# Copilot vs Gemini for New Zealand businesses. URL: https://levystreet.com/compare/copilot-vs-gemini/ Updated: 2026-10-19 Copilot vs Gemini for NZ businesses: NZ$ prices, what each does in email, documents, spreadsheets and meetings, data handling, admin controls and a test plan. ## Short answer Copilot vs Gemini is mostly decided by your office suite. Gemini is included in Google Workspace Business Standard, listed at NZ$21 a user a month on 20 October 2026. Microsoft Copilot is an add-on for Microsoft 365 business customers at NZ$34.00 a user a month excluding tax, or bundled from NZ$38.00. Switching suites for the AI alone rarely pays. - Gemini comes with Workspace Business Standard; Business Starter lacks Gemini in Docs, Sheets and Meet. - Copilot Business add-on: NZ$34.00 excl. tax, NZ$29.14 first year on commitments by 31 December 2026. - Neither vendor trains its models on your business content by default. - Microsoft 365 can store Copilot data in New Zealand; Workspace data regions offer only the US or Europe. - Gemini is on by default for Workspace apps; admins can switch it off per app and per team. ## How do Copilot and Gemini compare in October 2026? Microsoft Copilot (still sold as Microsoft 365 Copilot on licences) and Gemini for Google Workspace both put an assistant inside email, documents, spreadsheets and meetings. The difference is the commercial model: Gemini is bundled into most Workspace plans, while Copilot is mostly a paid add-on. | As listed on 20 October 2026 | Microsoft Copilot | Gemini in Google Workspace | |---|---|---| | Price shown to NZ visitors | Copilot Business add-on NZ$34.00 a user a month paid yearly, excl. tax; Business Standard with Copilot NZ$38.00; Business Premium with Copilot NZ$51.80 | Included in Business Standard NZ$21 and Business Plus NZ$33 a user a month; prices in NZD, GST not stated | | Entry option | Copilot Chat at no extra cost on eligible Microsoft 365 plans, mainly web-grounded | Business Starter NZ$10.50: Gemini in Gmail and Gemini chat, not in Docs, Sheets or Meet | | Email | Copilot in Outlook | Gemini in Gmail, on every plan | | Documents | Word and PowerPoint, grounded in files each user can open | Docs and Slides from Business Standard | | Spreadsheets | Copilot in Excel; Analyst agent for data analysis | Gemini in Sheets; AI function 5,000 uses a month on Business Standard and Plus | | Meetings | Copilot in Teams, from the transcript or during the meeting only | "Take notes for me" in Meet, saved to the organiser's Drive | | Agents | Researcher, Analyst and Facilitator included with a licence; some advanced features billed by usage | Gemini app and Gemini Notebook with expanded access from Business Standard | | Training on your content | Not used to train foundation models | Not used for training outside your domain without permission | | Where data sits | Can be stored at rest in New Zealand; processing may be in the US, EU or elsewhere | Data regions: United States, Europe or no preference | | Seat cap | Business plans up to 300 users | Starter, Standard and Plus up to 300 users | ## Why does your current office suite decide most of it? Because both assistants are strongest on the data already inside their own suite. Copilot answers from Outlook, Teams and SharePoint content each user can open. Gemini works across Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets and Meet. Neither is a good way to reach the other suite's data. A decision rule that holds for most firms of under 300 people: - **On Google Workspace Business Standard or above:** use Gemini first. Its marginal cost is zero. - **On Workspace Business Starter:** price the upgrade to Business Standard before buying any other assistant. - **On Microsoft 365:** start with free Copilot Chat, then license Copilot for the people whose work lives in Outlook, Teams and Excel. - **Thinking of switching suites for the AI:** don't, unless you were moving anyway. Mail, file and permission migration is a project in its own right, and both vendors change AI features often. Staff in both suites, such as after a merger, are the exception: test both on the same work before standardising. ## What does each do in email, documents, spreadsheets and meetings? **Email.** Both draft and summarise. Copilot Chat in Outlook works without a paid licence; Gemini in Gmail is on every Workspace plan, including Starter. **Documents.** Copilot in Word drafts from files in OneDrive and SharePoint, which makes SharePoint permissions the main risk. Gemini in Docs starts at Business Standard. **Spreadsheets.** Google publishes usage caps: on Business Standard and Plus, the Sheets AI function runs 5,000 times a month and "build and edit spreadsheets" 100 times, as listed on 20 October 2026. Starter has neither. Microsoft lists Copilot in Excel and its Analyst agent with a licence. **Meetings.