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AI Builder → Copilot Credits Estimator

Microsoft is retiring the way AI Builder is funded: AI Builder capacity add-ons can only be renewed by existing customers (from November 1, 2025), and the AI Builder credits seeded in Power Platform and Dynamics licenses are removed in November 2026. After that, the same AI Builder capabilities — document processing, prompts, text and image analysis — run on Copilot Credits.

This tool answers the one question every customer with existing AI Builder usage asks: "What will my current AI Builder workload cost me in Copilot Credits?" Enter what you use today, get the Copilot Credits you need to provision. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

Borrow, don't build — this is grounded, but Microsoft owns the truth

Every rate in this estimator is transcribed verbatim from Microsoft's official AI Builder Capability Rate table, retrieved 2026-08-10. Rates and packaging change; for any customer-facing number, go to the source:

1 How do you have your numbers?

2 Which capabilities do you use?
Quick start:
3 Enter your monthly numbers
Pick a capability above (or tap a preset) and a row will appear here to enter your monthly numbers.
2 Import your data

Assume a mix:

Where do I find my current AI Builder usage?

You don't need exact numbers to get a useful estimate — but the closer you are, the tighter the result. The Import my data tab lets you paste real numbers instead of typing each one.

  • By usage volume (most accurate). Count what you actually process each month: invoice/receipt pages, custom document pages, OCR pages, object-detection images, and — for prompts and text analysis — thousands of tokens or characters. Your process owners usually know these volumes.
  • Paste the per-tool activity grid (exact, recommended). In Power Automate, open Automation Center → Monitor → AI Builder activity. That grid lists each model/prompt run with a Tool name and a Consumption value (it also covers Power Apps and Copilot Studio usage). Set the timeframe, then copy the Tool name + Consumption columns and paste them into Import my data → Paste a table. The tool auto-matches each label to a capability; you confirm the mapping and apply.
  • Paste the tenant total (quickest). In the Power Platform admin center, go to Resources → Capacity → Summary, select Download reports in the Add-ons section, choose +New → AI Builder → Submit, then download the Excel report. It shows credits consumed per environment/date in an AIConsumption column — a single aggregate number, with no capability breakdown. Sum that column and drop it into Import my data → One total number, then pick the capability mix that matches your workload. Because a flat total can't reveal the split, that result is a modeled estimate — adjust the mix to see how much it moves.

The rate card this tool uses

Straight from Microsoft's AI Builder Capability Rate table (retrieved 2026-08-10). "Copilot Credit rate" is what the capability costs in Copilot Studio; "AI Builder credit rate" is what the same unit costs today.

Capability Unit Copilot Credit rate AI Builder credit rate
Prompt — basic LLM model 1k tokens 0.1 1.2 ᵃ
Prompt — standard LLM model 1k tokens 1.5 24 ᵃ
Prompt — premium LLM model 1k tokens 10 182 ᵃ
Text recognition (OCR) 1 page 0.1 3
Simple text analysis (sentiment, language, key phrase) 1k chars 0.1 2
Advanced text analysis (classification, entity extraction) 1k chars 1.5 20
Text translation 1k chars 1.5 22
Custom document processing 1 page 8 100
Receipt, invoice, identity document analysis 1 page 8 32
Contract, health insurance card, image description 1 image 8 32
Object detection 1 image 8 8
Business card reader, prediction n/a free free

Dollar conversions (from the doc's footnotes): 1 Copilot Credit = $0.01 pay-as-you-go; the AI Builder $ reference is the yearly prepaid Tier 1 add-on (1,000,000 credits for $500/month = $0.0005/credit).

ᵃ For prompts, the single AI Builder credit rate is Microsoft's estimate at a 90% input / 10% output token mix (exact per-1k: 1/3 basic, 20/60 standard, 140/560 premium). The Copilot Credit rate is a flat per-1,000-tokens number, so the Copilot Credits this tool reports are exact.

How to read the result

  • Copilot Credits / month is the number you provision. It's the currency Copilot Studio meters, pooled across your whole tenant. Size to your busiest month — capacity is enforced monthly and unused credits don't roll over.
  • Compare dollars carefully. The credit count usually drops sharply moving from AI Builder to Copilot Credits, but the pay-as-you-go $/credit is higher ($0.01 vs the $0.0005 prepaid AI Builder reference). This tool shows both so you plan honestly — and remember prepaid Copilot Credit packs lower the effective Copilot rate.
  • Not a bill. These are directional planning numbers. Confirm customer-facing figures against the Licensing Guide and your own pricing.

Once you have a Copilot Credit budget, size the agents that will spend it in the Credit Estimator, and build the return story in the ROI Estimator.

Sources

All rate and licensing claims are grounded in official Microsoft documentation, retrieved 2026-08-10:

Claim Source Retrieved
AI Builder Capability Rate table (Copilot Credit + AI Builder credit rate per capability, units, $ footnotes: $0.01/Copilot Credit PAYG, Tier 1 prepaid $500/mo per 1M AI Builder credits); AI Builder features in Copilot Studio always consume Copilot Credits; add-on renewal-only from Nov 1 2025 and seeded credits removed Nov 2026 AI Builder — Overview of licensing 2026-08-10
How Copilot Credits are bought, pooled per tenant, and enforced monthly with no carryover Licensing and Copilot Credits — Copilot Studio 2026-08-10
PPAC AI Builder consumption report is a downloadable Excel (admin-only, rolling 30 days) with columns Date, UserId, EnvironmentId, EnvironmentName, AIConsumption, IsTrial — an aggregate credit total, no per-capability breakdown AI Builder consumption report 2026-08-11
Power Automate AI Builder activity grid (Automation Center → Monitor) lists per-run Tool name + Consumption, covering Power Automate, Power Apps, and Copilot Studio Monitor AI Builder models and prompts activity 2026-08-11

Unofficial and community-built. This page is not endorsed by or affiliated with Microsoft. It summarizes public documentation to help you plan — always confirm customer-facing numbers against the Microsoft sources linked above.

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