OpenWorkBuddy vs Microsoft 365 Copilot
Both tools use AI to assist with office productivity tasks, but they represent opposite architectural choices. Microsoft 365 Copilot is embedded in the Microsoft 365 subscription, runs on Microsoft's servers, and integrates directly with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams. OpenWorkBuddy is a self-hosted, model-agnostic agent that runs on your own hardware with the AI provider of your choice.
| Feature | OpenWorkBuddy | Microsoft 365 Copilot |
|---|
| Licence | PolyForm Noncommercial (free for personal use) | Proprietary, per-seat subscription |
| Self-hosting | Yes | No |
| Model choice | DeepSeek, Qwen, Ollama, Claude Code, and others | Microsoft-managed (GPT-4 family) |
| Output | .pptx, .docx, .xlsx, .html files on disk | In-app edits within Office apps |
| Data routing | Local by default; remote only on model API calls | Through Microsoft's servers |
OpenWorkBuddy is the better choice when data privacy is a hard requirement, when your team cannot commit to a per-seat Microsoft 365 Copilot plan, or when you want to use a non-Microsoft AI model (DeepSeek, Ollama, or a locally running model) as the execution engine. It is also the choice for workflows where the .pptx or .docx file is the final deliverable that needs to be opened, edited, and shared independently of any vendor platform.
Microsoft 365 Copilot is the better choice when your organisation already subscribes to Microsoft 365 and needs Copilot tightly integrated into existing Office documents, email threads, and Teams meetings. The in-app integration means Copilot can read and write the document you have open directly, without a separate task submission step. For organisations with existing Microsoft agreements and established Office workflows, that integration depth is an advantage OpenWorkBuddy does not replicate.
