AI Builder Credits: What has Changed?

When we originally wrote “Unlocking the Potential of Your AI Builder Credits for Maximum Impact”, the guidance reflected how AI Builder capacity and Power Apps licensing worked at the time.  

Since then, Microsoft has announced significant licensing and consumption changes across Power Apps, AI Builder, and Copilot. If AI Builder features are part of your Power Platform roadmap, these changes matter because of the way AI is licensed, consumed, and costed is fundamentally shifting.  

This update explains what’s changed, what’s coming next and how to plan for it.  

AI Builder Credits: Being Phased Out  

The biggest shift since the original blog is that AI Builder credits are being retired entirely.  

Historically, AI Builder worked on a capacity-based credit model, with:  

• standalone AI Builder credit packs, and  

• “seeded” credits included with some Power Apps and Power Automate licences.  

That model is now being phased out in favour of Copilot Studio Credits, which introduce a single, unified AI consumption model across the Power Platform.  

Key Dates to Be Aware Of  

1 November 2025 – Phase 1 (Dual Mode)  

• New customers can no longer purchase AI Builder capacity packs  

• Existing AI Builder credits can still be used  

• Once exhausted, AI usage will start consuming Copilot Studio Credits  

  
  

1 November 2026 – Phase 2 (Final Transition)  

• AI Builder credits (including seeded capacity) are fully removed  

• All AI features across Power Apps and Power Automate require Copilot Studio Credits  

• There is no automatic conversion of old AI Builder credits into Copilot credits.  

  
  

What This Means in Practice  

1. Your Existing Apps and Flows Will Keep Working  

There’s no immediate need to rebuild Power Apps or Power Automate flows that use AI Builder. They will continue to function but they’ll consume Copilot Studio Credits instead as the transition completes.  

2. Consumption Moves to a “Message-Based” Model  

AI usage shifts from task-specific capacity (e.g. pages processed) to a message-based consumption model aligned to Copilot Studio.  

This is a conceptual change as much as a licensing one:  

• less “how many documents?”  

• more “how often are we interacting with AI?”  

  
  

3. Costs Are Likely to Increase  

Microsoft has been clear (and their FAQs reinforce this):  Copilot Studio is not a like-for-like replacement for AI Builder credits.  

For some workloads, especially document processing and high-volume automation the cost per transaction is expected to rise. This makes usage visibility and design choices far more important.  

4. AI Builder Becomes Part of a Bigger Copilot Story  

AI Builder was focused on pre-built models (forms, predictions, classification).  Copilot Studio is about intelligent, conversational, extensible AI experiences, using large language models and orchestration.  

Strategically, this is Microsoft signalling:  AI is no longer an add-on it’s a platform capability.  

What We’re Advising Clients to Do Now  

If AI Builder features are in use (or planned), now is the right time to:  

• Audit current AI Builder usage. What’s used, how often and by whom?  

• Identify cost-sensitive workloads. In particular document processing and unattended automation.  

• Review licensing position. Agreement type matters more than ever during this transition.  

• Plan a Copilot-first AI strategy. Look at where AI genuinely adds value and how do we control consumption? 

Microsoft’s published guidance and FAQs provide useful clarity, but they don’t replace workload-specific planning especially where cost predictability and governance matter. Click here to view the Copilot credit billing rates and management. 

If you’re unsure how these licensing changes affect your Power Platform roadmap or you want an independent view on options, risks, and timing we’re happy to help you work through it.  

Book a discovery call talk through your AI, Power Apps, and Copilot strategy.