Microsoft 365 Copilot is the enterprise route: $30 per user per month on top of M365, IT-managed, on models Microsoft picks. EBITDAI is the individual modeler's route: from $5 flat, your pick of Kimi or DeepSeek, no Copilot license required.
Comparison as of August 2026. Competitor pricing and limits come from their public materials and can change.
| EBITDAI | Copilot in Excel | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $5/month (Lite) or $15/month (Pro); 20% off annually; Pro runs on your own key for every provider and includes the QuickBooks, Campfire and Stripe connectors. No M365 Copilot license needed. Free plan to start | $30/user/month on top of a Microsoft 365 subscription, via enterprise licensing |
| How you buy it | Individual signup, cancel anytime from your dashboard | Licensed through your Microsoft 365 tenant, typically an IT/procurement decision |
| AI models | Lite runs Meta Muse Spark 1.3 Contributor. Pro adds Kimi k3, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, DeepSeek V4 Pro, Gemini 3.8 Flash and both Meta Muse tiers; connect your own Kimi (subscription or metered), DeepSeek or Gemini key on Pro, switchable mid-session | Microsoft-hosted models (OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI): Microsoft picks; no own-key option, no DeepSeek or Kimi |
| Agentic in the workbook | Yes: reads, writes, formats, and audits your actual cells, in place | Yes: Agent Mode works agentically in the workbook |
| File prerequisites | Works on the workbook you have open: Excel web or desktop, Windows or Mac, no cloud or table-formatting requirements | Per Microsoft's documentation: file on OneDrive/SharePoint with AutoSave on (otherwise it works on a copy), automatic calculation mode, and data formatted as a table for many operations |
| Financial-modeling doctrine | Built in: 3-statement models, debt schedules, working capital, SaaS ARR structure | General-purpose assistant across all of M365; you supply the methodology |
Sources: Microsoft's public pricing and its own Copilot in Excel documentation, as of August 2026. Documented prerequisites and limits are Microsoft's stated behaviors, not our tests, and may change as the product evolves.
Microsoft's own documentation is candid about Copilot in Excel's current working envelope: many operations require data formatted as a table, there's a ceiling of roughly 2 million cells, the file needs to live on OneDrive or SharePoint with AutoSave on (otherwise Copilot works on a copy), and automatic calculation mode is required. And per a Microsoft MVP on Microsoft's own forum, Copilot can't update existing cell data; it adds new formula columns instead. These are documented behaviors of a product built for governed cloud collaboration, not bugs. EBITDAI edits your cells in place with no cloud or table prerequisites.
Copilot is $30 per user per month on top of what you already pay for Microsoft 365, bought through enterprise licensing. EBITDAI is $5-15 flat per person, purchased individually, with AI usage included on every paid plan (100x more usage than free on Lite, and 7.5x Lite's usage across every model on Pro) and your own API keys on Pro: a few cents per model build on your own DeepSeek key, or a flat $19/month on Kimi Code.
Copilot's models are Microsoft-hosted and Microsoft-chosen: OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, on Microsoft's schedule, with no own-key option and no way to use DeepSeek or Kimi. EBITDAI runs both Kimi and DeepSeek in one pane, on included usage or your own keys, switchable mid-session. You hold the key, you pick the provider, and you capture every price cut they deliver.
Copilot's breadth across Word, Outlook, Teams, and PowerPoint is real. EBITDAI is a specialist: financial-modeling doctrine, three-statement structure, debt schedules, working capital, SaaS ARR, ships as the agent's standing instructions, built by a CFA charterholder whose methodology sits behind $1B+ of raised capital.
This comparison cuts both ways. Pick Microsoft 365 Copilot if any of these describe you:
From $5/month flat, no Copilot license needed. Your own Kimi, DeepSeek or Gemini key at cost on Pro. Begin for free today, no credit card.
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