# What is Microsoft Copilot, and is it open source?

> Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft's AI assistant for work, built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, and it is not open source. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, their skills, your company memory, and every connector in one git repo you own, with the agents working on real cloud computers.

URL: https://opensourcecopilotalternative.com/what-is-microsoft-copilot

## How Kortix lands work

One isolated sandbox per session.

`session-flow.txt`

```
project (git repo + kortix.yaml)
└─ session ──> isolated sandbox on branch "<uuid>"
   └─ agent commits + pushes
      └─ change request ──> merge ──> default branch
```

Source: https://kortix.com/docs

## What Microsoft Copilot is

Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft's AI assistant for work and personal use. Microsoft's product page calls it "AI built for work": Copilot connects with your work content and the apps you already use, brings together the latest AI models, and helps you create finished work. It is built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams, and it works across desktop, mobile and web ([Microsoft's Copilot page](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot)).

Underneath, Copilot is a Microsoft-hosted service delivered on Microsoft 365 plans. Microsoft's documentation splits it into three tiers: Copilot Chat (Basic), Microsoft 365 Copilot (Basic) and Microsoft 365 Copilot (Premium). The Basic chat experience answers from web data and from content you paste in, upload or have open; the Premium tier adds automatic grounding in your organization's content through Microsoft Graph and Work IQ, with access scoped to each person's permissions. Microsoft protects prompts and responses with Enterprise Data Protection when people sign in with Microsoft Entra accounts ([Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/microsoft-365-copilot-overview)).

Microsoft keeps extending the product. Agent Builder turns instructions into work-grounded agents, which Microsoft says you can extend and manage with Copilot Studio when you scale. Newer surfaces include Home view, which brings Chat and Cowork together in one place, Copilot Code, which builds dashboards and apps from a description, and Autopilot, an always-on personal agent in private preview. The newest surfaces ship through the Microsoft Frontier program ([Microsoft's Copilot page](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot)).

The definition needs its negatives too. Microsoft Copilot is not open source: Microsoft publishes no Copilot source code, so there is nothing to read, fork or audit. It is not self-hostable: it runs in Microsoft's cloud, reached through Microsoft's apps and cloud endpoints on Microsoft 365 plans. And the stack is Microsoft's: Microsoft chooses the models Copilot runs on, and its pages describe no way to bring your own provider or your own keys.

## Is Microsoft Copilot open source?

No. Microsoft Copilot is not open source. Microsoft ships it as a hosted service inside Microsoft 365: you reach it through Microsoft's apps and cloud endpoints, access comes with Microsoft 365 plans, and no part of the source code is published ([Microsoft's Copilot page](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot), [Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/microsoft-365-copilot-overview)).

What closed source means in practice, for a team that runs the tool every day:

- The code is Microsoft's. How Copilot retrieves a document or decides an answer can be checked only against Microsoft's documentation, never against the source.
- The roadmap is Microsoft's. A behavior your team depends on can change in a Microsoft update, and forking out of that change is impossible when there is nothing to fork.
- The deployment is Microsoft's. Copilot runs in Microsoft's cloud; there is no edition you install on your own servers.
- The stack is Microsoft's. You work with the models Microsoft includes; your own provider and your own keys are not an option.

An open-source alternative is the opposite on all four counts. Open source means the code is published for anyone to read and audit. Self-hostable means the system runs where you decide: your own servers, your own VPC, your own on-prem network. And owning the stack means the configuration, the memory and the model choice are yours, held in files you keep, in a git repo you own.

## What to look for in an open-source replacement

Teams replacing Microsoft Copilot with an open-source system should check five things before committing:

1. Source you can audit. A public repository with the full code, so a security review can read the implementation itself.
2. A deployment you own. Self-hosting that runs on your own network, plus a managed cloud for teams that want one.
3. Reach with rules. Agents that connect to the tools your company already runs on, with every tool call set to allow, ask or block.
4. Configuration as files. Agents, skills, company memory and connector settings in one git repo you own, versioned and reviewable like code.
5. Work that lands under review. Agents that return finished work, with changes reaching your default branch through a change request a person approves.

Kortix meets all five, and each check has a direct answer:

- Open source. Read it, fork it, audit it.
- Run it on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network. Self-host is free.
- 3,000+ apps in a click, plus MCP, OpenAPI, Postman, GraphQL and raw HTTP. Connector credentials are brokered server-side and never enter the machine.
- Your agents, skills, company memory, and connectors in one git repo you own.
- Session work reaches `main` through a change request. Merge is default-deny for agents.

Any model provider with your own keys. 20,000+ GitHub stars, checked October 2026.

Copilot fits when the goal is AI inside Microsoft 365 itself, on Microsoft's platform. When the goal is a stack you own, the five checks are the test, and Kortix is the open-source system that passes them. The head-to-head against Copilot, dimension by dimension, is on the [Kortix vs Copilot page](/kortix-vs-copilot), and the [open-source Copilot alternatives list](/best-open-source-copilot-alternatives) ranks the wider field.

_FAQ_

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the difference between Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Studio?

Copilot Studio is Microsoft's tool for building and managing agents at scale. Microsoft's Copilot page describes Agent Builder for creating work-grounded agents inside Copilot, and Copilot Studio as the way to extend and manage them when you scale. Kortix defines an agent differently: its behavior is a markdown file in the repo, and its rules live in the same repo's `kortix.yaml`.

### Is GitHub Copilot the same thing as Microsoft Copilot?

No. GitHub Copilot is GitHub's AI coding agent for developers, built into editors and pull requests ([GitHub](https://github.com/features/copilot)). Microsoft Copilot is Microsoft's assistant built into Microsoft 365 apps and available as its own app on desktop, mobile and web ([Microsoft](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/copilot)). The two share the Copilot name, and they do different jobs.

### How much does Microsoft Copilot cost?

Microsoft's Copilot page lists plans from $9.99 per month for individuals, from $23.50 per user per month paid yearly for business, and from $30.00 per user per month paid yearly for enterprise (checked October 2026).

## Run your agents on a stack you own

Open-source AI Operating System: your agents, skills, memory, and connectors in one repo you own. Any model. Self-host or cloud.

[Try Kortix](https://kortix.com) · [Kortix vs Copilot](https://opensourcecopilotalternative.com/kortix-vs-copilot)