Guide · Microsoft licensing · India
The Cloud Solution Provider programme — CSP — is how most Indian organisations now buy Microsoft 365, Copilot, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Windows 365 and Azure. Since September 2024 every licence-based CSP purchase runs on Microsoft's New Commerce Experience (NCE), which brought firm commitments: you choose a term, you get seven days to change your mind, and after that you pay for the term you picked. This guide explains those rules in plain language, with the official Microsoft source for each one, and shows where XcellHost fits.
#01What CSP is — and why it matters to you
CSP is a Microsoft programme that lets authorised partners sell Microsoft cloud subscriptions, attach their own services, and bill the customer directly. Microsoft provides the service; the partner owns the commercial relationship — the quote, the invoice, renewals, seat changes and first-line support.
For a buyer, three things follow from that:
- Your partner is your counterparty for billing. You pay the partner, in INR, on the partner's terms. Microsoft bills the partner. Partner Center's own documentation says the partner stays responsible for paying Microsoft even if the customer stops paying — which is why partners enforce the commitment rules carefully.
- Your tenant stays yours. Subscriptions are provisioned into your Microsoft Entra tenant. The partner gets admin access only if you approve it, through granular delegated admin privileges (GDAP), and you can remove it.
- The rules are Microsoft's. Terms, cancellation windows and renewal behaviour are set by Microsoft for every CSP partner. A partner can add services and payment terms around them, but cannot override Microsoft's commitment rules.
Buying through an Indian partner means a GST tax invoice in rupees from an Indian company, local support hours and a contract under Indian law. Buying on microsoft.com with a card means a different seller and invoice. See Billing & GST in India.
#02Direct bill, indirect provider, indirect reseller
Partner Center uses three names for the roles in CSP. They decide who buys from Microsoft and who can do what for you.
| Role | Who buys from Microsoft | What they can do for you | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct bill partner | The partner itself | Sells, provisions, bills and supports; attests your Microsoft Customer Agreement acceptance | Needs a CSP direct bill authorisation from Microsoft; some programmes (for example the EA-to-CSP for Azure tool) are limited to direct bill partners |
| Indirect provider | The partner (a distributor) | Supplies indirect resellers, holds the Microsoft relationship, can attest the MCA | On transfers, the indirect provider sets which reseller becomes partner of record |
| Indirect reseller | Buys through an indirect provider | Advises, quotes, provisions through the provider's systems, manages your tenant with GDAP, bills you | Can't attest the MCA itself and gets price lists from its provider — the provider handles those steps |
Sources: Partner Center — confirm customer acceptance of the MCA; transfer new commerce subscriptions; pricing and offers; July 2026 announcements.
For your purchase, what matters is not the label but the service: who answers when a licence fails to assign at 9 pm, who raises a Microsoft support case, and whose invoice your finance team receives. Ask any partner to put that in writing.
#03What you can buy through CSP
Partner Center groups CSP offers into a few types. Each follows its own commitment and refund rules, so it helps to know which type a product is before you sign.
Licence-based online services
Per-user or per-unit subscriptions you assign to people: Microsoft 365, Office 365, Copilot, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Windows 365, Entra, Intune, Defender add-ons and more. These run on NCE terms.
Browse Microsoft products →Azure plan
Pay-as-you-go Azure at published prices, with many Azure subscriptions under one plan. Billed on actual consumption.
All Azure services →Azure reservations & savings plans
One- or three-year commitments that lower Azure compute rates. They need an Azure plan.
How they work →Software subscriptions
Windows Server and SQL Server for one or three years, for use with Azure reserved VM instances, per Partner Center.
Software in CSP →Perpetual software
Perpetual licences where the partner obtains downloads and keys for you. Different refund rule: 30 days.
Perpetual rules →Marketplace SaaS
Third-party SaaS from independent software vendors, sold and billed through CSP. Refund window is 72 hours.
Refund windows →Source: Partner Center — overview of partner offers in the CSP program (updated 17 Sep 2025).
