Comparison
Microsoft 365 Copilot vs a dedicated server, for law firm client files
Is Microsoft 365 Copilot safe enough for a law firm’s client files?
The short answer
Microsoft 365 Copilot, now named Microsoft Copilot, doesn’t train foundation models on your prompts or files, keeps each tenant’s content logically isolated, and carries ISO 27001, ISO 42001 and HIPAA commitments. It runs on Microsoft’s shared cloud, and calls can go to other regions when capacity is short. ClientSafeAI runs its model on a server used by your firm alone.
- Pick Copilot if your firm lives in Word, Outlook and Teams and wants AI across email, meetings and files, with Microsoft’s certifications, and a shared cloud is acceptable under your confidentiality duties.
- Pick ClientSafeAI if client documents must stay on a machine nobody else uses, and you’d rather pay one flat price for the whole firm than another subscription per user.
Side by side
| Compared on | Microsoft 365 Copilot | ClientSafeAI |
|---|---|---|
| Where the model runs | Microsoft’s cloud. Calls go to the nearest data centres, and can go to other regions during high demand; EU traffic stays inside the EU Data Boundary. Admins can also allow Anthropic and OpenAI models as subprocessors. | On a GPU server dedicated to your firm, in the US by default or in another country as a customization. The AI model, database and files all run on that one machine. |
| Trains on your data? | No. Prompts, responses and data accessed through Microsoft Graph aren’t used to train foundation models. | Never, on any plan. |
| Hardware shared with other customers? | Yes. Content is logically isolated per tenant through Microsoft Entra authorization and role-based access control. | No. One customer per server. |
| Price | Copilot Business (up to 300 users): $18 per user per month paid yearly through December 2026 ($21 after), or $25.20 billed monthly. That’s on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan. | $499/mo flat. Unlimited documents and questions, no per-seat pricing. |
| Minimum commitment | Yearly or monthly billing. Each user also needs a separate Microsoft 365 license. | Month to month. Cancel any time. |
| Deletion | Prompts and responses are stored with your other Microsoft 365 content. Admins set retention in Microsoft Purview; users can delete their Copilot history. | Documents stay on your firm’s server until you remove them. |
| Independent audits | ISO 27001, ISO 42001 and HIPAA, under Microsoft 365’s compliance commitments. | No third-party audit report (SOC 2 or ISO) yet. We don’t sign HIPAA BAAs. |
When Microsoft 365 Copilot is the better choice
- Your firm already runs on Microsoft 365 and wants AI inside Word, Outlook and Teams, including meeting summaries.
- You want AI across email, calendar and chats, not just documents you upload.
- You handle HIPAA-covered records or need ISO certifications. Microsoft has them; we don’t.
- Your team is small, so a per-user add-on costs less than $499 a month.
What ClientSafeAI actually is
A Private AI Workspace is a GPU server ordered for one firm. Your documents, the AI model and the database all live on it, and answers cite the page they came from. Call and meeting recordings are transcribed on the same server. It costs $499 a month, flat, with no per-seat pricing. How the data is handled is set out on the security page.
Talk to us about a Workspace
Every Workspace is set up by hand on its own server, so it starts with a short call about your documents and how your firm works.
Sources
Every statement about Microsoft above comes from these pages, checked September 30, 2026:
- Microsoft — Copilot pricing (Business plan, yearly and monthly billing)
- Microsoft Learn — Data, privacy and security for Microsoft Copilot (training, isolation, regions, retention, certifications)
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