Microsoft Copilot Alternative for IT & HR Automation

HR and IT teams trust Workativ to automate employee support.

Why teams switch

What IT and HR teams run into with Microsoft's agent

These are the points that decide most Copilot vs Workativ evaluations for IT and HR.

A licence for every user

Every ESS user needs Copilot or Copilot Chat, and use without a Copilot licence is metered.

Usage billed through Azure

Copilot Studio capacity is pay-as-you-go or prepaid, so a busy month changes the bill.

A Power Platform project

Six roles take part in setup, from Global admin to a change control board.

Entra ID at the centre

Teams that run Okta or Ping have to federate with Entra ID first.

No Slack in the docs

Microsoft's ESS documentation does not mention Slack, which matters if both chat apps are in use.

Copilot is built for writing

Microsoft 365 Copilot drafts and summarizes. IT and HR requests need actions and approvals.

Conversational AI for IT and HR

Requests Copilot can describe, and the agent completes

Each request ends in the system that owns it, with the right person signing off.

MFA reset on a new phone, without a call to the service desk.

Identity is checked through a second channel before any reset

The reset is recorded in Entra ID and the audit log

Learn more →

IT and HR workflows

Workflows that start from a date in your systems

A start date, a quarter or a P1 incident sets each one going, with approvals where needed.

Laptop, accounts and a Teams welcome before day one.

Starts from the start date in SAP SuccessFactors

The manager gets a checklist too

Learn more →

Customer proof

GoTo resolved 80% of queries automatically

80%

HR queries auto-resolved

Including Workday PTO, policy Q&A, benefits queries, and IT requests one AI agent in Slack for 5,000 employees.

50+

Applications connected

Workday, Okta, Jira, ServiceNow, and 46 more all orchestrated through one Workativ deployment in Slack.

“ Our AI Bot Orion has become a critical enabler of employee self‑service. The quality of responses is fast, comprehensive, and highly reliable, allowing employees to find accurate answers without needing to escalate to HR or IT. What really sets Workativ apart is the visibility into question trends, resolution rates, and where AI is genuinely reducing operational workload. ”

Susan Treadway

Vice President, HR Operations

Getting started

Keep Microsoft 365, add an agent for IT and HR

Platform

A Copilot Studio alternative made for IT and HR agents

One no-code studio for the builder, knowledge, actions, guardrails and analytics.

Built and run by IT or HR, without Power Platform skills

Set the topics, actions and approvers in a visual editor

Test a flow in chat before it goes live

Route anything sensitive to a named team

Head-to-head

Workativ vs Microsoft's Employee Self-Service agent

Workativ, the Microsoft Copilot alternative for IT and HR, set against the agent Microsoft built for the same job.

What matters
Built for	IT and HR requests in Teams and Slack	HR and IT requests in Microsoft 365 Copilot
Chat apps	Microsoft Teams and Slack	Microsoft 365 Copilot and the Copilot app; Slack is not mentioned
Systems out of the box	Entra ID, Okta, ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, Freshservice, Workday, SAP SuccessFactors and BambooHR, among 100+ apps	Connectors for Workday, SAP SuccessFactors and ServiceNow come with the agent
Identity	Okta or Entra ID	Entra ID; other providers federated with Entra
Licences	None per employee; priced per session	Copilot or Copilot Chat per user, plus Copilot Studio for makers
Usage cost	Included in the plan	Copilot Studio capacity, pay-as-you-go or prepaid

HR inbox problem same questions, 40 times a week

Last reviewed 23 October 2026. Last reviewed 23 October 2026. Microsoft details come from Microsoft Learn and the Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing page. Costs are covered in our Microsoft Copilot pricing guide.

Microsoft's IT and HR agent

What Microsoft's Employee Self-Service agent needs

Microsoft's own agent for IT and HR runs on Copilot Studio. This is what the setup asks for, from Microsoft's documentation.

