Use agents with pay-as-you-go billing

Set up SharePoint agents as an Azure resource

To use pay-as-you-go billing, you need to first set up SharePoint agents as a resource in Azure. That resource is used whenever a user without a Microsoft 365 Copilot license uses a SharePoint agent.

Prerequisites to set up SharePoint agents as a resource in Azure

• Have at least a SharePoint administrator role
• Have Owner or Contributor Azure roles to a pay-as-you-go Azure subscription
• Have Owner or Contributor Azure roles to an Azure resource group linked to the same Azure subscription

To set up SharePoint agents as an Azure resource, you need to do the following if you haven't already:

1. Create an Azure subscription with the pay-as-you-go offer.
2. Create an Azure resource group for SharePoint agents.

Set up pay-as-you-go billing for SharePoint agents

After setting up an Azure resource group for SharePoint agents, you can set up pay-as-you-go billing for SharePoint agents in the Microsoft 365 admin center. Here's how:

1. Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center, select Settings then Org settings then select pay-as-you-go services (formerly Microsoft Syntex). Alternatively, you can select Setup, and then in the Billing and licenses section, select Activate pay-as-you-go services. On the Activate pay-as-you-go services page, select Get started.
2. On the Pay-as-you-go services page, under Billing, select agents in SharePoint.
3. On the Set up billing and turn on services panel, in the Set up billing section, under Azure subscription, select the dropdown, and then follow the steps to select the Azure subscription, resource group, and region. (The region determines where your tenant ID and usage information such as site names are stored.)
4. Read and accept the pay-as-you-go billing terms of service.
5. Select Save.

Billing rates

The following table illustrates the differences in the subscription models for the cost of SharePoint agent usage.

¹ Interactive use of generative answers, tenant graph grounding and agent actions by authenticated Microsoft 365 Copilot users, in Microsoft 365 apps and services, are included at no extra cost.

• Generative answers: These events are dynamically generated using AI models, such as Generative Pretrained Transformers (GPTs). They can adapt and change based on the context and the knowledge sources they're connected to. They're useful for handling a wide range of topics and providing more flexible and natural interactions.

• Tenant graph grounding for messages: These events provide higher quality grounding for your agents using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) over your tenant-wide Microsoft Graph, including external data synced into Microsoft Graph through connectors. This results in more relevant and improved responses and ensures that the grounding information is up-to-date. This capability is optional, and you can turn it on or off for each agent.

Monitor consumption in Microsoft Cost Management

You can monitor your organization's consumption of SharePoint agents with the pay-as-you-go with Microsoft Cost Management. If needed, change the scope to select the subscription that is being used for agents in SharePoint.

Select Reporting + analytics, then select Cost analysis to review and analyze your consumption. Choose to use Smart views to quickly view your consumption by Services, Resources, and Resources groups. You can also create custom views to analyze your consumption by different dimensions.

You can quickly create a budget under Monitoring > Budgets for your selected scope.

Select Alert conditions to set up the budget alert conditions. You can set up alerts for when your actual spending or the forecast reaches a certain percentage of your budget. Select Manage action group to set up the action group for the alert. You can choose to send an email, SMS, or push notification to the action group when the alert is triggered.

You can also create a budget in Microsoft Cost Management with Bicep and ARM template.

Budget helps you inform others about their spending to proactively manage costs and monitor how spending progresses over time. When You can also set up various types of cost alerts to monitor the consumption.

You can view your invoices under Billing > Invoices. Use text search to filter for the invoices you want. You can also filter by Status and Timespan. You can also download the invoice in CSV format.

Adjusting consumption

Using pay-as-you-go billing means that each user is responsible for their own consumption. Work with people in your organization to ensure the efficient use of agents in SharePoint. For example, restrict access to SharePoint sites with agents to only those who need to use them.

Paying your invoice

Your organization receives an invoice for all Azure services used at the end of each month. You can pay these invoices under the Invoices section in the subscription that you use for agents in SharePoint.

Disconnect agents from pay-as-you-go billing

To disconnect Agents from pay-as-you-go billing, follow these steps:

1. In the Microsoft 365 admin center, select Settings > Org Settings.
2. On the Pay-as-you-go services page, on the Billing tab, select Agents in SharePoint.
3. On the Manage billing panel, under the Azure Subscription, select Edit billing information.
4. Select Disconnect Azure subscription under Manage Billing.
5. Select Disconnect within the Disconnect Subscription pop-up window.
6. View confirmation that your Azure Subscription has been disconnected Under set up billing and turn on services.