Top Microsoft Copilot Studio alternatives for building custom AI agents (2026)

Karen Chalco

-February 7, 2026

TL;DR

The top alternatives for Copilot Studio are:

Dust: No-code AI agent platform with cross-platform data connections, LLM-native actions, and $29/user/month pricing. Best for mixed tech stacks.
ChatGPT Enterprise: Custom GPTs with brand familiarity, but locked to the ChatGPT app and ~$60/user/month with 150-user minimums.
Google Gemini Enterprise: Native Google Workspace integration, but limited connectors and agents trapped in the Gemini platform.
Glean: Enterprise search excellence with 100+ connectors, but search-first approach and $50K+ minimum contracts.

Try Dust free for 14 days →

What is Copilot Studio?

Microsoft Copilot Studio is a low-code platform for building custom AI agents (called "copilots") within the Microsoft ecosystem. It uses Power Platform connectors to integrate with business systems and is designed primarily for Microsoft 365 surfaces, with strong support for external customer-facing deployments across channels like WhatsApp and Facebook.

Why do companies look for Copilot Studio alternatives?

Companies seek alternatives to Copilot Studio for three main reasons:

Need no-code agent building for domain experts, not low-code for technical teams
- Copilot Studio requires Power Platform expertise, connector-specific knowledge, and workflow wiring skills even for relatively basic use cases. Non-technical teams struggle to build and maintain agents independently, creating bottlenecks with central IT teams.
Want reliable tools across mixed tech stacks (Google, Notion, Slack, GitHub)
- Copilot Studio's Power Platform connectors are "not always LLM-native" and can be "brittle in conversational use cases," especially outside the Microsoft stack. Real example from testing: A Google Calendar tool retrieved all events ever added instead of just today's events, blowing up the context window and breaking the agent.
Need collaboration across Slack, Chrome, and other interfaces
- Copilot Studio conversations are "agent-centric" and primarily work within Microsoft surfaces (especially Teams). It's difficult to bring multiple agents and teammates into collaborative threads outside of Teams.
Need access to a wider set of LLM providers
- Copilot Studio is limited to OpenAI models and Anthropic (under restricted circumstances). Companies want the flexibility to choose from multiple AI providers (Claude, Gemini, Llama, etc.) based on specific use cases, cost considerations, or performance requirements. Being locked into Microsoft's LLM partnerships can limit optimization opportunities and create vendor dependency.

💡 Case Study: How Vanta's GRC, Finance, and Product teams built their own agents—saving 400+ hours per week and thousands of hours annually. Read how they did it →

Quick Comparison Table

Platform	Builder Profile	Primary Deployment	Key Strength
Dust	Domain experts (no-code)	Internal work across Slack, Teams, Chrome, Zendesk	Multi-platform agents + LLM-native actions
ChatGPT Enterprise	Non-technical users	ChatGPT app	Custom GPTs + brand recognition
Google Gemini Enterprise	Non-technical users	Google apps	Google Workspace integration
Glean	Technical users (requires developers)	Glean app	Enterprise search excellence
Copilot Studio	Low-code builders (Power Platform)	Microsoft surfaces + external channels	Deep Microsoft integration + external publishing

Ready to build agents without Power Platform complexity? [Try Dust free for 14 days →]

Alternative #1: Dust - #1 Copilot Studio alternative for no-code AI agents

Dust is an AI agent operating system designed for domain experts and non-technical teams to build and iterate agents themselves with no Power Platform training required. It's powered by LLM-native actions that deliver predictable, reliable results across any tech stack, with native data connections that ingest and vectorize content from Google Drive, Notion, GitHub, Slack, Confluence, and other key collaboration tools.

Plus, Dust goes beyond agent building. It's a collaborative platform where multiple agents and teammates work together in the same conversation. This can mean Slack, Teams, Chrome, or Zendesk. You get multi-model flexibility (GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, Mistral), workspace-level governance for easy scaling, and transparent pricing at $29/user/month with no message limits.

What makes Dust different from Copilot Studio?

Traditional low-code platforms like Copilot Studio require Power Platform expertise even for basic use cases, limit you to Microsoft-first knowledge sources with "gaps on Google-first stacks and Notion," and use connectors that are "not always generative-AI ready"—leading to broken workflows and context blowups. Dust solves these problems with true no-code building, cross-platform knowledge access, and actions designed to work reliably from day one.

