Episode 426: Claude Cowork vs Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork

About this episode

Ben and Scott discuss the differences between Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork and Claude Cowork, highlighting their functionalities and use cases.

Welcome to Episode 426 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast.Ben and Scott are back together this week to talk through Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork, including how it compares to Claude Cowork and where each one makes sense. The two products share a name but work pretty differently. Claude Cowork runs locally on your desktop and can access files on your machine, supports MCP server connections while M365 Copilot Cowork runs in the cloud, requires files to be in OneDrive, and does not support MCP connectors yet. On the flip side, the Microsoft version runs scheduled tasks without needing your machine to be on, has native access to all your M365 data through Graph, and fits inside your existing compliance and security controls through Purview, which matters a lot for regulated organizations. Your support makes this show possible! Please consider becoming a premium member for access to live shows and more. Check out our membership options . Show Notes Quentin Amaudry – As everyone knows, Cowork is coming within Copilot and it is extremely promising Copilot Cowork vs Claude Cowork: Same AI, Different Worlds Copilot Cowork: A new way of getting work done Cowork overview…

People in this episode

Hosts: Ben Stegink, Scott Hoag

Topics covered

• Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Claude Cowork
• cloud computing
• local computing
• product comparison
• compliance
• security

Keywords

• Microsoft 365
• Copilot
• Claude Cowork
• cloud
• local
• MCP server
• OneDrive
• compliance
• security

Sponsors

TrustedTech

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Microsoft, Purview

Products: Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork, Claude Cowork

Places: U.S

More episodes of Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast

• Episode 429: Getting started with LLM Wikis · June 4, 2026 · 44 min
• Episode 428: Migrating Group Policy to Microsoft Intune · May 21, 2026 · 41 min
• Episode 427: Copilot Cowork Hands-On Experiences · May 7, 2026 · 32 min
• Episode 425 – Exploring Collaboration and Governance at the MVP Summit with Joy Apple · April 9, 2026 · 50 min
• Episode 424 – A new frontier for Microsoft 365 with E7 · March 26, 2026 · 34 min
• Episode 423 – Non-Human Identities in Microsoft Entra with Eric Woodruff and Chris Brumm · March 12, 2026 · 39 min