Agent 365 and Microsoft 365 E7: How to Govern AI Agents in Your Company
Agent 365 is Microsoft's control plane for a company's AI agents. It shows which agents run in your organization, who owns them, what data they can access and whether they behave safely. Agent 365 has been generally available since 1 May 2026. You can buy it standalone for $15 per user per month or as part of the new Microsoft 365 E7 suite at $99.
What problem does Agent 365 solve?
An AI agent differs from an ordinary application because it acts on someone's behalf or on its own: it reads email and documents, updates records and sends messages. An agent with excessive permissions can expose confidential data to people who should not see it. An agent without an owner keeps running long after its author has left the company.
Microsoft builds Agent 365 on four pillars: management, governance, security and business value. For an IT director, it means one place where all agents are visible and can be managed the same way as employee accounts.
What Agent 365 does
- Agent registry. An inventory of every agent in the organization: those built on Microsoft platforms, partner agents and agents registered through APIs.
- Agent identity. Each agent gets its own identity in Microsoft Entra (Agent ID), covered by Conditional Access, identity protection and access reviews, just like people.
- Data protection. Microsoft Purview keeps agents from oversharing sensitive data: data security posture management, inline data loss prevention for Copilot Studio agent prompts, audit and eDiscovery.
- Threat protection. Microsoft Defender watches for unsafe agent behavior and blocks harmful activity.
- Lifecycle management. Inactive agents can expire automatically, ownerless agents get flagged and risky agents get blocked.
- Usage insights. A map of which agents connect to which systems and how they are used.
Agent 365 works with prebuilt agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams, agents built in Copilot Studio or Microsoft Foundry, and agents from Microsoft partners. Any agent published through Microsoft 365 channels and registered with an Entra Agent ID appears in the registry automatically. Agents built in other environments need extra setup.
Not everything is generally available yet
As of November 2026, some capabilities are still in public preview, including registry sync with AWS Bedrock and Google Cloud and agents participating in team workflows with their own access. Before planning, check the status of each feature you consider critical: Microsoft updates it in the general availability announcement and documentation.
How Agent 365 is licensed
The license is assigned to a person, not to an agent. According to Microsoft's documentation, a license is recommended for everyone who interacts with, owns, manages or sponsors agents. At least one licensed user is required to enable Agent 365 in the organization.
Microsoft describes Microsoft 365 E5 as the recommended foundation for Agent 365, not a hard requirement. The reasoning is simple: the full set of agent protections relies on Entra, Defender and Purview, which are all part of E5.
What Microsoft 365 E7 includes
E7 is the new top-tier Microsoft 365 suite, also generally available since 1 May 2026. It combines four products:
- Microsoft 365 E5 with advanced Defender, Entra, Intune and Purview capabilities.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot — the AI assistant in Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams and other apps.
- Microsoft Entra Suite — advanced identity and access management.
- Agent 365 — the agent governance described above.
| Option | Microsoft list price (USD) |
|---|---|
| Agent 365 standalone | $15 per user per month |
| Microsoft 365 E7 | $99 per user per month |
| Microsoft 365 E7 (no Teams) | $90.45 per user per month |
Prices are taken from the Agent 365 page and assume an annual commitment paid yearly. For Ukrainian companies buying through the CSP program, the price is set in hryvnias and depends on terms and promotions at the time of purchase. For an exact figure, contact Progresia: as a Microsoft licensing partner, we will prepare a quote for your number of users.
Who should choose E7 and who needs only Agent 365
E7 makes sense
The company is already on E5 or plans to move to it, and intends to give Copilot to most employees. E7 then replaces three separate purchases with one suite and simplifies license management.
Agent 365 standalone is enough
Only part of the team needs Copilot, but several departments build agents. You buy Agent 365 licenses for the people who work with and are responsible for agents, without moving the whole company to E7.
Too early
The organization has only a handful of agents, all controlled by one team. Start by defining rules for creating agents and access rights, and add a governance platform once the number of agents grows.
Also budget for consumption. Copilot Studio agents and some Copilot capabilities are billed through Copilot Credits, which are not included in the license price. We explained how this works in CSP in our article on Copilot Credits billing from December 2026.
How to prepare for rollout
List your agents
Which agents already run in Teams, Copilot Studio, Power Apps and third-party services, who built them and what data they can access. This is the basis for the registry and for counting licenses.
Decide who needs a license
Licenses go to people who work with agents, not to agents. For some companies that means a few departments, for others nearly every employee.
Compare your current licenses with E7
How many users already have E5, Copilot and Entra Suite, and whether moving to E7 is cheaper than adding Agent 365 to what you have.
Define rules for agents
Who can create agents, what data they may use, who approves them and when they are switched off. Agent 365 enforces these rules technically, but the company has to write them.
If your company has not yet defined how it works with AI, start with our article on AI management systems. For how Copilot handles corporate data and where access boundaries lie, see our overview of Copilot security and confidential data.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an Agent 365 license for every agent?
No. Agent 365 is licensed per user. Microsoft recommends a license for everyone who interacts with, owns, manages or sponsors agents. The number of agents does not affect the license cost.
Can I buy Agent 365 without Microsoft 365 E5?
Yes. Microsoft calls E5 the recommended foundation, not a requirement. Without E5, the agent protections that rely on Defender, Purview and Entra are limited to what your current subscription includes.
Does Agent 365 see agents built outside Microsoft platforms?
Partly. Microsoft partner agents connect without separate integration work, and agents from other environments can be registered through APIs. Sync with AWS Bedrock and Google Cloud is in public preview as of November 2026.
Are Copilot Credits included in the E7 price?
E7 includes a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, but agents billed by consumption are paid separately through Copilot Credits. Set spending limits before scaling.
Find out what is cheaper: E7 or Agent 365 on top of your licenses
Progresia will review your current Microsoft licenses and the number of users who work with agents, and prepare a CSP quote for both options. Our certified specialists will help you set up the agent registry and access rules.