Dust Pros:

True no-code builder: Non-technical teams build agents independently without IT bottlenecks
100+ integrations: Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Salesforce, Slack, Notion, GitHub, Zendesk, HubSpot, Jira, BigQuery, Snowflake
LLM-native actions: Reliable tool calls that don't blow up context windows
Collaboration anywhere: Multi-agent + multi-teammate threads in Slack, Teams, Chrome extension, Zendesk
Advanced capabilities Copilot Studio lacks:
- Deep research agents for multi-source knowledge retrieval
- Interactive Frames for data visualizations (Copilot Studio has no built-in viz; relies on third parties)
- Full observability: Track user activity, sources, tool usage, latency
- Native BigQuery/Snowflake (Copilot Studio requires custom dev connectors)
- MCP support for unlimited custom integrations
Enterprise security: SOC2 Type II, HIPAA, GDPR compliant
Transparent pricing: $29/user/month, no message limits, no hidden costs

Dust Cons:

Not optimized for external customer chatbots (WhatsApp, Facebook, website embed)
No deep Microsoft ecosystem integrations (Dynamics 365, Dataverse, Azure AI Search)

Best for: Companies with mixed tech stacks (Google Workspace, Notion, Slack, GitHub alongside or instead of Microsoft 365), teams needing department-specific AI agents without technical complexity, organizations wanting predictable pricing. Perfect for 30-5,000+ employees across sales, marketing, support, engineering, HR, legal, finance.

Pricing: $29/user/month

Trusted by: Modern companies like Cursor, Clay, Persona, and Vanta use Dust to build custom AI agents

💡 Case Study: How Spendesk achieved 90% AI adoption in 6 months—with non-technical teams building agents and 1 in 4 users now creating their own. Read their story →

Alternative #2: ChatGPT Enterprise

What it does: OpenAI's enterprise platform with Custom GPTs for building specialized AI agents.

ChatGPT Enterprise Pros:

Simpler agent creation: No Power Platform expertise required (easier than Copilot Studio's low-code approach)
Brand recognition: Most employees already familiar with ChatGPT
No Microsoft 365 dependency: Works independently (vs. Copilot Studio's Microsoft ecosystem lock-in)
Multi-platform knowledge: Can connect to Google Drive, Slack, Notion, GitHub (vs. Copilot Studio's Microsoft-first approach)
Enterprise security: SOC 2 compliance, encryption, SSO, RBAC permissions

ChatGPT Enterprise Cons:

Custom GPTs locked in ChatGPT app: Can't use them in Slack, Teams, browser (similar limitation to Copilot Studio being Teams-centric)
Mostly read-only integrations: Like Copilot Studio, struggles with write actions outside core platform
Locked to OpenAI models: No multi-model flexibility (different lock-in than Copilot Studio, but still locked)
Single-owner GPTs: No team collaboration on building (worse than Copilot Studio's component collections)
High minimums: ~150 users at ~$60/user/month (vs. Copilot Studio's complex but potentially lower per-user cost)
No native data warehouse support: No Snowflake, Salesforce, BigQuery (similar gap to Copilot Studio)

Best for: Large enterprises (150+ users) wanting simpler agent building than Copilot Studio without Microsoft ecosystem dependency, teams okay with ChatGPT-app-only access

Pricing: Custom quotes (~$60/user/month with ~150-user minimum reported)

Alternative #3: Google Gemini Enterprise

What it does: Google's no-code platform for building AI agents, integrated with Google Workspace and select third-party apps.

Gemini Enterprise Pros:

Simpler agent builder for beginners: Visual agent designer that creates agents in seconds (easier than Copilot Studio's Power Platform)
No Microsoft 365 dependency: Works independently, best with Google Workspace
Native Google Workspace integration: Call generic Gemini from Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides with previews and context
Cross-platform knowledge: Can connect to Google Workspace AND Microsoft 365 (SharePoint, Outlook)
Multi-modal capabilities: Agents process documents, images, videos
Enterprise security: Data residency, encryption, compliance controls

Gemini Enterprise Cons:

