Copilot for PowerPoint Review 2026: Pricing, Pros & Cons

Microsoft Copilot for PowerPoint is the most expensive AI presentation tool on the market. At $30/user/month on top of your existing Microsoft 365 license, it costs $360/year before you factor in the base subscription.

The question is whether that investment delivers slides that consultants and business professionals can actually use—or whether it produces generic drafts that require as much cleanup as starting from scratch.

After using Copilot in PowerPoint across 60+ presentations over four months—strategy decks, board materials, client deliverables, and internal updates—we found a tool that drafts passable starting points but falls short of consulting standards. The gap between what Copilot generates and what a partner would approve is significant.

This review covers what Copilot actually does well, where it falls short, pricing in detail, and alternatives that may deliver better value for your workflow. For a broader comparison of AI tools, see our best AI presentation makers roundup.

What Copilot for PowerPoint Actually Does#

Copilot integrates directly into PowerPoint's ribbon. No separate app, no export step. That native integration is its strongest advantage.

Core Features#

• Create from prompts: Describe a topic and Copilot generates a full presentation with text, layouts, and stock images
• Create from files: Feed it up to five Word documents, PDFs, or Excel files and it builds a deck based on the content
• Narrative Builder: Guides you through structuring a presentation with tone and length controls (supports roughly 40,000 words of input)
• Summarize presentations: Get quick summaries and identify key slides in existing decks
• Speaker notes: Auto-generate context-aware notes with tone customization
• AI images: DALL-E 3 integration generates custom images from text prompts (four images per prompt at 1024x1024)
• Agent Mode: Multi-step reasoning that edits and refines presentations (rolled out to Mac and web in January 2026)
• Brand kit support: Pulls from your organization's SharePoint asset library for on-brand templates and images

What's New in Late 2025 and Early 2026#

Microsoft has shipped meaningful updates recently:

• Agent Mode (November 2025): Multi-step AI that reasons through changes instead of making one edit at a time. Now available on Windows, Mac, and web
• Visual understanding (December 2025): Copilot can interpret charts and diagrams in source documents
• Brand asset integration (January 2026): Auto-pull images from organizational SharePoint libraries
• Templafy integration (January 2026): Enterprise asset management for approved templates
• Auto-rewrite on canvas: Select text and choose "Condense" or "Make professional" without opening the chat panel

Where Copilot Falls Short for Consultants#

After four months of testing, five limitations consistently frustrated our consulting workflows:

1. Generic Output Quality#

Copilot creates functional layouts, not consulting-grade slides. The output follows standard PowerPoint templates with topic titles ("Market Overview") instead of action titles ("APAC market grew 12% YoY, driven by enterprise expansion").

In our testing, every Copilot-generated slide required manual reformatting before it was client-ready. Title rewrites, layout adjustments, font changes, and structural reorganization took 15-30 minutes per slide—sometimes longer than building from scratch with a good template.

One major European bank that rolled out Copilot to 42 presentation team members reported an 8% adoption rate after six weeks. Many users called it "useless" for their workflows.

2. No Consulting Charts#

This is the dealbreaker for data-heavy presentations. Copilot is limited to PowerPoint's standard chart types:

If your work involves revenue bridges, market sizing, or implementation timelines, Copilot cannot produce these charts at all. You still need a dedicated charting tool.

3. The 2,000-Character Prompt Limit#

Copilot limits prompts to 2,000 characters. For a quick internal deck, this is fine. For a 30-slide strategy presentation with specific data points, competitive analysis, and detailed recommendations, 2,000 characters is roughly one paragraph of context.

This forces you to either generate slides one at a time with separate prompts (losing narrative coherence) or accept that Copilot won't have enough context to produce relevant content.

4. Limited Editing Capabilities#

Despite the "Agent Mode" branding, Copilot still struggles with iterative editing. Users consistently report that asking Copilot to modify existing slides produces vague suggestions ("Consider restructuring the content") rather than direct changes.

For consultants who iterate 10-15 times on a deck before final delivery—incorporating partner feedback, updating data, refining messaging—Copilot's editing limitations create friction at the stage where speed matters most.

5. Accuracy Issues#

Copilot occasionally fabricates data points. In documented cases, it has stated figures like "European fintech funding increased 43% in Q3 2025" when the actual number was 12%. Every data point Copilot generates needs manual verification.

For consulting deliverables where a single wrong number can destroy credibility with a client, this is a serious risk. You cannot trust Copilot's numbers.

