Dynamiq vs Microsoft Copilot Studio

Microsoft Copilot Studio is a low-code studio for agents and workflows, run as a Microsoft cloud service. Dynamiq is a governed platform, with an Apache-2.0 SDK, that you can self-host anywhere.

By Maria-Elena Tzanev, AI strategy Updated September 29, 2026

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In short

Microsoft Copilot Studio is a low-code studio for building agents and workflows that publish to Teams, Microsoft 365 Copilot, websites and other channels, with OpenAI and Anthropic models, a Visual Studio Code extension for developers, and billing in Copilot Credits. It runs only as a Microsoft-hosted service, including US government clouds. Dynamiq is a governed platform for chat, voice and workflow agents with an open-source SDK that runs on Dynamiq Cloud, any major cloud or on-prem. Teams standardized on Microsoft 365 and Power Platform fit Copilot Studio; teams that need agents inside their own environment, outside Microsoft's cloud, fit Dynamiq.

Side by side

Facts checked September 29, 2026. Sources below.

Dimension	Dynamiq	Microsoft Copilot Studio
Best for	Enterprises in regulated industries that need chat, voice and workflow agents on one governed stack, deployed inside their own environment.	Organizations standardized on Microsoft 365 and Power Platform that want business users to build agents and workflows for Teams, Microsoft 365 Copilot, websites and other channels, for internal teams or external customers.
Deployment options	Dynamiq Cloud, or self-hosted on your AWS, Azure, GCP, IBM Cloud, Red Hat OpenShift or any Kubernetes 1.32+ cluster, or on-prem. Fully isolated or air-gapped setups are delivered with our engineers.	Microsoft-hosted only, as a Microsoft online service on Power Platform and Azure, with US government versions (GCC and GCC High) and EU Data Boundary support; no self-hosted or other-cloud deployment is documented.
Self-hosted or on-prem	Yes. Self-hosted on your cloud or on-prem, or Dynamiq Cloud; both run the same engine.	No. Copilot Studio runs only as a Microsoft cloud service.
License and source code	The Python SDK is open source under Apache-2.0 (github.com/dynamiq-ai/dynamiq), and the visual canvas runs on the same engine. The platform around it is not open source.	The service is proprietary. Microsoft publishes MIT-licensed tooling around it on GitHub, including the Copilot Studio extension for Visual Studio Code and the Microsoft 365 Agents SDK.
Model choice	29 model providers in the SDK, the most-used models behind one OpenAI-compatible AI Gateway endpoint, plus open models served on vLLM and LoRA fine-tuning.	OpenAI GPT and Anthropic Claude models are generally available for agents, with Mistral and xAI models as experimental options hosted outside Microsoft, and Azure AI Foundry models for prompts, per Microsoft Learn.
Agent types (chat, voice, workflow)	Chat, inbound voice and workflow agents on one engine. AI Coworker works with its own cloud sandbox computer, in the browser, Slack, Microsoft Teams and Telegram; Voice Agents answer inbound calls; Agent Builder runs workflow agents.	Chat agents, autonomous agents with triggers, workflows and agent flows, and computer use (generally available since May 2026); voice agents over PSTN and SIP through Dynamics 365 Contact Center, with real-time voice agents in preview.
Developer surface	Agent Builder pairs a visual canvas with the open-source Python SDK on one engine, with Choice and rules nodes, workflows generated from a prompt, and versions with rollback.	Low-code authoring for business users, plus a Visual Studio Code extension (generally available since January 2026) that edits the full agent definition in YAML with Git, the Microsoft 365 Agents SDK, MCP servers as tools, and agent-to-agent (A2A) connections.
Governance (guardrails, approvals, SSO)	Guardrails that detect PII and prompt injection, policy detection, validators and approvals with editable fields on any tool step, on every plan; SSO (OIDC with Okta and Microsoft Entra ID) on Enterprise.	Administrators inventory and manage agents with role-based access and cost management; each new agent gets a Microsoft Entra Agent ID; workflows and agent flows include human review steps; Microsoft Purview audit logging is on by default.
Evals and observability	Evals with datasets built from traces, LLM-as-a-judge, predefined and code metrics, and real-time evaluations on live deployments; traces with cost and latency per node, monitoring, and an AI agent that surfaces issues from production traces.	Agent evaluations (generally available since March 2026) with test sets, a shared grader library, multi-turn tests and safety evaluators, run before and after publishing and from CI/CD through REST APIs, plus built-in analytics.
Integrations	2,100+ app integrations and 11,800+ actions, plus MCP servers and per-user connections.	Power Platform standard, premium and custom connectors, including non-Microsoft services such as Salesforce and Google, plus MCP servers; no total connector count is published on the pages checked.
Compliance	SOC 2 and CASA Tier 2, with a BAA for HIPAA workloads and a DPA under GDPR.	Covered under Microsoft's HIPAA business associate agreement, and listed for HITRUST CSF, FedRAMP, SOC, ISO, PCI DSS, CSA STAR and regional frameworks such as ENS High, K-ISMS and MTCS, per Microsoft Learn.
Delivery help (engineers)	Forward-deployed engineers run a bootcamp in your environment, ship the first production agent with your team, then hand over.	Not publicly documented on the Copilot Studio pages checked.
Pricing model	Free to start ($0), and Enterprise with custom pricing. Available on AWS Marketplace, Microsoft Azure Marketplace and IBM Marketplace.	Copilot Credits: tenant-wide packs of 25,000 credits at $200 a month, pay-as-you-go at $0.01 per credit, and prepaid commit units that save up to 20 percent. A free trial is available, and unused credits do not carry over.