** Copilot in Teams needs a transcript, or runs [only during the meeting](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/teams/platform/frequently-asked-questions-about-copilot-in-microsoft-teams), and responds in eight languages. Meet's ["Take notes for me"](https://support.google.com/meet/answer/14754931?hl=en) works in eight languages, one per meeting. Neither lists te reo Māori. Our [AI meeting note takers comparison](/compare/ai-meeting-note-takers-nz/) covers consent and storage in more depth. ## How do you test Copilot and Gemini on the same work? Both vendors list free trials. Pick five people, run each task in both tools for two weeks, and score errors and editing time, not impressions. 1. **Categorise a month of enquiries.** Paste 200 customer enquiries into Excel and Sheets. Ask each assistant to tag them by product and urgency. Compare 50 rows against tags a staff member assigned by hand. 2. **Notes from the same weekly meeting.** Record a 30-minute internal meeting in Teams and in Meet. Compare each set of action items with what was actually agreed, and count invented owners or dates. 3. **Update a policy from a source.** Give each a current internal policy and the new rule as a pasted source document. Every change must trace to the source; any rule from memory is a fail. Record results in a shared sheet; our lesson on [evaluating an AI pilot](/learn/evaluating-an-ai-pilot/) shows how to read them. ## What do Copilot and Gemini cost over a year? Worked example for a 12-person firm at list prices on 20 October 2026. Microsoft prices exclude tax; Google's page does not state GST. | Situation | Monthly | Yearly | |---|---|---| | Already on Workspace Business Standard: Gemini included | NZ$0 extra | NZ$0 extra | | On Workspace Starter, upgrading all 12 to Standard | 12 × NZ$10.50 = NZ$126 | NZ$1,512 | | On Microsoft 365, Copilot add-on for all 12 | 12 × NZ$34.00 = NZ$408 plus GST | NZ$4,896 plus GST | | Same, at the first-year price | 12 × NZ$29.14 = NZ$349.68 plus GST | NZ$4,196.16 plus GST | | On Microsoft 365, Copilot for 4 heavy users only | 4 × NZ$34.00 = NZ$136 plus GST | NZ$1,632 plus GST | | New firm: Business Standard with Copilot vs Workspace Business Standard | NZ$456 plus GST vs NZ$252 | NZ$5,472 plus GST vs NZ$3,024 | Costs that come later: - **Usage-based features.** Microsoft's NZ page says select advanced AI features are billed by usage, beyond the licence. - **Promotion expiry.** The NZ$29.14 price applies to the first year only. - **Higher Gemini limits.** Google's AI Expanded Access add-on raises the caps; we found no published price. - **Clean-up time.** Both tools surface whatever users can open, so over-shared drives cost staff hours to fix. ## How do admin controls and data handling differ? Microsoft has more controls for keeping content away from the assistant. Google's controls are simpler. - **Microsoft.** Admins choose whether to allow Anthropic and OpenAI models inside Copilot, set Purview retention for Copilot chats, and can apply [Restricted Content Discovery](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/restricted-content-discovery) to keep sensitive SharePoint sites out of Copilot without changing permissions. That needs a Copilot licence and SharePoint Advanced Management. - **Google.** [Gemini is on by default](https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/generative-ai/workspace-with-gemini/manage-access-to-gemini-features-in-workspace-services) in Workspace apps. Admins can turn it off per app and per organisational unit, but Google notes that Gemini in Gmail can still read a Drive file when Gemini is off for Drive. - **Data location.** New Zealand is eligible for Microsoft's [Advanced Data Residency](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/enterprise/m365-dr-adr-overview), an add-on that must cover every paid licence. Workspace [data regions](https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/compliance/choose-a-geographic-location-for-your-data) offer only the United States or Europe. See [where AI tools keep New Zealand business data](/compare/ai-data-residency-nz/). On business plans neither vendor trains on your content, which matters under the [Privacy Act 2020](https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2020/31/en/latest/): a provider using data for its own purposes changes your obligations. Either way, you remain responsible for what staff put in. ## Which should you choose? ### Choose Microsoft Copilot if - Your team works in Outlook, Teams, Excel and SharePoint every day. - You want New Zealand storage for AI chat history. - You need fine control over which SharePoint sites the assistant can see. ### Choose Gemini if - You already pay for Workspace Business Standard or above. - You want AI in email, documents and meetings without a per-seat add-on. - Your team is small and wants simple on and off controls. ## Where do both fall short? - **Permissions.