Custom agents trapped in Gemini platform: Can't call your business agents from Gmail, Slack, Teams, or Chrome—only generic Gemini works there (similar to Copilot Studio being Teams-centric)
Very limited connector ecosystem: No GitHub, Notion, Snowflake, Zendesk, HubSpot, Gong (worse than Copilot Studio's Power Platform connectors)
Few native actions: Only ~10 actions (Gmail, Calendar, Jira)—can't write to Salesforce, Zendesk, GitHub without coding Python ADK (similar limitation to Copilot Studio's brittle connectors)
Requires coding for complexity: Need Python ADK for triggers, conditional workflows, custom tools (same low-code limitation as Copilot Studio's Power Platform)
Locked to Gemini models only: No access to Claude, GPT-4, Mistral (different lock-in than Copilot Studio, but still locked)
Newly launched (Nov 2025): Still maturing, customer reports of agents "not working really great"
No transparent pricing: Custom quotes via Google Cloud
Limited collaboration: Read-only sharing only (agents as individual productivity tools, not team collaboration)

Best for: Google Workspace-heavy organizations wanting simpler agent building than Copilot Studio, teams okay with agents siloed in Gemini platform and limited to basic actions

Pricing: Custom pricing through Google Cloud

Alternative #4: Glean

What it does: Enterprise search platform built by former Google Search engineers, with AI agents added for knowledge work

How it compares to Copilot Studio:

Pros:

Mature search foundation: 6+ years of search algorithm refinement with Enterprise Graph technology (vs. Copilot Studio's newer search capabilities)
No Microsoft 365 dependency: Works with any tech stack, no ecosystem lock-in
100+ native connectors: Broader than Copilot Studio's Microsoft-first approach, includes Google Workspace, Salesforce, Slack
Strong enterprise infrastructure: Self-hosted options, 15+ data residency regions, advanced SIEM integration (better than Copilot Studio's cloud-only)
Individual permission layer: Absorbs permissions from source systems, reducing IT overhead (vs. Copilot Studio's SharePoint-based permissions that break agents)

Cons:

Search-first, agents second: Built as enterprise search (2019) with AI agents added later—agents feel like add-on vs. core (similar to Copilot Studio adding agents to M365)
Limited workflow automation: Primarily find information, don't complete workflows or automate tasks (same limitation as Copilot Studio's search focus)
Developer-required complexity: Agent creation requires technical expertise, complex workflow builders (similar to Copilot Studio's Power Platform requirement)
No transparent pricing: Requires sales calls; reports show $50-65/user/month, $50K minimum ACV, $360K-$600K annually for mid-sized deployments (worse than Copilot Studio's published pricing)
Paid POCs: Up to $70K for proof-of-concepts plus ~10% ARR implementation fees
Standard enterprise adoption: 40% DAU/MAU ratio (good for enterprise, but not exceptional)

Best for: Large enterprises (5,000+ employees) prioritizing search excellence over agent automation, companies with $500K+ knowledge management budgets, organizations needing customer-hosted deployment

Pricing: Custom quotes ($50-65/user/month reported, $50K+ minimum ACV)

Alternative #5: No Platform - Build Your Own with AI APIs

What it does: Build custom agents directly using AI model APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) instead of a platform

No Platform Pros:

Ultimate flexibility: Build exactly what you need without platform constraints (vs. Copilot Studio's Power Platform limitations)
No per-user licensing: Pay only for API usage, no $30/user/month Copilot licenses
Full model choice: Use any AI provider without vendor lock-in
Custom integrations: Connect to any internal system without waiting for connectors
Complete control: Own your infrastructure and data

No Platform Cons:

12-18 months to feature parity: Building takes quarters, not weeks (Copilot Studio at least gives you a starting point)
Requires 5-10 dedicated engineers: Full-time team needed for build and maintenance
Maintenance compounds faster than features: AI landscape changes monthly—you must keep up
Hidden costs exceed platform pricing: Engineering time, infrastructure, and opportunity cost of not building core product
No enterprise features out-of-box: Must build SOC 2 compliance, SSO, audit logs, RBAC permissions from scratch
Your team rediscovers solved problems: RAG implementation, vector databases, model orchestration, UI—rebuilding the entire AI stack

Real examples of companies who tried building then switched:

Wakam (insurtech): 5-person data science team built custom GPT-4 chatbot. Within months realized: "The AI market was advancing faster than our small team could match. We'd need to triple team size." Switched to Dust → 70% adoption in 2 months, 136 agents deployed.

