- Home
- AI agents
- Platforms and frameworks
- Copilot Studio vs Microsoft Foundry
Build · Platforms and frameworks
Copilot Studio vs Microsoft Foundry: which one, and when?
Copilot Studio is the low-code tool for building agents that live in Microsoft 365, Teams, websites and phone lines, governed through Power Platform. Microsoft Foundry is the pro-code Azure platform where engineers define prompt agents or host their own code, governed through Azure. They are two products that share an identity system and a registry, and many tenants use both.
In this guide: 83 pages
Key takeaways
- Copilot Studio is for makers and the Microsoft 365 estate; Foundry is for engineers and anything that needs custom code, a chosen model or a virtual network. The question is who builds and where the data lives, and the feature lists follow from that.
- They meet in three places: Foundry agents publish to Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio can call Foundry agents as connected agents over A2A, and both register in the Agent 365 registry with a Microsoft Entra Agent ID.
- Governance is split by design: Power Platform environments, data policies and sharing limits for Copilot Studio; Azure role-based access, virtual networks and Foundry Control Plane for Foundry. One registry sits above both.
- Several Foundry features were preview on 2 Nov 2026 (Toolboxes, memory, the Copilot harness, voice agents, agent optimizer), and Microsoft called the Copilot Studio GitHub Copilot harness a production-ready preview in June 2026. Check the label before you depend on it.
Who builds with each, and what does the build look like?
Makers and business technologists build in Copilot Studio through a visual designer, topics and connectors; engineers build in Foundry through configuration, SDKs and containers. The table sets the two side by side as the vendor pages described them on 2 Nov 2026.
Copilot Studio and Microsoft Foundry compared on who builds, how, and with what runtime.
| Dimension | Copilot Studio | Microsoft Foundry |
|---|---|---|
| Builder | Makers, business technologists and fusion teams in Power Platform | Engineering teams using the portal, SDKs, REST, the Azure Developer CLI and CI/CD pipelines |
| Unit of work | Agents and agent flows, built from topics, generative answers, tools and connected agents | Prompt agents (instructions, model and tools, no code), voice-based prompt agents, hosted agents (your container or .zip) and ephemeral agents that call the Responses API |
| Runtime | Three harnesses: GitHub Copilot (reasoning-heavy, files, skills, memory, sandboxed), Customer Conversation (voice and chat with escalation) and standard (rule-based topics) | Agent Runtime for prompt and hosted agents; hosted agents run in microVM isolation with a managed endpoint and autoscale; optional Microsoft Copilot harness for prompt agents (preview) |
| Frameworks | None required; the harness is the orchestrator | Agent Framework, LangGraph, OpenAI Agents SDK, Anthropic Agent SDK, Copilot SDK or custom code in hosted agents |
| Models | Microsoft-managed models, with some external models that may process data outside your geography | Any supported model in the Foundry catalog, swapped without changing agent code; model router available |
| Multi-agent | Connected agents; A2A generally available since April 2026 | Multi-agent workflows (public preview since 25 Nov 2025); A2A 1.0 generally available, 0.3 in preview |
| Billing | Copilot Credits, pooled across the tenant, prepaid or pay-as-you-go; no charge for Microsoft 365 Copilot-licensed users in employee-facing scenarios within fair use | Per-call inference and tool usage, plus container compute for hosted agents |
A third option sits beside both: Agent Builder inside Microsoft 365 Copilot creates declarative agents from SharePoint and connector knowledge with no external actions. When an Agent Builder agent needs to act, Microsoft’s guidance is to copy it into Copilot Studio.
What does each connect to?
Copilot Studio connects through the Power Platform connector library, Microsoft 365 Copilot connectors and MCP servers; Foundry connects through its platform tools, Toolboxes and MCP servers, with Azure networking in between. Both can reach the same SharePoint site, and they reach it through different doors.
Copilot Studio inherits the connector library that Power Automate built over a decade, plus knowledge from SharePoint, Dataverse and Microsoft 365 Copilot connectors. MCP has been generally available in Copilot Studio since 29 May 2025, so an MCP server built for any other platform can be attached as a tool. Computer use, generally available since May 2026, lets an agent drive a website or desktop application that has no API.