** Both show users anything they can already open. Fix sharing first; see [AI and Microsoft 365](/integrations/microsoft-365/) and [AI and Google Workspace](/integrations/google-workspace/). - **Offshore processing.** Neither processes prompts in New Zealand. - **Gemini Notebook.** Google says Workspace data region settings do not apply to it. - **Confident errors.** Both will state New Zealand rules from memory, sometimes wrongly. Give them the source. - **Unused licences.** Paid seats nobody uses well are the most common waste. Our [Microsoft Copilot training](/services/microsoft-copilot-training/) is built around real tasks, and our [Copilot](/tools/microsoft-copilot/) and [Gemini](/tools/gemini/) guides cover setup. ## Questions people ask ### Is Copilot or Gemini better for business? Neither is better everywhere. Copilot is the stronger choice when your work lives in Outlook, Teams, Excel and SharePoint, because it answers from the mail, chats and files each user can open. Gemini is the better value when you already run Google Workspace Business Standard, where it costs nothing extra. Test both on three real tasks before paying for a switch. ### How much do Copilot and Gemini cost in New Zealand? As listed on 20 October 2026, the Microsoft 365 Copilot Business add-on is NZ$34.00 a user a month paid yearly, excluding tax, with a first-year price of NZ$29.14 on annual commitments made by 31 December 2026. Google Workspace Business Standard, which includes Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Sheets and Meet, is NZ$21 a user a month. Google's page says prices are in NZD but does not state GST. ### Do I get Gemini on Google Workspace Business Starter? Only partly. As listed on 20 October 2026, Business Starter at NZ$10.50 includes Gemini in Gmail and chat with Gemini, but not Gemini in Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, Meet or Chat. Those start at Business Standard. Starter also has no access to the Sheets AI function, which Business Standard allows 5,000 times a month. ### Can Copilot or Gemini take meeting notes? Both can. Copilot in Teams works from the meeting transcript, or runs only during the meeting if you choose, and needs a Copilot licence. Google Meet's "Take notes for me" saves notes to the organiser's Google Drive and needs Business Standard or above. Meet's notes support eight languages, one per meeting, and neither lists te reo Māori. See our comparison of AI meeting note takers. ### Where do Copilot and Gemini store New Zealand data? Microsoft 365 treats New Zealand as a local region geography, so Copilot data can be stored at rest here, but Microsoft says queries from outside the EU may be processed in the US, the EU or other regions. Google Workspace data regions offer the United States, Europe or no preference. Neither processes prompts in New Zealand, as listed on 20 October 2026. ## Sources - [Microsoft Copilot plans and pricing for business (NZ)](https://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/copilot/pricing/business) - [Microsoft 365 plans and pricing (NZ)](https://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/microsoft-365/business/compare-all-microsoft-365-business-products) - [Frequently asked questions about Copilot in Microsoft Teams](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/teams/platform/frequently-asked-questions-about-copilot-in-microsoft-teams) - [Data, privacy and security for Microsoft Copilot](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/microsoft-365-copilot-privacy) - [Advanced Data Residency overview](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/enterprise/m365-dr-adr-overview) - [Restrict discovery of SharePoint sites and content](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/restricted-content-discovery) - [Google Workspace pricing (NZ)](https://workspace.google.com/pricing?hl=en_nz) - [AI Expanded Access](https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/generative-ai/workspace-with-gemini/ai-expanded-access) - [Take notes for me in Google Meet](https://support.google.com/meet/answer/14754931?hl=en) - [Let Google Meet AI take notes for my users](https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/meet/let-google-meet-ai-take-notes-for-my-users) - [Manage access to Gemini features in Workspace services](https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/generative-ai/workspace-with-gemini/manage-access-to-gemini-features-in-workspace-services) - [Generative AI in Google Workspace Privacy Hub](https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/generative-ai/generative-ai-in-google-workspace-privacy-hub) - [Data regions: choose a geographic location for your data](https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/admin/compliance/choose-a-geographic-location-for-your-data) - [Privacy Act 2020](https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2020/31/en/latest/) Published by Levy Street (https://levystreet.com), Wellington, New Zealand.