If your organisation has fewer than 300 users and you have been watching Copilot from the sidelines, the licensing picture has changed in your favour. At the same time, a pricing adjustment across the broader Microsoft 365 suite is coming in July 2026 that will increase costs for every commercial customer globally, including in South Africa.
These two developments create a narrow window for action. Getting the timing and the license mix right over the next few months will determine whether your organisation enters the second half of 2026 with a cost-efficient, well-planned AI deployment or a rushed, over-priced one.
What Changed with Copilot Business
Microsoft has made Microsoft 365 Copilot Business generally available as a standalone add-on and as part of new bundled plans for organisations with 1 to 300 users.
The standalone Copilot Business add-on is priced at USD 21 per user per month, with a promotional rate of USD 18 per user per month available until 31 March 2026. For context, the enterprise Copilot add-on for organisations above 300 users remains at USD 30 per user per month. That is a meaningful price difference, and it brings Copilot within reach for mid-market and smaller South African businesses that previously found the cost prohibitive.
To qualify, users need to be on Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Business Standard, or Business Premium. Most of the SMB and mid-market customers we work with at Braintree are already on one of these plans.
Microsoft has also introduced bundled packages that combine a Microsoft 365 Business plan with Copilot Business in a single SKU. The bundled pricing for Business Standard with Copilot, for example, starts at USD 22 per user per month during the promotional period, down from a standard combined cost of around USD 33.50. Whether the bundle or the standalone add-on is the better deal depends on your current license structure and renewal timing. This is something we work through with each customer individually.
The Promotional Window
Limited-time promotional pricing is running from 1 December 2025 to 31 March 2026. The discounts are material. Up to 35 percent off Microsoft 365 Business Standard bundled with Copilot Business. Up to 25 percent off Microsoft 365 Business Premium bundled with Copilot Business. And a 50 percent discount on the Microsoft Purview add-on suite, which covers compliance and data governance tools relevant for organisations with POPIA obligations.
For South African businesses, these discounts offset some of the exchange rate pressure. At the promotional rate of USD 18 per user per month, a 50-user deployment comes to approximately R32,400 per month at an exchange rate of R18 to the dollar. At the standard USD 21 rate after March, that same deployment rises to R37,800 per month. Over a 12-month period, that is a difference of close to R65,000. Not a trivial amount for a growing South African business.
The promotions end on 31 March 2026. There is no indication from Microsoft that they will be extended.
July 2026 Price Increases
Separately, Microsoft announced in December 2025 that list prices across its commercial Microsoft 365 plans will increase from 1 July 2026. New customers will see updated pricing from that date. Existing customers will see the new prices at their next renewal after 1 July.
The increases by plan are as follows.
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic moves from USD 6 to USD 7 per user per month, an increase of approximately 17 percent.
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard moves from USD 12.50 to USD 14, an increase of 12 percent.
Microsoft 365 E3 moves from USD 36 to USD 39, an increase of approximately 8 percent. - Microsoft 365 E5 moves from USD 57 to USD 60, an increase of approximately 5 percent.
- Microsoft 365 F1, commonly used for frontline workers, moves from USD 2.25 to USD 3, an increase of 33 percent.
- F3 moves from USD 8 to USD 10, a 25 percent increase.
Microsoft has stated that these increases are justified by the addition of over 1,100 new features across security, productivity, and AI capabilities in the past year, including the rollout of Copilot Chat to all Microsoft 365 users, enhanced email protection through Microsoft Defender for Office 365, and new endpoint management features through Intune.
These price increases apply globally with local market adjustments. For South African customers transacting in USD or through CSP partners, the increases will apply directly. Microsoft also conducts semi-annual currency alignment reviews that adjust local pricing based on exchange rate movements, which means the effective Rand cost can shift in either direction depending on where the Rand sits against the dollar at the time of renewal.
What the Frontline Worker Impact Looks Like
The F1 and F3 increases deserve specific attention for South African organisations. Many local businesses in retail, logistics, manufacturing, and hospitality have large frontline worker populations licensed on these plans.
An organisation with 500 frontline workers on F3 will see its annual Microsoft 365 cost increase from USD 48,000 to USD 60,000, a jump of USD 12,000 per year. At R18 to the dollar, that translates to an additional R216,000 annually. For organisations with thousands of frontline users, the impact scales proportionally.
This is a planning conversation that needs to happen now, not in June. Reviewing whether all frontline users need F3 or whether some can move to F1 is a straightforward exercise that can produce meaningful savings.
What South African Businesses Should Do Before July
The combination of promotional Copilot pricing ending in March and base plan price increases taking effect in July creates a clear set of actions.
First, audit your current licensing. Know exactly what you are paying, how many active licenses you have versus how many are assigned, and when your renewal date falls. If your renewal is before 1 July, you can lock in current pricing for the term of your agreement.
Second, evaluate whether the promotional Copilot bundles make sense for your organisation. If you have been considering Copilot, the current pricing represents the lowest entry point Microsoft has offered for the SMB segment. Run the numbers against your current spend and against the post-promotion pricing.
Third, consider early renewal or multi-year commitments. Locking in a 12-month or 36-month agreement before the July increases takes the new pricing off the table for the duration of that agreement.
Fourth, right-size your plan mix. The July changes are a natural prompt to review whether every user is on the right plan. Could some Business Standard users move to Business Basic? Do all your frontline workers need F3, or could some operate effectively on F1? Small adjustments across a large user base add up to substantial savings.
Fifth, prepare your organisation before deploying Copilot broadly. A license without readiness is a license wasted. Before rollout, assess your data governance posture, make sure POPIA compliance is addressed, define practical use cases for each team, and plan user enablement. At Braintree, we run structured readiness assessments that cover security, compliance, change management, and adoption planning as a single engagement.
The Strategic View
AI adoption through Copilot is becoming a standard part of the Microsoft 365 stack. The bundling strategy, the promotional pricing, the inclusion of Copilot Chat in base plans, all of these moves point in one direction. Microsoft is making AI a default part of how organisations work, and the pricing structure is shifting to reflect that.
For South African businesses, the question is not whether Copilot will become part of your technology environment. It is whether you will adopt it on your terms, with proper planning, cost control, and organisational readiness, or whether you will end up paying more later for a rushed deployment.
The next six weeks, before the promotional pricing expires on 31 March, are the most cost-effective window available. After that, the July increases raise the baseline further.
Reach out to the Braintree licensing team to map your current environment, model the options, and build a plan that works for your organisation and your budget.
