Business Central Copilot Credits: What They Are and When You Need Them

If you are like me, and you use Business Central on a regular basis, it has been very exciting over the past several years to see Microsoft continually embedding new AI features into Business Central - with the goal to improve the user experience and increase efficiencies wherever possible.

These AI features are all branded as "Copilot" features and you will see them throughout Business Central - from improved assistance with Help and Support, to automated bank reconciliation matching, to advanced data analysis tools.

This Microsoft Learn page is a great starting point if you are just getting started and would like to learn more about Copilot in Business Central: Microsoft Learn: Copilot in Business Central overview.

For many Microsoft products where new Copilot features have been added (such as Microsoft 365), Microsoft has also added a new subscription/SKU that is required for each user to gain access to Copilot features. Translation: for many Microsoft products, you need to pay extra to use many of the new Copilot features.

The best part about the Business Central Copilot features, which have been added over the past several years, is that no additional user subscription or fees have been required to leverage these new tools. Translation: all Copilot features have been available for all Business Central users to use for no extra charge!

But... with the recent introduction of the Copilot Agents in Business Central, this has changed. While the majority of the Business Central Copilot features will continue to be accessible for all Business Central users as part of their Business Central license, Microsoft has recently added two new Copilot Agent features which require additional fees to use them: the Sales Order Agent (Microsoft Learn: Sales Order Agent overview) and the Payables Agent (Microsoft Learn: Payables Agent overview).

Microsoft has decided that the best way to charge Business Central users for the use of these Agents is a "usage-based" pricing model. This model is just what it sounds like - you pay for exactly what you use each month. This model makes sense to me, because a smaller organization that processes only 50-100 invoices per month through the Payables Agent is going to consume less of Microsoft's data center AI-compute power than a larger organization that processes 500-1000 invoices per month.

To facilitate this usage-based model, Microsoft has created Copilot Credits. Microsoft then assigned a specific number of credits to each action undertaken by each of the Copilot Agents. In this way, Microsoft can total up the number of various actions completed by the agents each month, sum them up, and then charge each organization for the actual number of credits used.

Of course, Copilot Credits have no established monetary value (they are not a currency), so each credit is translated into a monetary value. This "Credit" model allows Microsoft to much more easily increase or decrease the cost per credit in the future. (Let's be optimistic here and assume that similar to other past technologies, the cost per Copilot Credit will decrease as the cost to build and operate data centers continues to decrease over time. :)

How much does 1 Copilot Credit cost? Today, the answer is $0.01 USD.

But that is really not super relevant because Microsoft also determines how many credits are required for various Copilot Agent actions and tasks. For example, it currently costs 5 credits to process each Payables invoice line, or $0.05 per invoice line. Therefore, to adjust the Copilot pricing in the future, Microsoft could change the cost per credit, or they could change the number of credits required to complete a specific action by the Agent.

For a much more comprehensive explanation of how Copilot Credits are used, this Microsoft Learn page is your best place to start: Microsoft Learn: Manage Consumption-based Billing for Agent capabilities.

Each Business Central environment comes with a small number of free Copilot Credits that can be used each month. The primary purpose of these credits is to allow you to set up each Agent feature and complete some basic testing of these features prior to setting up your Copilot Credit payment plan. You will quickly run out of credits and receive a message that additional credits must be purchased in order to continue using the Agent feature, along with a link to help you get started with setting up your payment plan.

How do I purchase Copilot Credits? This is relatively easy to do. Copilot Credits are managed through the Microsoft Copilot Studio (Microsoft Learn: Copilot Studio Licensing). But as mentioned above, you can complete this through the Business Central interface provided you have the proper organizational authorization.

There are two options for purchasing Copilot Credits: (1) Pay-as-you-go and (2) Copilot Credit Pack.

With the Pay-as-you-go option, there is no minimum commitment or allotment of credits per month, instead you pay for exactly the number of Copilot Credits that were consumed during the month.

With the Copilot Credit Pack option, you purchase a pack of credits in advance. The cost of each Credit Pack is of course subject to price changes at any time, but currently in the US, one Pack is $200.00 and includes 25,000 credits - an effective discount of 20% from the pay-as-you-go option.

If you are just getting started with using the new Business Central Agent capabilities, my suggestion is to begin with the Pay-as-you-go option and slowly begin building up your use of these features. Monitor the number of credits you are using each month, and when you are confident that you will regularly be consuming at least 20,000 Copilot Credits each month, consider purchasing one (or more) Copilot Credit Pack to reduce the net cost of each credit used.

"That's cool, Ken! So how do we get started???"

To get started, simply click on one of the Agent setup icons visible on the top-right of the (Business Manager) Role Center page. (see below)

NOTE: You will need a dedicated E-mail account for each agent, so this is something you will need to do before you complete the setup in Business Central. These email accounts need to be unique email addresses that should be considered "system-accounts" which are not monitored and managed by users on a regular basis (users are not opening and handling the emails through Outlook).

Click on the Copilot Agent icons on the Role Center to get started

There is an easy way to test the Copilot Agent features without directly involving any of your customers or vendors: if you have an existing email from a vendor with the purchase invoice attached as a PDF (or a customer has emailed their Purchase Order to you as a PDF), simply forward one of these emails from your current Email inbox to the new Agent email address. You can use the Copilot Agent assistant in Business Central to review the results. This option provides a very controlled way to confirm the Copilot Agent's actions as you get started. Then, when you are comfortable that the Agent is properly handling the documents as expected, you can provide the new email address to your vendor (or customer) and have them directly begin sending their invoices to the agent where you will still have an opportunity to review the documents in Business Central prior to posting.

In conclusion, as we move into the future with Business Central and Microsoft continues to deploy new AI Copilot features to improve user experiences and efficiencies, Copilot Credits will likely continue to be used as a way to ensure that those organizations that are most heavily utilizing these features are bearing the cost of the related compute power. Microsoft has made it very easy to setup and deploy the new Business Central Agent capabilities and has also made the setup and management of Copilot Credits quick and easy.

The future is here and is now in your hands!