#04NCE terms and billing plans
Every NCE licence subscription has two settings that people often confuse: the term (how long you commit) and the billing frequency (how often you are invoiced). Microsoft lists three term lengths — monthly, annual and triennial (three-year) — and says plainly that not every term exists for every product: "Terms available depend on the product and SKU combination."
| Term | Billing plans offered | What you commit to | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | Monthly (upfront) | One month at a time; renews monthly | Seasonal staff, pilots, projects with an end date |
| Annual | Annual (upfront) or monthly | 12 months of the seats you buy | A stable core of users — usually the bulk of a licence estate |
| Triennial | Triennial (upfront), annual or monthly | 36 months; price fixed for the term | Long-lived, predictable seats where price certainty matters most |
Changing term or billing mid-way
- Longer only. You can move a subscription to a longer term mid-term; you can't move to a shorter term mid-term.
- Billing frequency moves with the term. Microsoft allows billing frequency changes together with a term change. Since 1 April 2025, Partner Center no longer supports immediate billing-frequency-only changes.
- Triennial is fixed. Triennial subscriptions can't be changed mid-term.
- Anything eligible at renewal. At renewal the partner can switch term or billing for the next term — for example an annual-upfront subscription can renew as annual paid monthly.
Mixing is normal. A common pattern is an annual subscription for your permanent headcount and a separate monthly subscription of the same product for contractors and interns. Both can sit in the same tenant.
Source: Partner Center — manage term duration and billing frequency (updated 12 Feb 2026).
#05How NCE pricing works
Price protection for the term
In new commerce, Microsoft attaches the current price-list price to a subscription when it is created, and "price changes during the term don't affect billing plan charges for an existing subscription." Licences you add later to the same subscription are charged at the same price, and their end date follows the subscription. Changes such as a new term or an upgrade apply the then-current price.
That is the main reason to choose a longer term: Microsoft notes that some customers "need three-year terms to preserve the pricing for the lifetime of the term."
The monthly-term premium
Monthly-term subscriptions cost more than annual ones. On microsoft.com/en-in, the monthly-commitment price of each Microsoft 365 Business plan is 20% higher than its paid-yearly price (checked 31 Oct 2026; Microsoft labels the yearly option "Save up to 16%"). Microsoft's own extended-service-term pricing implies the same gap in CSP: EST is billed at the monthly-term rate plus 3%, "or 23% if no monthly plan exists". Treat 20% as the typical premium and confirm the exact figure on the CSP price list for each SKU — the cost comparison tool lets you change it.
Partners widely reported that, from April 2025, an annual term billed monthly costs about 5% more than the same annual term paid upfront. We could not find this on a Microsoft Learn page, so treat it as confirm with XcellHost when you compare quotes.
When prices change
- Monthly price lists. Licence-based price lists update on the first of each month (midnight UTC), with changes previewed 30 days ahead. Azure plan and Marketplace prices refresh daily.
- Annual local-currency updates. From fiscal year 2027, Microsoft moves to one local-currency price update for Commercial Cloud each January. The next one is effective 1 January 2027, with guidance issued every November.
- Promotions are separate. Price list files don't include promotional pricing; promotions apply to the partner price for the term of the purchase (see section 8).
Partner Center prices are set per customer market. Microsoft's pricing page notes India is one of a few markets that may carry geo-specific discounts on a small number of SKUs. Your INR quote from a partner is the figure that counts — XcellHost's product pages say quoted INR prices are held for 30 days.
Sources: Partner Center — pricing and offers (updated 16 Jun 2026); create and manage subscriptions (updated 4 Aug 2026); extended service terms (updated 1 Jun 2026); July 2026 announcements; microsoft.com/en-in Business plans page.
#06The 7-day (168-hour) window
This is the rule that surprises most first-time NCE buyers. Microsoft's wording: partners "can cancel their subscription with a prorated refund within the first seven days (168 hours) of any term". After that, "cancellation is no longer available" and the partner is billed for the full term "even if the customer stops paying for or using the subscription".
Refund windows by offer type
| Offer type | Window | Refund |
|---|---|---|
| Licence-based (Microsoft 365, Copilot, Dynamics 365 …) | 7 calendar days of purchase or renewal | Prorated |
| Software subscriptions | 7 calendar days | Prorated (except where law requires otherwise); no licence reductions after the window |
| Perpetual software | 30 calendar days | Full |
| Marketplace SaaS | 72 hours | Full, excluding metered charges |
| Business Central (Marketplace) | 7 days of purchase or renewal | Refund available |
| Upgrade (mid-term) | None | "Cancellation windows aren't applied to upgrades" |
| Transferred subscription | None (not a new term) | New partner inherits the remaining commitment |
How seat reductions work
You can add licences to a subscription at any time. You can reduce them only within seven days of when they were added. Microsoft applies this to licences added "at the initial purchase, on renewal, or at midterm", and refunds the full amount minus the days used, calculated daily.