Best for

DynamiqEnterprises in regulated industries that need chat, voice and workflow agents on one governed stack, deployed inside their own environment.

Microsoft Copilot StudioOrganizations standardized on Microsoft 365 and Power Platform that want business users to build agents and workflows for Teams, Microsoft 365 Copilot, websites and other channels, for internal teams or external customers.

Deployment options

DynamiqDynamiq Cloud, or self-hosted on your AWS, Azure, GCP, IBM Cloud, Red Hat OpenShift or any Kubernetes 1.32+ cluster, or on-prem. Fully isolated or air-gapped setups are delivered with our engineers.

Microsoft Copilot StudioMicrosoft-hosted only, as a Microsoft online service on Power Platform and Azure, with US government versions (GCC and GCC High) and EU Data Boundary support; no self-hosted or other-cloud deployment is documented.

Self-hosted or on-prem

DynamiqYes. Self-hosted on your cloud or on-prem, or Dynamiq Cloud; both run the same engine.

Microsoft Copilot StudioNo. Copilot Studio runs only as a Microsoft cloud service.

License and source code

DynamiqThe Python SDK is open source under Apache-2.0 (github.com/dynamiq-ai/dynamiq), and the visual canvas runs on the same engine. The platform around it is not open source.

Microsoft Copilot StudioThe service is proprietary. Microsoft publishes MIT-licensed tooling around it on GitHub, including the Copilot Studio extension for Visual Studio Code and the Microsoft 365 Agents SDK.

Model choice

Dynamiq29 model providers in the SDK, the most-used models behind one OpenAI-compatible AI Gateway endpoint, plus open models served on vLLM and LoRA fine-tuning.

Microsoft Copilot StudioOpenAI GPT and Anthropic Claude models are generally available for agents, with Mistral and xAI models as experimental options hosted outside Microsoft, and Azure AI Foundry models for prompts, per Microsoft Learn.

Agent types (chat, voice, workflow)

DynamiqChat, inbound voice and workflow agents on one engine. AI Coworker works with its own cloud sandbox computer, in the browser, Slack, Microsoft Teams and Telegram; Voice Agents answer inbound calls; Agent Builder runs workflow agents.

Microsoft Copilot StudioChat agents, autonomous agents with triggers, workflows and agent flows, and computer use (generally available since May 2026); voice agents over PSTN and SIP through Dynamics 365 Contact Center, with real-time voice agents in preview.

Developer surface

DynamiqAgent Builder pairs a visual canvas with the open-source Python SDK on one engine, with Choice and rules nodes, workflows generated from a prompt, and versions with rollback.

Microsoft Copilot StudioLow-code authoring for business users, plus a Visual Studio Code extension (generally available since January 2026) that edits the full agent definition in YAML with Git, the Microsoft 365 Agents SDK, MCP servers as tools, and agent-to-agent (A2A) connections.

Governance (guardrails, approvals, SSO)

DynamiqGuardrails that detect PII and prompt injection, policy detection, validators and approvals with editable fields on any tool step, on every plan; SSO (OIDC with Okta and Microsoft Entra ID) on Enterprise.

Microsoft Copilot StudioAdministrators inventory and manage agents with role-based access and cost management; each new agent gets a Microsoft Entra Agent ID; workflows and agent flows include human review steps; Microsoft Purview audit logging is on by default.

Evals and observability

DynamiqEvals with datasets built from traces, LLM-as-a-judge, predefined and code metrics, and real-time evaluations on live deployments; traces with cost and latency per node, monitoring, and an AI agent that surfaces issues from production traces.