Doctolib (3,000 employees): Built internal DoctoGPT, got 800 users overnight. Then: "We created a Feature Requests JIRA board that revealed massive demand. We were overwhelmed within days." VP of Data & AI: "We would be a permanent bottleneck requiring resources across multiple teams." Principle: "Build what's in our core business, buy what will be a side project."

Best for: Companies where AI infrastructure IS the core product, enterprises with dedicated AI/ML teams and 12-18 month timelines that won't impact core roadmap, very specific requirements no platform can address (extremely rare)

Pricing: Seemingly cheap API costs, but real cost is engineering time (typically exceeds platform costs by 3-5x)

The shift from low-code platforms to a no-code agent operating system

Microsoft Copilot Studio represents the low-code approach to enterprise agent building: platforms that require Power Platform expertise and keep you locked into one vendor's ecosystem. But companies are discovering this approach creates bottlenecks. Non-technical teams depend on IT for agent creation. Power Platform connectors that aren’t always generative-AI ready break workflows with context blowups. Microsoft-first knowledge sources create gaps for teams using Google Drive, Notion, Slack, or GitHub. Agent-centric collaboration limits cross-team workflows outside of Teams.

The market is moving to no-code agent operating systems where domain experts build agents themselves without technical training.

Dust leads this evolution as a platform built from the ground up as an AI agent operating system. There's no ecosystem lock-in—work across Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, Slack, and 100+ tools. It's true no-code, designed so domain experts can build and iterate agents themselves. Actions are LLM-native with predictable outputs and controllable scope. You get multi-model flexibility to choose OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or Mistral models per agent. And collaboration is user-centered, bringing multiple agents and teammates into the same thread across Slack, Teams, Chrome, or Zendesk.

💡 Case Study: See how Watershed's sales, engineering, and HR teams built their own agents, and achieved 90% adoption without IT bottlenecks. Read how they did it →

Feature Comparison Table

Feature	Copilot Studio	Dust	ChatGPT Ent	Gemini Ent	Glean	Build Custom
Knowledge sources	Microsoft-first with gaps on Google/Notion	✅ 10+ data connections including Google, Notion, GitHub, Slack, Gong	✅ 50+ cross-platform	Google-first with limited third-party	✅ 100+ cross-platform	Custom
No-code agent builder	⚠️ Low-code (requires Power Platform)	✅ True no-code	⚠️ Limited	⚠️ Limited	❌ No	❌ No
Works with Google Workspace	⚠️ Limited, gaps on Google-first stacks	✅ Native vectorized	✅ Yes	✅ Native	✅ Yes	✅ Custom
Works with Notion	⚠️ Power Platform connector (not vectorized)	✅ Native vectorized	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes	✅ Custom
Works with GitHub	⚠️ Power Platform connector (not vectorized)	✅ Native vectorized	✅ Yes	❌ No	✅ Yes	✅ Custom
Works with Salesforce	⚠️ Limited	✅ Native	⚠️ Read-only	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Custom
Permissions model	SharePoint-based (breaks if user lacks access)	Fine-grained per agent	App-level	App-level	Fine-grained	Custom
Multi-model support	⚠️ OpenAI + limited Claude	✅ OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral	❌ OpenAI only	❌ Gemini only	✅ Yes	✅ Any
LLM-native actions	⚠️ Not always (context blowups)	✅ Yes (predictable outputs)	⚠️ Limited	⚠️ Limited	N/A	⚠️ Must build
Deep research agents	❌ No	✅ Yes	❌ No	Limited	⚠️ Search only	⚠️ Must build
Interactive visualizations	❌ No (relies on third parties)	✅ Frames	❌ No	❌ No	❌ No	⚠️ Must build
Full observability	⚠️ Limited	✅ Yes	⚠️ Limited	⚠️ Limited	❌ No	⚠️ Must build
Native data warehouse connectors	⚠️ Requires dev connectors	✅ BigQuery, Snowflake	❌ No	❌ No	✅ Yes	⚠️ Must build
MCP support	❌ No	✅ Yes	❌ No	❌ No	❌ No	N/A
Where agents work	Microsoft apps, Teams-centric	Chrome, Slack, Teams, Zendesk	ChatGPT app only	Gemini app only	Glean app	Custom
Collaboration model	Agent-centric, mainly via Teams	User-centered, multi-agent + multi-teammate	Individual	Individual	Individual	Custom
Setup time for complex agents	Weeks (requires Power Platform expertise)	Hours (no-code)	Days	Days	Days	Months
Requires professional services	⚠️ Often yes	❌ No	❌ No	⚠️ Sometimes	⚠️ Yes	N/A
Pricing transparency	Published	✅ $29/user/mo	Custom quotes	Custom quotes	Custom quotes	Variable
Minimum commitment	Microsoft 365 required	30 users	~150 users	Unknown	$50K ACV	N/A

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are the best Copilot Studio alternatives?

