What is an active user of Microsoft 365 Copilot?

For Microsoft, a licence holder is active if they triggered at least one Copilot feature themselves during the selected period: 7, 28, 90 or 180 days. Opening the Copilot pane does not count; sending it a prompt does. Having a single email thread summarised in a month is enough to be active over 28 days.

Is an active licence a used licence?

No. An active licence was used at least once during the period. A used licence is worth its price: what it produces exceeds what it costs, whether it is billed per seat or per token. Knowing that requires the context, the use case and what the usage returns. Vendor reports do not provide it.

Where can I see Copilot usage in Microsoft 365?

In the Microsoft 365 admin center, under Reports, then Usage, then Microsoft Copilot. The report shows active users, prompts submitted and the last activity date per app. The Copilot Dashboard in Viva Insights, if it is enabled in your tenant, adds usage levels and estimated assisted hours.

Is the Copilot usage report enough to decide a renewal?

It is enough to spot the licences that were never used. It does not say what the others are used for, what they return, or whether the same task also runs on another tool. The assisted hours in Viva Insights are a Microsoft estimate, computed with its own multipliers.

How do we know whether our Copilot licences are really used?

By reading what teams do with the tool in the usage logs the platform already produces, then checking it against what they say in interviews. You get, team by team, the tasks handed to the AI, how often, at what cost and with what return.

How many AI licences do we really need?

The number comes from actual usage, before the contract renews. Some holders hit the caps and need a higher tier, some use it enough to keep theirs, some could move to a lighter plan or to pay-as-you-go, and some seats can be reassigned.

Can licence usage be read without tracking employees one by one?

Yes. The analysis covers usage, not people, and its results are grouped by team. Employees know before the measurement what is looked at and what is not. The reading starts from existing logs, with nothing installed on workstations.

Copilot usage report: active does not mean used

At a consulting firm of about forty people, 33 of the 39 licence holders had used their AI assistant during the month. A vendor report would have shown 85 % activation. The usage logs still left 12 seats to decide on, and the three heaviest users consumed, at API rates, between 12 and 25 times the price of their seat. The Copilot usage report counts the same way: an employee who had a single email thread summarised during the month is as active there as someone who uses it all day.

TL;DR: An AI licence goes through three stages. Assigned, it is paid for. Active, it was used at least once during the period, and that is the stage the vendor report counts. Used, it is worth its price, per seat or per token: you know the context it serves, the use case, and what it produces. The Copilot report already helps you see where to look.

What can you check today in the Copilot usage report?

Microsoft provides enough for three readings, with no extra tool.

1. Compare the active user rate over 7 days and over 90 days. Over 90 days, someone who tried Copilot in the first week and then stopped still counts. The gap between the two rates gives a first measure of drop-off. 2. If you have access to the Copilot Dashboard in Viva Insights, look at the share of "Novice" users, who took at least one action in twelve weeks without regularity, and "Other" users, which also covers licences never opened: two groups whose usage remains to be shown. 3. Cross the list of licence holders with those of your other AI tools. We often see the same need, summarising meeting minutes, handled in Copilot, in ChatGPT Enterprise and in the in-house tool, and paid for three times.

These readings point to the licences to examine. What the others return can only be read in the usage itself.

Assigned, active, used: what is the difference?

| Stage | What it means | Where you read it | | --- | --- | --- | | Assigned | the licence is paid for | the contract, the admin console | | Active | it was used at least once during the period | the vendor's usage report | | Used | what it produces exceeds what it costs | the usage logs, read with the teams |

And when the tool is billed per token?

With consumption-billed tools, coding assistants first among them, the seat count says nothing about cost, and a used licence becomes consumption that was worth what it cost. In the estates we analyse, 5 % of developers consume half the credits, and the real cost of the same tool varies from one person to another by a factor of one to several dozen.

The same calculation settles seat versus pay-as-you-go. For a heavy user, the seat is often much cheaper than the same volume billed per token; for an occasional user, the reverse holds. Our page on the Copilot licence details the cost mechanics specific to Microsoft.

How does Microsoft count an active Copilot user?

The usage report in the Microsoft 365 admin center counts as active any licence holder who triggered a Copilot feature themselves, in one or more apps, during the selected period: 7, 28, 90 or 180 days (Microsoft documentation). Opening the Copilot pane does not count; sending it a prompt does. The active user rate divides that number by the licences assigned.