Microsoft 365 Price Increases Starting March 2022

The New Commerce Experience (NCE) is the latest pricing model for Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Windows 365, and Power Platform subscriptions. NCE was designed to reduce complexity in billing processes and provide cost savings for longer term subscriptions.

NCE will change how you purchase Microsoft services such as Microsoft 365. Through NCE you will start a new type of annual subscription, and these prices will differ from previous subscriptions.
You can also have mid-term upgrades. Available upgrade paths are now defined by Microsoft.
It also brings a pricing premium which impacts clients who don’t want to make a minimum commitment of 12 months.

• Microsoft 365 Apps for Business
• Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise
• Microsoft 365 Business Basic
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard
• Microsoft 365 E3
• Microsoft 365 E3 – Unattended License
• Microsoft 365 E5
• Microsoft 365 E5 without Audio Conferencing
• Microsoft 365 F1
• Microsoft 365 F3
• Office 365 E1
• Office 365 E3
• Office 365 E5
• Office 365 E5 without Audio Conferencing
• Office 365 F3
• Power BI Pro
• Visio Plan 1
• Visio Plan 2
• Power BI Premium Per User
• Power BI Premium Per User Add-On
• Windows 10/11 Enterprise E3
• Select Dynamics 365 offers
• Windows 365 Business
• Windows 365 Enterprise

Whilst not yet confirmed by Microsoft, we expect that Exchange Online plans will also be added back to this list.

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium
• Office 365 E1
• Office 365 E3
• Office 365 E5
• Microsoft 365 E3

• 1ST MARCH 2022: Price increase on March 1st for the above Subscriptions
• 10TH MARCH 2022: Any new subscriptions will be through NCE
• 1ST JULY 2022: NCE enforcement for existing subscriptions

Microsoft are introducing a set of new offers, policies, and functionalities that bring a consistent pricing and commitment approach across all of the different ways a client can purchase licensing today.

Monthly offers are priced consistently across all new commerce purchase motions and are aligned to the market.

No. Any increase in seats on an existing 12-month subscription will simply co-terminate with the original subscription end date

In the new commerce for CSP, the expectation will be that a client chooses the better pricing on annual term offers, knowing that they’re committing to the full term of payments, whether the subscription is paid up front or in monthly instalments.

The 72-hour cancellation window is in line with policies used in other Microsoft new commerce purchase motions and how our competition operates. Clients who aren’t sure about committing to an annual term should be encouraged to purchase the monthly term option so that they can cancel at the end of any given month with no further payment obligation.

Clients who choose the annual term option are accepting that;

• Cancellation of the subscription won’t be allowed after the first 72 hours of the term.
• The client is committing to payment in full in any circumstance.

This restriction is in line with the policies of competitors and in other industries in which more favourable pricing is provided in exchange for committing to the full term of payment, regardless of whether the client is using the product or service.

Yes, all monthly commitments will have a 20% premium. To accelerate the adoption of the New Commerce Experience, Microsoft will be offering a promo for the monthly term to be billed at the regular annual term price which will remove the 20% premium through June 2022.

Microsoft will offer two time-bound promotions.

These offers will be available between January and June 2022 on monthly-term and annual-term offers.

• The annual term promo gives a 5% discount off the price list amount and will be in effect through March 2022

• The monthly term promo bills the regular annual term price which will remove the 20% premium on monthly terms through June 2022 

Yes, you will have the option to pay upfront for your annual commitment or 12-month billing.

Customers will have 72 hours from the time of purchase to decrease their seat counts for a subscription. Customers can at any point during their commitment increase their seat count for an existing subscription.

Customers have 3 days after purchasing to cancel a subscription.

Customers will receive a full refund if the subscription is cancelled on Day 1 and will receive a pro-rated refund for subscriptions cancelled on Days 2 and 3.

The 3-day period begins on the same day a partner starts a subscription and no refunds will be granted after the 3-day period.

Once a subscription is cancelled, this cannot be reversed. The subscription will immediately enter a “disabled” status where users cannot access services or files, however admins will have to access to data for subscription(s) for 90 days.

The renewal date for the newly added seats will match the original renewal date for that subscription.

Yes, a customer can have both monthly and annual purchasing options for the same subscription.

Yes, a customer’s subscription can be changed from a monthly term to an annual term in New Commerce Experience.

In the New Commerce Experience, upgrading means going from one paid subscription to another paid subscription.

You can upgrade all seats as a full upgrade or some of the seats as a partial upgrade.

It is important to know that subscription upgrades must be on the authorised list of upgrades provided by Microsoft.

Please note, subscription downgrades are NOT supported.