Asky and Microsoft Copilot
Different layers of
the same problem
Copilot works across your documents and Microsoft 365 content. Asky works across your operational databases. Asky is not a replacement for Copilot — and it can be surfaced through it.
database engines in production today: PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server, ClickHouse.
data migration required — the query travels to the data, where it already lives.
deployable on-premises via Docker, including air-gapped environments.
First, which Copilot?
“Copilot” covers several Microsoft products with different scopes. Only one of them addresses database querying, so identifying the deployed product is step one in any real comparison.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams and SharePoint content via Microsoft Graph. It does not connect to production databases.
ComplementaryPower BI / Fabric Copilot
Data modelled in Power BI semantic models or held in Fabric / OneLake — it answers only once the data has been moved and modelled.
Overlapping scopeCopilot Studio
Builds custom agents that call external tools. It reaches data only through the tools it calls — Asky can be registered as one.
Integration pathData access
Compared against Copilot in the Fabric / Power BI scope — the only one that queries data.
| Dimension | Microsoft Copilot | Asky |
|---|---|---|
| Where data resides | Microsoft cloud — OneLake, Fabric or a Power BI model | Your own database; data never leaves your environment |
| Live production data | Not directly — data must be moved and modelled first | Queried directly on Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, ClickHouse |
| Preparation | Semantic model, DAX measures, capacity provisioning | Knowledge vault and metric definitions — can start table by table |
| Data movement | ETL or mirroring; a copy of the data is created | None — the query travels to the data |
| On-prem / air-gapped | Cloud-based | Full on-premises deployment via Docker |
| Data residency | Subject to Microsoft regional policy | Runs on your infrastructure; no cross-border transfer |
Governance and security
Enforced in the Asky query pipeline itself, not configured per report — and verifiable during a technical evaluation.
| Control | Microsoft Copilot | Asky |
|---|---|---|
| Row-level security | In Power BI, defined in the semantic model | Enforced structurally on the query tree, independent of any model |
| Column-level security | Depends on model design | Denied columns cannot be returned |
| Per-user SQL visibility | No equivalent concept | Role-based, with per-user override |
| Pre-execution safeguard | Not available | Row-count estimate before execution; queries that would overload the database are blocked |
| LLM consumption limits | Governed by licensing and capacity | Three tiers: session, user and team quotas |
| Bring your own LLM key | Not available — Microsoft-provided models | Supported — the key remains with you |
| Customer-managed keys | Within the Microsoft ecosystem | Supported via AWS, GCP or Azure key management |
| Audit trail | Via Microsoft Purview | Action, outcome, source address and applied security filters recorded |
Semantics and learning
| Capability | Microsoft Copilot | Asky |
|---|---|---|
| Learning definitions | Reflects what IT has modelled | Retains user- and team-level definitions learned in conversation |
| Approving knowledge | No equivalent concept | Team conventions require explicit human approval before taking effect |
| Metric governance | Not surfaced to the user | Each metric carries its source, owner, freshness and attestation status |
| Schema change detection | The model is republished | Live schema continuously compared against documentation; differences reported |
| Hallucination safeguard | Depends on model quality | Queries referencing columns absent from the schema are rejected before execution |
Operations and cost
| Dimension | Microsoft Copilot | Asky |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial model | Per-user subscription plus Fabric capacity | Enterprise annual agreement |
| Other cost factors | Capacity, data movement and storage, modelling effort | One-off implementation and documentation preparation |
| Ecosystem dependency | Tied to the Microsoft stack | Database engine and LLM provider are both interchangeable |
| LLM cost visibility | Absorbed into capacity; not visible per query | Per-query cost with team and user breakdown |
| Large result extraction | Subject to Power BI export limits | Asynchronous export at million-row scale with time-limited download links |
| Reporting | Power BI — mature and widely adopted | Panels generated from conversation, through the same governance path |
Where Copilot is the right tool
Point of use
Already embedded in Teams, Outlook, Word and Excel — no change in user behaviour.
Document productivity
Summarizing documents, drafting correspondence and meeting notes are outside Asky’s scope by design.
Enterprise reporting
Power BI remains a mature platform for visualization and distribution at scale.
Procurement & ecosystem
Added to an existing Microsoft agreement, with identity and compliance integrated out of the box.
Scope and transparency
We would rather set expectations now than during a technical evaluation. This is what Asky supports today.
PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server and ClickHouse in production.
Snowflake, BigQuery and Redshift are on the roadmap, prioritized by customer demand.
Questions and answers in any language, with multilingual security guardrails.
Asky generates charts and panels. It is not intended to replace an established enterprise reporting platform.
On-premises via Docker, including air-gapped environments; SSO integrates with your identity provider.
A structured way to evaluate
A 30-day evaluation on your own data, measured against criteria you define in advance.
- Connection and scope — three to five tables, one business area
- Documentation preparation — table and column definitions
- Identity and roles — connected to your existing SSO
- Your own questions — a question set defined by your team
- Accuracy measurement — scored with your analysts
- Security validation — access, row and column controls verified
- A measured accuracy result — evidence rather than estimates
- Time-saved analysis — analyst hours per question
- An integration plan — including Copilot surfacing, if wanted
Microsoft product capabilities, licensing tiers and capacity requirements change frequently. Statements about Copilot here reflect our understanding as of July 2026 and should be verified against current Microsoft documentation before any commercial decision.