Can I run Custodos and Microsoft 365 Copilot in parallel?

Yes. The two tools do not exclude one another. Copilot stays inside the Office applications; Custodos covers the work for which you need a particular model, a particular region or access outside Microsoft 365. Many teams start with Custodos in the departments handling the most confidential data and leave Copilot where it is already licensed.

Does Microsoft 365 Copilot process data in Switzerland?

Microsoft makes a commitment to users in the EU through the EU Data Boundary. Calls to the language model go to the nearest data centre in the region and may be routed to other regions during high utilisation; Anthropic models are excluded from the EU Data Boundary according to Microsoft. Copilot offers no “Switzerland” option as a separate processing region. With Custodos you choose between the EU and Switzerland.

What does Microsoft 365 Copilot really cost?

The published add-on price for Copilot Business is €15.60 per user per month billed annually and €21.84 billed monthly. A qualifying Microsoft 365 licence is required in addition, because Copilot is not a standalone product. Custodos costs €15, €30 or €90 per seat per month depending on the plan, with no precondition.

Does either platform use my data for AI training?

No, neither does. Microsoft states that prompts, responses and data retrieved via Microsoft Graph do not train foundation models. The same holds for Custodos: your inputs and documents are never used to train AI models.

Comparison

Microsoft 365 Copilot and Custodos compared

Copilot puts AI where your team already works: in Word, Excel and Teams. Custodos brings every leading model into one interface, hosted in the EU or Switzerland. The difference lies in model choice, region and prerequisites.

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In short

Copilot requires a qualifying Microsoft 365 licence and works inside Microsoft 365. Custodos runs in the browser, independently of your office environment.
With Custodos you pick the model per task – GPT, Claude, Gemini or Mistral – and the region: EU or Switzerland.
Microsoft processes requests from EU users inside the EU Data Boundary. Anthropic models are excluded from it according to Microsoft, and Copilot offers no separate Swiss region.
Neither platform trains models on your data.

Custodos and Microsoft 365 Copilot side by side

Every figure for Copilot comes from Microsoft's own documentation and pricing page. Both are linked below.

Custodos and Microsoft 365 Copilot side by side
Criterion	Custodos	Microsoft 365 Copilot
Model choice	GPT, Claude, Gemini and Mistral – freely selectable per task	Orchestrated by Microsoft. Admins can permit OpenAI and Anthropic models; which model answers in a given case is Microsoft's decision.
Hosting region	EU or Switzerland – you choose the region	EU Data Boundary for users in the EU. Calls go to the nearest data centre in the region and may be routed to other regions during periods of high utilisation.
Switzerland as its own region	Yes, as an explicit choice	Not offered. Anthropic models are additionally excluded from the EU Data Boundary according to Microsoft.
Training on your data	No	No. Prompts, responses and data retrieved via Microsoft Graph do not train foundation models according to Microsoft.
Entry price	€15 (Mini), €30 (Business) or €90 (Max) per seat per month, 20% less on annual billing	€15.60 per user per month billed annually (Copilot Business), €21.84 billed monthly – on top of the Microsoft 365 licence in either case.
Prerequisites	None – a browser is enough	A qualifying Microsoft 365 plan is mandatory; Copilot is not a standalone product.
Free trial	7 days	No open trial. Purchased through a Microsoft contract with a 7-day cancellation window.
Where it runs	Its own interface in the browser, independent of Office	Inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams.
Professional secrecy in DACH	Designed for § 203 of the German Criminal Code, § 121 of the Austrian Criminal Code and Art. 321 of the Swiss Criminal Code	No product-level statement on these provisions; the compliance evidence is framed generally.
Provider	Custodos, St. Gallen (Switzerland)	Microsoft, Redmond (USA).

As of August 2026. Figures for the other provider come from that provider's own sources, linked below. Prices and features change – check both before you decide.

Where the difference shows in daily work

Four points that regularly decide a selection process.

Choosing the model, not being assigned one

GPT for one draft, Claude for the next analysis: with Custodos your team decides per request. With Copilot, Microsoft decides which model answers.

The region is your decision

You determine whether your data is processed and stored in the EU or in Switzerland. Copilot knows the EU Data Boundary, but no separate Swiss choice.

Independent of your office environment

Custodos requires no Microsoft licence. Teams on Google Workspace, on mixed environments or on no office suite at all lose nothing.

One price instead of a licence chain

From €15 per seat per month, published and without preconditions. With Copilot the add-on price always comes on top of the existing Microsoft 365 licence.

When Custodos is the right choice

Security in detail

When the processing location is a requirement: Law firms, fiduciaries and institutions that have to fix Switzerland or the EU as the processing location need a choice – not an assurance covering an entire economic area.
When several models are needed: Summarising, drafting, reviewing, translating: different tasks run differently well on different models. One route to every leading model saves separate contracts, invoices and logins.
When the whole organisation is not on Microsoft: Custodos assumes no particular office environment and can be rolled out where Copilot would first require an additional licence tier.

Custodos supplies the technical preconditions for handling your data confidentially. The legal assessment in each individual case remains with your organisation.

What speaks for Microsoft 365 Copilot

Copilot has one advantage no external platform can match: it sits inside the applications your team already uses. Writing a letter in Word or analysing a spreadsheet in Excel does not mean switching tools for AI support. If your organisation runs entirely on Microsoft 365 and model variety is not a concern, that is a strong argument.

On top of that comes the compliance apparatus of a corporation. Microsoft is ahead of us on these points – we would rather say so ourselves than let you discover it during a tender:

Certifications at a breadth a young company does not have: for Copilot, Microsoft cites ISO 27001, ISO 42001 and HIPAA among others. Custodos does not currently hold these certifications.
Microsoft Purview: sensitivity labels, retention policies and eDiscovery apply to Copilot histories as well.
Access to your content through Microsoft Graph needs no integration work, because the data is already there.
A copyright commitment: under certain conditions Microsoft will defend customers against third-party copyright claims over the service's output.

Sources

Data, Privacy, and Security for Microsoft 365 Copilot · Microsoft Learn
Microsoft 365 Copilot – plans and pricing · Microsoft
EU Data Boundary for the Microsoft Cloud · Microsoft Learn

All product and company names mentioned are trademarks of their respective owners. Custodos has no business relationship with the providers compared here; this comparison is based solely on publicly available information.

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