Microsoft’s Bing story in 2023 involved two different changes that are easy to confuse. Computer Weekly reported that Microsoft raised licensing prices for developers using Bing search APIs, with the S1 tier starting at $25 per 1,000 transactions. Separately, Microsoft introduced ring-based deployment for Bing Chat Enterprise so administrators could test the service with a subset of employees before a wider rollout. The API price was a historical figure from May 2023; it should not be treated as Microsoft’s current 2026 pricing.
What changed in May 2023?
On May 5, 2023, Computer Weekly reported that Microsoft had opened previously limited-preview, OpenAI-enabled features in Bing while changing the commercial terms for developers embedding Bing services in their own products.
The report described a limited free tier and an S1 tier beginning at $25 per 1,000 transactions. That figure applied to Microsoft’s Bing API products as reported at the time, not to consumer use of the Bing website and not necessarily to every API request.
API categories named in the report
- Search
- Images
- News
- Videos
- Visual Search
- Entity Search
- Spell Check
- Autosuggest
The available reporting does not establish Microsoft’s present-day prices, quotas, contract terms or whether all of those API products remain available. Anyone budgeting for an integration in 2026 needs a current Microsoft quote or pricing page rather than reusing the 2023 S1 number.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →#1 Best Overall
Why did Microsoft raise Bing API prices?
The cited sources do not provide a definitive Microsoft explanation for the increase. They do document concern from companies that depended on Bing results, so it would be inaccurate to claim that the price change was officially caused by AI infrastructure, a particular rollout ring or competition with Google.
Computer Weekly quoted Colin Hayhurst, CEO of Mojeek, saying: “By increasing the API prices to such a degree, Microsoft has decided to pick a fight with Google through changing the form of their search duopoly,” he said.
The same report attributed this statement to Brave: “We feared for the continuity of the Bing service, which turned out to be a prescient concern, as Microsoft recently announced an unprecedented increase in its API pricing,” it stated.
Rank #2
Those are stakeholder views, not Microsoft’s own explanation. The practical implication was clearer than the motive: services that purchased Bing data had to reassess their unit economics, pass costs to customers, find another provider or reduce their use of search data.
What did $25 per 1,000 transactions mean for a developer?
At the reported S1 rate, 1,000 billable transactions cost $25 before any other infrastructure, storage, engineering, support or contractual expenses. A simple budget illustration is:
| Monthly transactions | Calculation using the reported S1 rate | Illustrative API charge |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | 1 × $25 | $25 |
| 10,000 | 10 × $25 | $250 |
| 100,000 | 100 × $25 | $2,500 |
These are arithmetic illustrations of the May 2023 reported rate, not a current quote and not a guarantee that every endpoint counted transactions in the same way. A real forecast would also need the applicable endpoint, quota, overage rules, caching policy, geographic terms and contract.
Rank #3
How should a business evaluate a search API after a price increase?
Price per transaction is only one part of the decision. Before switching or renewing, compare:
- Unit cost: the current price for the exact endpoint and expected volume.
- Coverage: web, news, images, video, entities, spelling and autosuggest capabilities.
- Continuity: notice periods, service-level commitments and the provider’s history of changing access or prices.
- Data rights: whether returned data may be stored, displayed, enriched or used in machine-learning systems.
- Restrictions: rate limits, attribution requirements, resale rules and geographic limitations.
- Migration cost: engineering work, ranking changes, quality checks and user-impact testing.
The 2023 reporting shows why continuity belongs in a financial model: a cheaper nominal rate can be outweighed by migration work or an unexpected loss of access.
Crashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteWindows Errors? Fix Them Before They Spread
Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallWhat were Bing Chat Enterprise deployment rings?
Deployment rings were an administrator-controlled rollout mechanism, separate from API licensing. Microsoft said organizations could assign Bing Chat Enterprise to a smaller group of users first, collect feedback and then expand access. Microsoft’s explanation was: “As organizations adopted Bing Chat Enterprise, we received feedback that admins wanted the option for ring-based deployment, a common IT practice that enables you to deploy features to a smaller subset of users and get feedback.”
Rank #4
The purpose was operational risk control, not a different API price. A pilot group could expose permission, policy, training or answer-quality problems before the entire tenant received the feature.
| Rollout approach | Blast radius | Administrator control | Feedback timing | Time to broad availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ring-based deployment | Starts with a defined subset | High; groups can be selected and expanded | Early feedback from pilot users | Usually longer because stages are evaluated |
| Tenant-wide enablement | Entire eligible organization | Lower after activation | Feedback arrives at scale after launch | Faster initial enablement |
How were Bing Chat Enterprise and Microsoft 365 Copilot priced in 2023?
Microsoft’s July 18, 2023 announcement used different products and price points. Bing Chat Enterprise was announced as included at no additional cost during preview for customers with Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard or Business Premium. Microsoft said it planned a standalone price of $5 per user per month.
The same announcement gave Microsoft 365 Copilot an announced price of $30 per user per month for specified Microsoft 365 plans when broadly available. These were announcement-era terms, not confirmation of current eligibility or pricing.
| Offering | 2023 announcement detail | Important qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Bing Chat Enterprise | Included during preview for Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Standard and Business Premium customers; planned standalone price $5 per user per month | Announcement-era pricing and eligibility; current terms are not established here |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | Announced at $30 per user per month for specified plans when broadly available | Announcement-era commercial price; not a current quote |
Microsoft also said that more than 160 million people already had access to Bing Chat Enterprise through the preview rollout at that announcement point. That is an access figure, not a measure of paid adoption or active use.
Microsoft attributed the statement that “70 percent say they would delegate as much work as possible to AI” to its Work Trend Index. It is a Microsoft-cited survey result, not independent proof of actual enterprise deployment or productivity gains.
What happened to the product names?
Microsoft’s July 2023 post said that, as of November 15, 2023, Bing Chat and Bing Chat Enterprise became Microsoft Copilot. The historical name matters because 2023 announcements and administrator documentation may use “Bing Chat Enterprise,” while later product references use “Copilot.” A name change alone does not establish that the old API prices, plan inclusions or feature controls continued unchanged.
What did Microsoft claim about enterprise data?
In its July 2023 announcement, Microsoft described Bing Chat Enterprise as AI chat for work with commercial data protection. Microsoft said chat data was not saved and was not used to train models. Those statements describe Microsoft’s claims in that announcement; they are not an independent audit finding. Organizations should review the terms and technical documentation that apply to their current Copilot service before making a compliance decision.
Is the $25 Bing API price still current?
It has not been established by the available evidence. The $25-per-1,000-transactions figure belongs to the May 2023 Computer Weekly report and should be dated whenever it is quoted. The cited material does not verify Microsoft’s 2026 Bing API prices, product availability, quotas or contract terms. Treat any present-day budget as provisional until Microsoft confirms the exact endpoint and plan.
Microsoft’s current support material describes phased release and continual evaluation for generative-AI search features. That explains why Microsoft may use incremental deployment, but it does not show that a rollout ring caused the 2023 API price change. Later regional changes to shopping features in Edge are also separate product developments, not an explanation of the historical Bing API increase.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