Copilot Pricing: What It Actually Costs#

Copilot pricing is layered. You pay for the base Microsoft 365 license plus Copilot as an add-on:

Important details:

• Business pricing is temporarily $18/user/month through March 31, 2026, then increases to $21
• Enterprise requires a 12-month minimum contract
• Copilot Pro (individual) has fewer features: single Word file input only, no PDF support, no encrypted document support
• Microsoft is raising all M365 prices starting July 2026

Copilot vs Alternatives: Price Comparison#

At $366-402/year for business users, Copilot costs 3x more than Deckary Premium while offering fewer chart types and generic output quality.

What Copilot Does Well#

Copilot is not without merit. Three use cases stood out in our testing:

1. First-Draft Generation from Documents#

Feeding Copilot a Word document and getting a structured presentation back is genuinely useful. For internal team meetings where polish matters less than speed, this workflow saves 20-30 minutes compared to building from scratch.

2. Speaker Notes#

The speaker notes feature is surprisingly good. Copilot generates context-aware notes that match slide content, and the tone customization options (formal, conversational, executive) produce usable results. This is one area where Copilot adds clear value.

3. Summarizing Long Decks#

When inheriting a 60-slide deck from another team, Copilot's summarization helps you quickly identify key slides and understand the narrative. This is a time-saver for consulting managers reviewing associate work.

How We Tested#

We used Copilot in PowerPoint across real consulting and business workflows over four months:

• Presentations created: 60+ across strategy, board materials, client deliverables, and internal updates
• Platforms tested: Windows 11, macOS Sonoma, PowerPoint for the web
• Base license: Microsoft 365 E5 with Copilot Enterprise add-on
• Evaluation criteria: Output quality, time to client-ready, chart capabilities, iterative editing, accuracy
• Comparison tools: Deckary, Gamma, Plus AI, Beautiful.ai

For each presentation, we measured time from prompt to client-ready slide—including all formatting, restructuring, and content editing required after Copilot's initial generation.

Copilot vs Alternatives for Consultants#

Deckary#

Best for: Consultants who need AI slides plus consulting charts inside PowerPoint

Price: $49-119/year (or $199 lifetime)

Deckary takes a different approach: instead of general-purpose AI, it focuses on consulting-specific output. The AI Slide Builder generates slides following the Pyramid Principle with action titles, structured arguments, and proper data visualization.

The key difference is what comes alongside AI slides: waterfall charts, Mekko charts, Gantt charts with Excel linking, 2,000+ icons, and keyboard shortcuts for alignment and distribution. Where Copilot generates a starting point that needs extensive rework, Deckary generates slides closer to consulting standards and provides the tools to finish them quickly.

Our testing results:

• Slide generation: 30-60 seconds
• Time to client-ready: 5-10 minutes (vs 15-30 minutes with Copilot)
• Chart types: Waterfall, Mekko, Gantt, stacked bar, bridge
• Cleanup required: Minimal—consulting structure is built in

Gamma#

Best for: Quick visual presentations for web sharing

Price: Free tier available, $10-20/month for paid plans

Gamma creates visually impressive presentations but exists outside PowerPoint. If your deliverable must be a .pptx file, Gamma's exports create formatting issues that require cleanup. For web-only presentations, it remains a strong option.

Plus AI#

Best for: Google Slides users who also need PowerPoint

Price: From $15/month

Plus AI works in Google Slides (primary) and PowerPoint. It generates native slides without export steps but lacks consulting-specific chart types and structure.

Comparison Table#

Who Should Choose Copilot#

Choose Copilot if:#

• Your company already pays for Microsoft 365 Copilot across the organization
• You primarily need first drafts from existing Word documents
• Speaker notes generation is important to your workflow
• You work on internal decks where consulting-grade formatting is not required
• Budget is not a constraint (your firm covers the license cost)

Choose Deckary if:#

• You need consulting-grade charts (waterfall, Mekko, Gantt)
• You want AI slides that follow the Pyramid Principle
• You iterate heavily on client deliverables
• You want keyboard shortcuts for formatting and alignment
• You prefer flat-rate pricing ($49-119/year vs $360+/year)

Choose Gamma if:#

• You create standalone web presentations
• PowerPoint export quality is acceptable for your use case
• You want the best visual design automation

The Bottom Line#

Copilot for PowerPoint is a general-purpose AI assistant priced like a premium consulting tool. At $30/user/month on top of your M365 license, it's the most expensive option in the category while delivering the most generic output.

For consultants who need structured slides, specialized charts, and tools to iterate quickly, Deckary delivers more relevant output at one-third the cost. For companies that already pay for Copilot across the organization, it's a useful drafting tool—but it's not replacing your consulting toolkit.

The best test: generate the same presentation in both tools and compare how long it takes to reach client-ready quality. Deckary offers a 14-day free trial without credit card. Copilot requires an active subscription to test.