Costs related to using AI builder in workflows

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Posted on by EL-20030940-0

I am trying to estimate how much it will cost to run a single workflow. This workflow will be triggered whenever an email hits the inbox, and I want to know how much it will cost per run.

Say within this workflow there is an AI builder prompt and I know how much prompt / completion tokens used per run on average (from Activity).
- How do i convert this do copilot credits (which are priced at 1cent)?
- There is also information about the $30 / user / month Microsoft 365 Copilot that includes studio access for all licenses, which says access to studio at no exta cost and build and access agents for internal workflows without usage limits. (n screenshot). Is this consistent / applicable to my use case? Thank you.

- Does using other workflows that dont use AI tokens cost extra? How about for using custom made agents themselves?

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Sajeda_Sultana 152 on at

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Hi @EL-20030940-0,

You’re essentially asking three things:

how to estimate AI Builder usage in terms of Copilot Credits,

whether the $30 Microsoft 365 Copilot license covers that usage, and

how non-AI flows or custom agents are billed.

1. Estimating AI Builder usage with Copilot Credits

Even though you can see prompt and completion tokens in Activity, there isn’t a direct “tokens to credits” conversion provided by Microsoft. Instead, everything is priced based on how the AI is used (operations).

From my experience, the easiest way to estimate is using the Copilot Studio estimator:

👉 https://microsoft.github.io/copilot-studio-estimator/

A few key things to keep in mind:

1 Copilot Credit ≈ $0.01

Each AI prompt or tool call is roughly 5 credits per execution per user

Flow/agent execution adds about 13 credits per 100 actions

Some advanced models may add extra cos

👉 A simple way to think about it:

If your flow runs once per email and includes one AI prompt, you can estimate:

~5 credits per run

Multiply by number of runs per month

Then convert to cost (credits × $0.01)

2. About the $30 Microsoft 365 Copilot license

This is where it gets a bit confusing.

The $30 Copilot license:

Gives users access to Copilot features and Copilot Studio

Removes the need for a separate Studio license

However, it doesn’t mean unlimited AI usage.

AI execution still consumes Copilot Credits.

In some cases, usage from licensed users may be partially offset (you’ll see this in the estimator), but:

Additional usage

Or usage from users without the license
will still be billed.

3. Non-AI flows and custom agents

If your flow doesn’t use AI (no AI Builder / Copilot actions)
👉 There is no Copilot Credit cost
👉 It just uses your normal Power Automate limits

For custom agents (Copilot Studio)

👉 Credits are consumed when the agent:

Calls tools

Runs flows

Uses knowledge sources

Typical pattern:

~5 credits per tool call

~13 credits per 100 flow actions

Plus any model-related cost

Quick summary

AI = uses Copilot Credits

Copilot license = access, not unlimited usage

Non-AI flows = no extra AI cost

Agents = consume credits when executing actions

✅ If this helped solve your issue, please Accept as Solution so others can find it quickly.

❤️ If it didn’t fully solve it but was still useful, please click “Yes” on “Was this reply helpful?” or leave a Like :).

🏷️ For follow-ups @Sajeda_Sultana

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Sajeda_Sultana 152 on at

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Hi EL-20030940-0,

Just checking in to see if everything is working on your end now. If you still need any assistance, please feel free to reach out.

If your issue has been resolved, kindly mark the answer as solved so others facing the same question can benefit.

Thanks, and have a great day!

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