Microsoft Copilot StudioAgent evaluations (generally available since March 2026) with test sets, a shared grader library, multi-turn tests and safety evaluators, run before and after publishing and from CI/CD through REST APIs, plus built-in analytics.

Integrations

Dynamiq2,100+ app integrations and 11,800+ actions, plus MCP servers and per-user connections.

Microsoft Copilot StudioPower Platform standard, premium and custom connectors, including non-Microsoft services such as Salesforce and Google, plus MCP servers; no total connector count is published on the pages checked.

Compliance

DynamiqSOC 2 and CASA Tier 2, with a BAA for HIPAA workloads and a DPA under GDPR.

Microsoft Copilot StudioCovered under Microsoft's HIPAA business associate agreement, and listed for HITRUST CSF, FedRAMP, SOC, ISO, PCI DSS, CSA STAR and regional frameworks such as ENS High, K-ISMS and MTCS, per Microsoft Learn.

Delivery help (engineers)

DynamiqForward-deployed engineers run a bootcamp in your environment, ship the first production agent with your team, then hand over.

Microsoft Copilot StudioNot publicly documented on the Copilot Studio pages checked.

Pricing model

DynamiqFree to start ($0), and Enterprise with custom pricing. Available on AWS Marketplace, Microsoft Azure Marketplace and IBM Marketplace.

Microsoft Copilot StudioCopilot Credits: tenant-wide packs of 25,000 credits at $200 a month, pay-as-you-go at $0.01 per credit, and prepaid commit units that save up to 20 percent. A free trial is available, and unused credits do not carry over.

Choose Dynamiq when

Runs inside your environment, not only in Microsoft's cloud: Dynamiq Cloud, or self-hosted on your AWS, Azure, GCP, IBM Cloud, OpenShift or any Kubernetes 1.32+ cluster, or on-prem, with isolated setups delivered with our engineers.
The agent engine is an open-source Python SDK under Apache-2.0, with the visual canvas on the same engine, so developers can read, audit and fork what their agents run on.
29 model providers in the SDK and the most-used models behind one OpenAI-compatible AI Gateway endpoint, plus open models served on vLLM inside your environment and LoRA fine-tuning.
Forward-deployed engineers ship the first production agent with your team, then hand over. Your team keeps the code and the environment.

Choose Microsoft Copilot Studio when

Already standardized on Microsoft 365 and Power Platform, with agents that should live in Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot and reuse existing Power Platform connectors and Entra identities.
Business users build and edit agents and workflows with little technical background, while developers work on the same agents in Visual Studio Code with Git.
Government and regulated deployments inside Microsoft's cloud: US government clouds (GCC and GCC High), EU Data Boundary support and a HIPAA business associate agreement.

Moving from Microsoft Copilot Studio

Agents built with Copilot Studio's standard harness, including topics, workflows and agent flows, are rebuilt as agents and workflows in Dynamiq's Agent Builder, on the canvas or in the Python SDK; the YAML agent definition available through the Visual Studio Code extension is a practical starting point for instructions and structure. Power Platform connectors reconnect as Dynamiq integrations or MCP servers, knowledge sources are re-ingested into Dynamiq Knowledge, and Azure Bot Service skills become direct API or MCP tool calls. Agents on the GitHub Copilot harness move over from their instructions, skills and MCP tools.

Questions and answers

Does Dynamiq require a Microsoft 365 subscription?

No. Dynamiq runs independently of Microsoft 365, on Dynamiq Cloud or self-hosted on your own AWS, Azure, GCP, IBM Cloud, OpenShift or Kubernetes 1.32+ cluster, or on-prem.

Can Copilot Studio run outside Microsoft's cloud?

No. Copilot Studio is a Microsoft online service on Power Platform and Azure, with US government versions on Azure Government, per Microsoft Learn; no self-hosted option is documented.

Does Copilot Studio support voice agents?

Yes, over PSTN and SIP through Dynamics 365 Contact Center, and real-time voice agents were in preview when we checked, per Microsoft Learn. Dynamiq Voice Agents answer inbound calls over WebRTC, SIP and WebSocket.

Which models can Copilot Studio agents use?

OpenAI GPT and Anthropic Claude models are generally available, with Mistral and xAI models as experimental options hosted outside Microsoft, per Microsoft Learn. Dynamiq supports 29 model providers in its SDK, puts the most-used models behind one OpenAI-compatible AI Gateway endpoint, and can serve open models on vLLM inside your environment.

Is Copilot Studio open source?

No. The service is proprietary; Microsoft publishes MIT-licensed tooling around it, such as its Visual Studio Code extension and the Microsoft 365 Agents SDK. Dynamiq's Python SDK is open source under Apache-2.0; the Dynamiq platform is not.

Sources

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