Foundry gives agents platform tools (file search, code interpreter, web search, memory), SharePoint, Work IQ and Fabric IQ tools, OpenAPI functions and remote MCP servers such as the Azure DevOps MCP Server or custom servers on Azure Functions. Toolboxes curate a set of tools once and expose them behind one managed MCP-compatible endpoint with central authentication and versioning. Foundry IQ knowledge bases, generally available since 2 Jun 2026, supply retrieval.
Authentication differs in kind. Copilot Studio tools use the maker’s connection or end-user authentication through the connector. Foundry tool connections support key-based access, the agent’s own Microsoft Entra managed identity, OAuth on-behalf-of passthrough and, where appropriate, unauthenticated access. Hosted agents get a dedicated Entra identity automatically; Copilot Studio has created an Entra Agent ID for every new agent since July 2026, with no environment-level opt-out.
How is each one governed?
Copilot Studio is governed through Power Platform (environments, managed environments, data policies, sharing limits, inventory) and Foundry through Azure (role-based access, virtual networks, Foundry Control Plane), with the Agent 365 registry and Entra Agent ID above both. The split follows the admin teams most companies already have.
Governance controls for each product, as documented on 2 Nov 2026.
| Control | Copilot Studio | Microsoft Foundry |
|---|---|---|
| Where agents are listed | Power Platform inventory (within 15 minutes of a change) and the Agent 365 registry in the Microsoft 365 admin center | Foundry Control Plane for the subscription; published agents appear in the Entra Agent Registry, which converged into Agent 365 in April 2026 |
| Identity | Entra Agent ID created for every new agent since July 2026 | Dedicated Entra identity per hosted agent; Entra identity and RBAC for prompt agents |
| Data boundaries | Data policies on connectors, managed environment sharing limits, makers routed to developer environments | Virtual networks for prompt agents, bring-your-own VNet for hosted agents, bring-your-own storage, search and Cosmos DB |
| Guardrails | External threat detection per environment (preview); allows the tool call if no answer within 1 second unless set to block | Integrated content filters and guardrails including cross-prompt injection checks; agent guardrails on tool calls and tool responses (preview) |
| Approval before publish | Microsoft 365 admin center Requests queue; management rules for ownerless and unused agents | Agent versioning and publishing to a managed resource with a stable endpoint; agents shared to Microsoft 365 Copilot appear in the Agent 365 registry |
| Observability and evaluation | Agent evaluations generally available March 2026; Purview audit of prompts and responses | Tracing generally available for prompt and hosted agents; Application Insights Agents view (preview); evaluators with several in preview |
| Cost control | Copilot Credits with prepaid packs or pay-as-you-go; agents blocked at 125% of prepaid capacity unless pay-as-you-go is attached | Azure Cost Management budgets (alert only) and API Management token limits for hard caps |
One documented gap matters for the registry: Microsoft notes that Foundry Agent Applications are not registered in the Entra agent registry under the legacy publishing experience, so a Foundry inventory and the Agent 365 registry can disagree. Reconcile them on a schedule until the newer publishing model closes the gap.
When should you use which, and how do they work together?
Use Copilot Studio when the agent serves people inside Microsoft 365 and its tools are connectors; use Foundry when the agent needs custom code, a chosen model, a virtual network or a non-Microsoft channel; use both when a Copilot Studio front end calls a Foundry agent for the heavy work. The decision usually takes four questions.
- Who maintains it after launch? A business team maintains a Copilot Studio agent through the designer. An engineering team maintains a Foundry agent through source control and pipelines. Pick the product that matches the team that will own the agent in a year.
- Where does the agent run and answer? Teams, Microsoft 365 Copilot, a website chat or a phone number point to Copilot Studio. An API your own application calls, a webhook, a custom protocol or a non-Microsoft channel points to Foundry hosted agents.
- Does it need custom orchestration, a specific model or network isolation? Multi-step logic you must control, an open-source framework you already use, model choice from the catalog, or a VNet all point to Foundry.
- Does it do both? Put the conversation in Copilot Studio and the work in Foundry. Copilot Studio calls the Foundry agent as a connected agent over A2A; the Foundry agent publishes to Microsoft 365 Copilot through the OpenResponses or Activity protocols; both carry an Entra Agent ID and one registry record each.
