Feature | Copilot Chat (Microsoft) | ChatGPT Pro |
Provider | Microsoft (via Azure OpenAI) | OpenAI |
Model | GPT-4o (GPT-5 in some contexts) | GPT-4o / GPT-5 |
Access at UCT | Available at no cost to all staff and students, courtesy of the Microsoft site licence. | Paid subscription required. |
Security | Designed for enterprise environments like UCT. It adheres to Microsoft’s compliance standards and has Enterprise Data Protection (EDP). It does not train on user data. It uses institutional login (e.g., @uct.ac.za) and displays a green shield icon to confirm secure sessions. | Limited enterprise controls. Data may be used for training unless opted out. |
Integration | Embedded in Microsoft 365 Word: drafts, summarises, rewrites Excel: formula generation, data analysis Outlook: drafts emails, summarises Teams: summarises individual and meeting chats PowerPoint: slide generation, design alignment Copilot Studio: build agents for internal use | Standalone web/app interface. Requires manual copy-paste into productivity tools. Offers custom GPTs for tailored interactions. Better suited for non-Microsoft environments as well as creative or technical exploration. |
Use cases | Document summarisation Meeting preparation Email drafting Excel formulas Secure data queries | Creative writing Research Coding Tutoring Image generation |
Customisation | Copilot Studio for agent creation | Custom GPTs (100k+ available) |
Voice & accessibility | Voice input Accessibility tools Green shield for secure sessions | Voice mode (Pro) Multimodal input (text, image, voice) |
Pricing | Copilot Chat: included in UCT's Microsoft 365 licence for active staff and students. | $20/month (Plus) $200/month (Pro) |