor follow-up, runway or cross-team tasks have slipped in the last month. Read the AI chief of staff overview first, then try it on your real data in the trial. If you are on Google instead, our Workspace comparison covers Gemini. For a look across suites, see all-in-one software for startups.
FAQ
Is Nautis a replacement for Microsoft 365?
No. Nautis has no equivalent to Word, PowerPoint, Teams or Outlook hosting, and it connects to your Microsoft mail and calendar instead. A company on Microsoft keeps those apps and adds Nautis for startup records such as investors and runway.
How much is Microsoft 365 Copilot for a small business?
As of October 2026, Microsoft's US English pricing page lists the Copilot Business add-on at $18 per user per month paid yearly, a first-year offer down from $21 that runs until December 31, 2026. Business Standard with Copilot is $23.50 and Business Premium with Copilot is $32. Some AI experiences carry usage-based charges beyond those fees.
Are Copilot agents included in the licence?
Partly. Microsoft's agents page says all agents are included with a Copilot license, and its FAQ names Researcher, Analyst and Facilitator. Cowork and Autopilot are usage-based, and on Copilot Chat, agents that go beyond instructions and public websites are metered. We couldn't confirm which plans include the Sales, Service and Finance agents.
Can Copilot act as an AI chief of staff?
It could come closer if you build agents connected to your CRM and finance records, and Microsoft gives you tools for that. A ready-made founder briefing across investors and runway wasn't listed on the pages we read. Nautis ships that briefing, but only covers records kept in its own workspace.
Does Nautis work with Outlook and Teams?
Yes. One Outlook sign-in in Liftoff connects mail and calendar, and MailBox can show Outlook mail in Nautis. Teams can be a meeting location once the matching integration is connected. Your messages stay with Microsoft throughout.
Disclosure: We make Nautis, so we have a stake in this comparison. It's based on published information, not a scored hands-on test. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.
Sources
- Microsoft: Copilot pricing for business (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Microsoft: Copilot pricing for enterprise (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Microsoft: Copilot agents (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Microsoft: Copilot overview (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Microsoft Learn: Copilot license options (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Microsoft Learn: Copilot experiences by license (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- Microsoft Learn: declarative and custom engine agents (checked Oct 31, 2026)