A Pune company buys 40 Microsoft 365 Business Premium seats on an annual term on 3 March at 11:00. On 6 March it learns 4 joiners deferred. Because it's within 168 hours, the partner reduces the subscription to 36 seats and the company is refunded for 4 seats minus 3 days of use. On 15 March it adds 5 seats for new hires; those 5 can be reduced until 22 March. If a user leaves in August, the seat stays paid until the term ends — reassign it to the next joiner instead.
The window reopens only when a subscription renews into a new term. Trials that convert to paid get the standard 7-day window from conversion. Use the countdown simulator right below to see your exact deadline.
Cancellation-window countdown simulator
Enter when the term started (purchase, renewal or seat addition). We show the 168-hour deadline in your local time and what is still allowed.
- Deadline—
- Elapsed—
- Status—
—
Illustrative. Deadline = start + 168 hours. Allow a buffer: ask your partner to act at least a day early; Partner Center processing and time zones can differ.Sources: Partner Center — new commerce cancellation policy (updated 25 Sep 2025); create and manage subscriptions (updated 4 Aug 2026); free trials (updated 17 Jun 2025).
#07Seats, auto-renew and the extended service term
Adding seats and co-terming
Adding licences into an existing subscription keeps the same price and the same end date, so every seat renews together. Microsoft describes this as the two benefits of adding to one subscription: "the price is the same for the partner, and the end date of all the individual licenses is controlled by the end date of the subscription." New subscriptions created during a partial upgrade also take the original subscription's end date.
Auto-renew is on by default
Active subscriptions are set to renew automatically when the term ends. For new commerce subscriptions, the partner can turn auto-renew off or schedule changes — a different quantity, term, billing frequency or an upgrade — to take effect at renewal. After renewal you get a fresh 168-hour window.
No more free grace period — the extended service term (EST)
Until 2026, turning auto-renew off gave a short period of free service after the term ended. Microsoft ended that on 4 May 2026: "Customers who don't renew must either cancel at end of term without service or enter a paid extended service term (EST) to continue service."
| EST fact | Per Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Which subscriptions | Licence-based subscriptions purchased or renewed on or after 1 Apr 2025, expiring on or after 4 May 2026, with auto-renew off, move to EST at expiry. Trials and end-of-sale SKUs aren't eligible. |
| Price | The current monthly-term rate plus a 3% uplift, or 23% where no monthly plan exists |
| Term | Monthly; renews month to month until the partner cancels or converts |
| Cancelling | Allowed at any time; prorated by day |
| Avoiding it | Set the subscription to cancel at term end, or renew, before the end date |
| Not eligible for EST | Keeps a 30-day grace period |
"Turn off auto-renew and decide later" now costs money. Decide 30 days before the end date: renew (with changed quantities if needed) or schedule a cancel. XcellHost's managed plans include a quarterly licence review for this reason.
Sources: Partner Center — extended service terms (updated 1 Jun 2026); create and manage subscriptions (updated 4 Aug 2026); May 2026 announcements.
#08Upgrades, trials and promotions
Upgrades: up, not down
- "Upgrade means going from one paid subscription to another paid subscription on a higher tier. (Downgrades aren't supported.)" — for example Business Standard to Business Premium, or E3 to E5, where Microsoft lists the path.
- Upgrades can be mid-term or scheduled for the end of the term. A full upgrade moves all licences and keeps the subscription ID; a partial upgrade moves some licences into a new subscription that keeps the original end date.
- A same-term upgrade keeps the original end date; going from a monthly E3 to an annual E5 starts a new term.
- No cancellation window applies to an upgrade. Double-check quantities before submitting.
If you might want to step down at renewal (say from E5 to E3 for some users), keep those users on a separate subscription so the quantity can be changed at that subscription's renewal without touching the others.
Trials
- New commerce trials last one month and include 25 licences; quantity can't change during the trial.
- Trials renew into paid subscriptions automatically unless auto-renew is turned off. If no values are set, the trial becomes an annual term, paid monthly, with 25 licences.
- One trial per offer per customer; no trials for government, education or add-on offers.
