What is Dragon Flex, and is it a different product from Dragon Copilot?
Dragon Flex is not a separate product. It is one of Microsoft's licensing options for Dragon Copilot: a lower recurring subscription that includes front-end medical dictation, plus a monthly allowance of AI-assisted sessions with additional sessions charged as they are used.
How the two licensing options differ
Microsoft’s commercial model for Dragon Copilot splits into two shapes, and the split is about how AI usage is paid for rather than what the clinician can do.
Per User provides the complete physician feature set — front-end speech recognition plus the ambient and generative AI capabilities — for a recurring subscription with no separate session charge. It suits clinicians who use ambient documentation as their normal way of working, every day.
Flex provides a lower recurring subscription that includes the front-end dictation capability, together with a monthly allowance of AI-assisted sessions. Beyond the allowance, sessions are charged as they are consumed. It suits clinicians whose ambient use is occasional or seasonal, and organisations that want to introduce ambient AI to a group without committing every user to the full subscription.
Why the session definition matters more than the allowance
The commonest planning mistake is to model Flex as though a session equals a patient consultation. Microsoft’s definition is broader: a session is counted when Dragon invokes generation, summarisation or reasoning. That includes AI work that is not an ambient recording of a patient at all.
Two consequences follow. A clinician who never records a consultation can still consume sessions. And a Flex tenant’s real consumption is usually higher than a first estimate built on appointment volumes.
How the allowance is calculated
The allowance is derived from the licences held on the first day of the month, pooled across the tenant rather than allocated per person, and does not roll over. Pooling is the useful part: a heavy user and a light user on the same tenant draw from one shared allowance, so uneven usage across a team is absorbed rather than penalised.
Which option suits which clinician
| Usage pattern | Indicative fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Ambient documentation on most consultations | Per User | No session metering to manage, and consumption is not a planning variable. |
| Dictation daily, ambient occasionally | Flex | The dictation capability is included; AI is paid for only when it is used. |
| Mixed team, uneven adoption | Flex | Pooling across the tenant absorbs uneven use between clinicians. |
| Evaluating before a wider rollout | Flex | Lower recurring commitment while adoption patterns are still unknown. |
Common questions
Is Dragon Flex the same as Dragon Copilot?
Dragon Flex is a way of licensing Dragon Copilot, not a different product. A clinician on a Flex licence and a clinician on a Per User licence are using the same Dragon Copilot application; what differs is how the AI usage is paid for.
What counts as an AI-assisted session?
Microsoft defines an AI-assisted session more broadly than a recorded consultation. A session is counted when Dragon invokes generation, summarisation or reasoning — so AI use outside an ambient patient encounter can still consume the allowance.
Do unused Flex sessions roll over to the next month?
No. The monthly session allowance is calculated from the licences held on the first day of the month and pooled across the tenant. Unused sessions do not carry forward into the following month.
Sources
- Dragon Copilot Licensing Guidance. www.microsoft.com