Dust is the best Copilot Studio alternative for building custom AI agents across any tech stack. Unlike Copilot Studio's Microsoft-first approach with "gaps on Google-first stacks and Notion," Dust connects to 100+ tools with native vectorized support for Google Workspace, Salesforce, Slack, Notion, GitHub, and more. Dust offers true no-code agent building (vs. Copilot Studio's Power Platform complexity), unlimited knowledge sources per agent, and predictable pricing at $29/user/month.

Why do companies look for a Copilot Studio equivalent?

Companies seek equivalents when: (1) They use non-Microsoft tools that Copilot Studio handles poorly—knowledge sources "skew Microsoft-first" with "gaps on Google-first stacks and Notion," (2) Non-technical teams need to build agents but Copilot Studio requires Power Platform expertise even for "relatively basic use cases," (3) They need LLM-native actions that don't blow up context windows—Copilot Studio's Power Platform connectors "are not always generative-AI ready," (4) They want user-centered collaboration across Slack, Teams, Chrome—Copilot Studio is "agent-centric, mainly via Teams."

What's the difference between Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio?

Microsoft 365 Copilot is the general AI assistant embedded in Microsoft apps (Word, Excel, Teams, Outlook). Copilot Studio is the low-code platform for building custom agents using Power Platform. They're separate products with different purposes—Microsoft 365 Copilot helps individual users, while Copilot Studio lets you build custom agents (but requires Power Platform expertise).

Can Copilot Studio agents work with Google Workspace?

Copilot Studio's "knowledge sources skew Microsoft-first" with documented "gaps on Google-first stacks and Notion-first teams." Google Drive, Notion, and GitHub are available only via Power Platform connectors—not as vectorized knowledge sources—and these connectors "are not always generative-AI ready, especially outside the Microsoft stack." For Google Workspace-heavy organizations, Dust, ChatGPT Enterprise, and Gemini offer better native support.

What are Copilot Studio's biggest limitations?

According to the Copilot Studio Product Deep Dive: (1) Requires Power Platform expertise even for "relatively basic use cases," (2) "Knowledge sources skew Microsoft-first" with "gaps on Google-first stacks and Notion," (3) Power Platform connectors "are not always LLM-native" and can cause "brittle tool calls" with "context blowups," (4) "Conversations are agent-centric" with "collaboration mainly via Teams," (5) "Locked into a small subset of OpenAI models that is only slowly updated," (6) No built-in visualization tool (relies on third parties like Encodian).

Is there a no-code alternative to Copilot Studio?

Yes—Dust offers true no-code agent building without Power Platform requirements. Copilot Studio is a "low-code" platform that requires "Power Platform concepts, connector knowledge, and workflow wiring" even for basic use cases. Dust is "designed so domain experts can build and iterate agents themselves," removing "reliance on a small group of technical builders" and speeding adoption.

How much does Copilot Studio really cost?

Copilot Studio pricing includes a base platform fee plus message-based usage costs. The complexity comes from requiring Power Platform expertise (which may necessitate hiring specialists or professional services) and Microsoft 365 subscriptions as prerequisites. Dust offers transparent pricing at $29/user/month all-inclusive with no message limits, no Power Platform requirements, and no hidden professional services costs.

Can these alternatives build agents as powerful as Copilot Studio?

Yes—and often more powerful in key areas:

Dust agents
access 100+ data sources with native vectorized support for Google Drive, Notion, GitHub, Gong (vs. Copilot Studio's Power Platform connectors that "are not always LLM-native")
Dust Deep Dive agents
perform multi-step research across heterogeneous sources
Dust Frames
create interactive visualizations (Copilot Studio has no built-in visualization tool)
Dust MCP support
enables unlimited custom integrations
Dust agents work across Slack, Teams, Chrome, Zendesk—not just Microsoft apps