- Microsoft added "Copilot in 30" in CSP from 1 August 2026: a 25-user, 30-day Microsoft 365 Copilot Business trial for organisations with fewer than 300 employees.
Promotions
- Nearly all NCE promotions apply automatically to eligible purchases and discount the partner price for the term of that purchase.
- A renewal keeps the promotional price only if the renewal date falls inside the promotion's date range. First-purchase promotions always renew at standard price.
- Eligibility depends on term, quantity and purchase history; cancelling a promoted subscription can remove eligibility for that offer later.
- Examples current at the time of writing (October 2026 announcements): 30% off the partner price for customers buying at least 300 new Microsoft 365 E3 licences with an annual commitment (27 Oct 2026 – 30 Jun 2027); a 25% bundle on Business Basic + Copilot Business, and 15% on standalone Copilot Business for 1–300 seats, through 31 Dec 2026. Eligibility rules apply — ask XcellHost to check.
Sources: Partner Center — create and manage subscriptions (upgrades); free trials; new commerce promotions (updated 15 Jun 2026); July and October 2026 announcements.
#09Tool · NCE term chooser
Answer four questions about a group of users. The chooser recommends monthly, annual or three-year and shows what you trade away. Run it once per group — permanent staff, contractors, seasonal teams.
Which term fits this group?
Guidance only. Product availability of each term varies by SKU.
Annual term
—
—
#10Tool · annual vs monthly cost
Enter the annual-term price per user per month from your quote. The tool applies a monthly-term premium (20% by default, editable) and shows the yearly cost of each option — plus the break-even: how many months of a monthly seat equal a year of an annual one.
Annual vs monthly cost comparison
Prefill with a reused XcellHost price, or type your own.
—
Illustrative maths on your inputs; not a quote. Annual and triennial commitments can't be cancelled after 7 days. Prices excl. GST unless shown.#11Azure through CSP
Azure in CSP is sold as the Azure plan: pay-as-you-go access to Azure services "at the published prices", under the Microsoft Customer Agreement. One Azure plan can hold many Azure subscriptions, so new projects don't need new orders. You pay for what you consume each month.
| Way to pay for Azure | Commitment | Billing | Use it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure plan (pay-as-you-go) | None | Monthly, on actual usage; usage prices can change during a month | New, variable or short-lived workloads |
| Azure reservations | 1 or 3 years for a specific resource type | Upfront, per Partner Center — ask about monthly billing for your reservation | Steady VMs and databases that run all month |
| Azure savings plan for compute | 1 or 3 years of hourly spend | One-time or monthly | Steady compute spend that may move between VM types or regions |
- Savings plans can reduce compute costs "by up to 65% from pay-as-you-go prices" per Microsoft; the discount rate depends on the term, not the amount. They need an Azure plan, apply at single or shared scope, and auto-renew is on by default.
- Reservations can be cancelled or exchanged "for adjusted refund" per Partner Center — check the current reservation refund limits before relying on that.
- Partner earned credit (PEC) rewards CSP partners who provide 24×7 operations management of an Azure plan. Savings-plan discounts are applied instead of PEC on covered usage.
- From 2 November 2026, Microsoft is introducing time-bound Azure consumption promotions in CSP for selected products and customer segments; they don't reduce PEC.
Consumption has no ceiling by default. Set budgets and alerts per subscription, tag resources by owner, shut down dev/test out of hours, and review reservations quarterly. XcellHost's Managed Azure plans include monthly cost reports and quarterly cost reviews at the Professional level.
Where data location matters, XcellHost usually designs production in Central India (Pune) with South India (Chennai) for disaster recovery, as described on our Managed Azure page, and checks each service is available in the chosen region. See all Azure services.
Sources: Partner Center — Azure plan get started (updated 29 Sep 2025); Azure savings plan (updated 29 Sep 2025); Azure reservations (updated 29 Sep 2025); pricing and offers; October 2026 announcements.
#12Windows Server, SQL Server and perpetual software
CSP is not only subscriptions. Partner Center lists two software offer types:
Perpetual software
The partner obtains downloads and keys for you. You own the licence version you bought. Refund within 30 calendar days of purchase.
Software subscriptions
Windows Server and SQL Server for one or three years, per Partner Center for use with Azure reserved VM instances. Prorated refund within 7 days; no reductions afterwards.
