Changes to Microsoft Subscriptions & Billing

UPDATE: 20% price increases for monthly subscriptions effective July 11, 2022

In January 2022, Microsoft launched its New Commerce Experience (NCE), starting the final phase in its three-year, multi-stage transformation to simplify and enhance customer experiences with the Microsoft suite of products.

What Is the New Commerce Experience?

NCE is the new way Microsoft customers purchase and manage their Microsoft Licenses independently or through partners like Pearson-Kelly Technology. In the fall of 2021, Microsoft expanded the NCE to Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and Windows 365, which became available to the general public in January 2022. Moving to the NCE offers improved revenue predictability, reduced licensing complexity, multiple-term options, and new features.

Nonprofit, Education, and Government licenses are not offered on NCE and are not affected by the price increases discussed below.

Timeline for NCE

January  2022 | NCE launched, and Microsoft released introductory promotions.

March 2022 | Microsoft launched price increases for Microsoft 365 licenses. Any new subscriptions purchased since March 10, 2022, currently use NCE.

July 2022 | Invoice credits to mitigate March price increases end, and all customers must migrate their subscriptions to the NCE.

October 2022 | All customers must purchase through NCE

Subscription Options for NCE

One of the benefits of the NCE is the new subscription options for customers. There are currently three subscription options: monthly, 12-month, and 36-month.

Monthly Subscription

While it comes with a 20% price increase, Microsoft offers a month-to-month subscription option without an annual commitment for customers needing to make frequent changes to the Microsoft 365 or Office 365 license plan and seat counts.

12 Month Subscription

Microsoft changed its standard 12-month subscription, allowing customers to choose monthly or annual billing. With the 12-month subscription, pricing is locked in for the entire term while allowing you to increase seat counts as needed. Customers may not decrease seat counts with this plan.

36 Month Subscription

Like the 12-month subscription, the 36-month subscription locks customers into their pricing and allows them to be billed monthly, annually, or upfront. Also, like the 12-month subscription, customers may increase but not decrease seat counts throughout the subscription term.