The short answer
Choose Copilot if your business lives in Microsoft 365 and you want AI help inside Outlook, Word and Teams, grounded in your company's files. Choose Emily if you want meetings booked and people chased for you, end to end, whatever email you use.
At a glance
| Emily | Copilot in Outlook | |
|---|---|---|
| How it works | An assistant with her own email address. You email her an instruction and she does it. | Built into Outlook: summarises threads, drafts from a prompt and helps set up meetings. |
| Reads your inbox | No. She sees only the emails you send her and replies to her own messages. Calendar access only. | Yes. It works inside your Microsoft 365 mailbox. |
| Email platforms | Any: you email her from Gmail, Outlook, iCloud or your own domain. | Outlook / Microsoft 365 only. |
| Books meetings with other people | Yes. She emails the other people, agrees a time with you and sends the invite. | Fills in the invite for you; you review it and send it. |
| Sends and chases for you | Yes. She sends and chases as your assistant, and can send drafts to you first. | No. You review and send what it drafts. |
| List price (UK) | £5 a month including 50 actions, then 10p per action. | Copilot Business add-on: £16.10 per user a month paid yearly (£13.80 on offer until 31 Dec 2026, first year), or £19.32 paid monthly, ex VAT, on top of an eligible Microsoft 365 Business plan. Home: Microsoft 365 Premium £18.99 a month. |
| Free trial | 14 days, no card needed. | One month on Microsoft 365 Premium (home). |
| Where data is held | Stored in the UK (London). AI processing by Google's Gemini API in the US. | Microsoft 365. In-UK processing for Copilot is expected by the end of 2026. |
Prices are list prices as published on 21 September 2026, in the currency and billing basis shown. They change, so check the provider's own page before you buy.
What makes Emily different
Whichever tool you compare her with, these are the things Emily is built around.
Talk to her like a real assistant
Write the way you would to a PA: "Find an hour with Sam next week and chase the contract if he goes quiet." She asks when something isn't clear and will think a problem through with you, so she's a sounding board as well as a doer.
Arranges things without you
She does the back-and-forth with the other people, checks your calendars and just asks you to pick a time. Then she sends the invite and chases anyone who goes quiet.
Every calendar you use
Connect Google, Microsoft and Apple calendars, including more than one account of each. She checks them all before she offers a time and can keep one in sync with another.
Your emails and other people's
Forward or CC her your own mail, or give your Emily address to clients, candidates and suppliers. She deals with what they send and can pass each kind of email to the right person on your team.
Yours to shape
Rules for how she handles certain emails, notes she remembers about you and your contacts, and automations such as weekly updates, reminders and follow-ups.
Your information and the web's
She works from your files, notes and contacts, and uses live web search for anything beyond them, such as finding a local tradesperson or checking a fact.
Acts only with your say-so
She acts on what you ask and the rules you've set, can send you a draft first, and checks with you when she isn't sure. A message that fails sender checks is held, never acted on.
Private by design
She never reads your mailbox. She sees only the emails that reach her and the calendars you connect, and your data is stored in the UK.
Email, text, Claude or ChatGPT
Email her from any provider, text her from a UK mobile, or connect her to Claude or ChatGPT and delegate from there.
Where Copilot is better
- It's already there. If you use Outlook for work, Copilot sits inside it with nothing extra to learn.
- It knows your company. Copilot can draw on your files, chats and meetings across Microsoft 365.
- Admin and compliance. It comes with Microsoft's enterprise controls, which matter to IT teams.
- Beyond email. The same subscription helps in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams.
Where Emily is better
- She does the whole job. Emily emails the other person, agrees a time and sends the invite, and chases until people reply. Copilot drafts; you send.
- No mailbox access. Emily connects to your calendar only.
- Works with any email. Personal Gmail, iCloud, a work Outlook account - you email her from whichever you're in.
- Price for small teams. £5 a month including 50 actions, with no Microsoft 365 Business plan needed.
Using both
Copilot and Emily don't compete much. Copilot helps you write and understand email inside Outlook; Emily takes tasks off you entirely. Emily connects to Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com calendars, and can add Teams links to meetings on work and school accounts.
Questions
Can Copilot book meetings with people outside my company?
Copilot helps you fill in a meeting invite, which you then review and send. Emily emails outside people, agrees a time and sends the invite for you.
Does Emily work with Outlook?
Yes. Email her from Outlook like any other address, and connect your Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com calendar so she can book into it.
Is Copilot included in Microsoft 365?
For businesses, Microsoft 365 Copilot Business is a paid add-on to an eligible Microsoft 365 Business plan. For home users, Copilot features come with Microsoft 365 Premium, for the subscription owner.
Sources
- Microsoft support - welcome to Copilot in Outlook
- Microsoft UK - Copilot Business pricing
- Microsoft UK - Microsoft 365 Premium
- Microsoft - in-country data processing for Copilot
- Emily pricing (landing page)
- Emily privacy policy - where data is stored and processed
We wrote this page, and Emily is our product, so read it with that in mind. Every fact about another product comes from its own public pages, checked on 21 September 2026. Where we couldn't confirm something, we say so. Product names belong to their owners, and we're not affiliated with them. Spotted something out of date? Email help@emily-wrf.com and we'll fix it.
Try Emily for yourself
14-day free trial, no card required. See if delegating by email suits you.