Forum Discussion
Agent Builder agents require Microsoft 365 Copilot license for users without a license?
Hi all,
Has anyone noticed a recent change in how Copilot Agent Builder (in Copilot Chat) agents work for users without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license?
Our setup is:
- Agent created by a user with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license
- Created directly in Agent Builder, not published through Copilot Studio
The agent is published and available within our tenant
- Some consumers do not have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license
- Copilot Credits are available (also for the environment where the agent is) and have not been exhausted
This setup was working normal
ly just two days ago. Unlicensed users could use the shared agents and usage was covered by Copilot Credits. Now those same users are getting a message saying that a Microsoft 365 Copilot license is required.
Has anyone else started seeing this?
I’m trying to understand whether we are looking at a configuration issue in our tenant or whether something has recently changed in the service/licensing behavior.
Thanks for experiences!
3 Replies
Hello cersim97 , as shared in the previous reply, this is about features available for licensed users used in the agent (and they are not available for unlicensed users). So that leads to the error saying they need a license to be able to use it.
If your setup was actually working fine for unlicensed users & suddenly stopped working, I strongly suspect it is because of this hidden UI settings (as these got moved with the latest version of Agent Builder) - you can check this as a Creator/Maker of the agent in Agent Builder.
Make sure they are all unchecked - these features cannot be used by unlicensed users.
Actually, it is just the "People data" setting that needs to be unchecked.
An available credit balance alone does not establish that those consumers are enabled for the agent's metered use. Microsoft's current guidance distinguishes agents using only instructions and public websites from agents accessing shared tenant data, such as SharePoint; the latter require administrators to enable metered consumption for users without Copilot licenses. Agent Builder creation by a licensed author does not automatically establish that consumer billing configuration. Have your administrator verify the published agent's knowledge sources, the actual environment and applicable billing or prepaid-capacity allocation, plus the affected users' access settings. Compare one licensed and one unlicensed user against the same published version. If those checks match the documented configuration, capture the exact license prompt, agent identifier and UTC failure time and open a support case. The change over two days is worth investigating, but it is not sufficient evidence of an announced licensing change.