Requirement	What Microsoft lists	Source
Employee licences	Microsoft 365 Copilot or Copilot Chat, plus Teams access	Prerequisites
Builder licences	Copilot Studio, Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams for admins and makers	Prerequisites
Usage capacity	Copilot Studio capacity, pay-as-you-go through an Azure subscription or prepaid	Prerequisites
Setup roles	Global admin, Power Platform admin, maker, system admins, information security and a change control board	Serval, citing Prerequisites
Identity	Entra ID. Okta or Ping must be federated with Entra	Serval, citing Prerequisites
Where it runs	Microsoft 365 Copilot and the Copilot mobile app. Slack is not mentioned	Serval, citing Overview
Copilot price	Copilot Business at $21 per user a month on an annual plan, or $18 on a promotion until 31 December 2026	Serval, citing Microsoft pricing

Workativ runs without Copilot licences or Copilot Studio capacity. The agent works in Teams or Slack, with Okta or Entra ID, and is priced per session.

Keep reading

More on Microsoft Copilot

Want a wider view of every alternative to Microsoft Copilot? Our list of Microsoft Copilot alternatives compares more tools. For licence and usage costs, see Microsoft Copilot pricing, and for an IT view of the product, our Microsoft Copilot review.

Integrations

Works with Microsoft 365 and everything around it

Teams, Entra ID and SharePoint, plus Slack, Okta and the ITSM and HR tools you already run. See all integrations.

Put this Microsoft Copilot alternative
to work on your IT and HR queue

A short demo in Teams or Slack, with your own systems and policies. First queue live in 3–5 days.

Frequently
asked questions

frequently asked questions about
Microsoft Copilot alternatives

What is the best Microsoft Copilot alternative for IT and HR?

Workativ is a Microsoft Copilot alternative built to resolve IT and HR requests. The AI agent resets MFA, grants access and books leave in Teams or Slack, using Entra ID or Okta, your ITSM and your HR system.

Is Microsoft Copilot the same as the Employee Self-Service agent?

No. Microsoft 365 Copilot is the assistant inside Office apps. The Employee Self-Service agent is a separate HR and IT agent built on Copilot Studio, with Workday, SAP SuccessFactors and ServiceNow connectors.

What does the Employee Self-Service agent require?

Users need Microsoft 365 Copilot or Copilot Chat and Teams. Builders need Copilot Studio and Microsoft 365 Copilot licences, and the agent needs Copilot Studio capacity, either pay-as-you-go through Azure or prepaid. Identity runs through Entra ID.

How much does Microsoft 365 Copilot cost?

Microsoft lists Copilot Business at $21 per user a month on an annual plan, with an $18 promotion until 31 December 2026. Enterprise pricing is set through Microsoft or a partner. Our Microsoft Copilot pricing guide covers the detail.

Copilot vs Workativ: what is the main difference?

Copilot helps each person write, search and summarize, and is licensed per user. Workativ resolves IT and HR requests with approvals and is priced per session.

Is Workativ a Copilot Studio alternative?

Yes, for IT and HR agents. Workativ gives IT or HR a no-code builder with connectors and approvals already in place, without Power Platform environments or Copilot Studio capacity.

Can we keep Microsoft 365 Copilot and add Workativ?

Yes. You can keep Copilot for writing and meetings and use Workativ for IT and HR requests. The two do different jobs.

Does Workativ work in Slack as well as Teams?

Yes. One agent can serve both, which helps when engineering works in Slack and the rest of the company works in Teams.

Does Workativ need Entra ID?

No. Workativ works with Entra ID or Okta, and other identity providers do not need to be federated with Entra.

How long does it take to set up this Microsoft Copilot alternative?

The first IT or HR queue is usually live in three to five days. There is no Power Platform environment to create.

Is this Microsoft Copilot alternative secure?

Yes. Workativ is audited for SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 and supports GDPR and HIPAA requirements. Resets and record changes need a second identity check, and each action is kept in an audit log.

What results have customers seen with this Microsoft Copilot alternative?

NMDC, a Microsoft Teams organisation with 13,000 staff, has the agent handling 78% of its IT tickets. GoTo resolves 84% of employee requests with its agent in Slack.

A Microsoft Copilot alternative built to resolve IT and HR requests in Teams or Slack.