Do not pick Foundry to escape Power Platform governance, and do not pick Copilot Studio to avoid an engineering review. The Agent 365 registry, Entra Conditional Access for agents and Purview audit apply to both, which is the point of running them under one tenant.
How do Microsoft, AWS and Google implement it?
The same low-code and pro-code pairing exists on AWS and Google. Statuses as the vendor pages showed on 2 Nov 2026.
Capability, Microsoft, AWS, Google
| Capability | Microsoft | AWS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low-code, employee-facing | Copilot Studio and Agent Builder in Microsoft 365 Copilot | Amazon Quick, the agentic workspace for business users (launch date unverified) | Agent Designer in Gemini Enterprise (announced 22 Apr 2026) |
| Pro-code platform | Microsoft Foundry: prompt agents and hosted agents | Amazon Bedrock AgentCore with Strands or any framework | Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform: ADK on Agent Runtime |
| Bridge between the two | Foundry agents publish to Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot; Copilot Studio calls Foundry agents over A2A | AgentCore agents exposed through Gateway and the AWS Agent Registry MCP endpoint | Agents built with ADK deploy to Agent Runtime and surface in the Gemini Enterprise app |
| Shared identity and registry | Entra Agent ID and the Agent 365 registry under both | AgentCore Identity and AWS Agent Registry | Agent Identity (API in preview) and Agent Registry (generally available 18 Jun 2026) |
Amazon Quick’s launch date and the Gemini Enterprise rename history were not verified on a dated primary page.
Frequently asked questions
Is Copilot Studio better than Microsoft 365 Copilot?
They are different things. Microsoft 365 Copilot is the assistant your staff use inside Office apps and Teams. Copilot Studio is the tool for building custom agents, which can then be published into Microsoft 365 Copilot, Teams, a website or a phone number. One is a product people use, the other is a product people build with.
Can a Copilot Studio agent call a Foundry agent?
Yes. Copilot Studio supports connected agents and A2A, which has been generally available since April 2026, and Foundry exposes an A2A 1.0 endpoint for published agents. The Copilot Studio agent handles the conversation and hands the task to the Foundry agent, each under its own Entra Agent ID.
Which one is cheaper to run?
It depends on the workload shape. Copilot Studio meters Copilot Credits per answer, action and reasoning token, with no charge for Microsoft 365 Copilot-licensed users in employee-facing scenarios within fair use. Foundry bills per model call and tool use plus container compute for hosted agents. A high-volume reasoning agent and a simple FAQ agent land on different sides of that line, so model the credits before you choose.
Do both products appear in the same registry?
Mostly. Copilot Studio agents appear in Power Platform inventory and the Agent 365 registry automatically. Foundry agents are inventoried in Foundry Control Plane and, when published, in the Entra Agent Registry that converged into Agent 365 in April 2026. Microsoft notes a gap for Agent Applications under the legacy publishing experience, so reconcile the two lists until it closes.
More in Platforms and frameworks
Sources
Each source was read on 2 November 2026. The date shown is the date on the page, or the page’s ms.date for Microsoft Learn; an undated page shows the date it was read.
- What is Microsoft Foundry Agent Service?
- Harnesses in Copilot Studio
- What is Copilot Studio?
- What’s new in Copilot Studio
- Agent Builder in Microsoft 365 Copilot
- Copilot Studio billing rates and usage management
- Configure data policies for agents (Copilot Studio)
- Limit sharing in managed environments
- Power Platform inventory
- Manage agents in Foundry Control Plane
- Guardrails and controls in Microsoft Foundry
- Set up tracing for agents in Microsoft Foundry
- Agent Registry convergence with Microsoft Agent 365
- What’s new in Microsoft Entra Agent ID
- Introducing multi-agent workflows in Foundry Agent Service
- What’s new in Microsoft Foundry at Build 2026
- LLM token limit policy (Azure API Management)
- Amazon Quick
- Welcome to Google Cloud Next ’26
Planning an AI program?
Talk to the team that builds it and runs it after launch.
- Built to SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR standards
- EU AI Act-aligned delivery
- Microsoft Solutions Partner