Which licence you need depends on where the server runs. On your own hardware, you license cores (with Windows Server's per-server minimums) and client access. On hosted servers at a provider such as XcellHost, the provider usually licenses Windows Server and SQL Server monthly under its own services-provider agreement, so you don't buy perpetual licences at all.
Windows Server 2025 editions
Standard vs Datacenter, core minimums, hosted monthly prices from ₹299* per 2-core pack.
Compare editions →SQL Server editions
Express to Enterprise, per-core licensing, hosted monthly prices from ₹4,999* per 2-core pack (Standard).
Compare editions →Microsoft announced a CSP software pricing update effective 1 October 2026 and published an end-of-sale price list for software in June 2026. Get a fresh quote for any perpetual purchase rather than reusing an old one.
Sources: Partner Center — CSP offers overview; cancellation policy; August and June 2026 announcements (via the announcements index).
#13Copilot, E7, Agent 365, Windows 365, Dynamics and Power Platform
The products changing fastest in CSP in 2026 are the AI ones. What Microsoft announced to partners this year:
| Product | What changed in CSP | When |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | New offers can be bought without a qualifying Microsoft 365 base subscription; same price as current offers. The old add-on offers reach end of sale, but existing customers can renew and change seats. | From 1 Dec 2026 |
| Copilot — three-year term | New three-year CSP purchasing option for purchases of 100 or more licences | From 1 May 2026 |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot Business | For 1–300 seats. Usage-based billing becomes the default for new licences (4,000 Copilot Credits per user per month default limit) — initially not available in India and some other countries. | From 1 Dec 2026 |
| Microsoft 365 Business with Copilot | Bundled Business plans with Copilot: annual subscriptions with annual billing | GA 1 Jul 2026 |
| Microsoft 365 E7 and Agent 365 | Generally available on the CSP price list | 1 May 2026 |
| Windows 365 Business | 20% list price decrease; older WHB SKUs end of sale | 1 May 2026 |
| AI Builder capacity add-ons | Retired from sale — turn off auto-renew before the next renewal | 1 Nov 2026 |
| Dynamics 365 Business Central | On-premises releases from version 28 use a "28+" licence key instead of version-specific keys | 1 Oct 2026 |
Microsoft 365 E7
E5, Copilot, Entra Suite and Agent 365 — indicative ₹8,699*/user/month on our E7 page.
See E7 →Agent 365
Governing AI agents in your tenant; readiness assessment ₹49,999*.
See Agent 365 →Windows 365
Cloud PCs from ₹2,699* (Business Basic) on our page — re-quote after Microsoft's May 2026 price cut.
See Windows 365 →Power BI
Pro ₹1,165 and Premium Per User ₹1,995 per user/month, Microsoft India list, paid yearly.
See Power BI →Power Apps
Premium ₹1,665 per user/month, Microsoft India list, paid yearly.
See Power Apps →Dynamics 365 & more
Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Business Central — price on quote.
All Microsoft products →Sources: Partner Center announcements — October, July and May 2026.
#14GDAP, Partner Admin Link and the Microsoft Customer Agreement
GDAP — granular delegated admin privileges
GDAP is how a CSP partner gets admin access to your tenant. Microsoft describes it as "least-privileged access following the Zero Trust cybersecurity protocol", granular and time-bound, and "Customers must explicitly grant the least-privileged access to their partners."
| GDAP fact | Per Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Maximum relationship length | Two years |
| Auto-extend | Optional; extends by six months (180 days) at a time until disabled or terminated |
| Global Administrator | Can't auto-extend; Microsoft advises requesting it only time-bound, for known issues |
| Pending requests | Expire after 90 days if you don't approve |
| Security groups | Up to 100 per customer for role assignments |
| If it expires | The partner loses access; your subscriptions don't change |
| DAP (the old model) | Since 25 Sep 2023 Microsoft no longer grants DAP for new customers (it grants default GDAP instead). Microsoft says GDAP is replacing DAP and recommends moving all customers to GDAP. |
| Azure management | Partners managing Azure work through a separate security group with Azure RBAC, not Global Admin |
Review GDAP like any other privileged access: once a year, check which roles each partner holds, remove leftover DAP relationships from old resellers, and keep Global Administrator out of standing partner access.
Partner Admin Link (PAL)
PAL lets Microsoft recognise the partner who manages your Azure plan subscriptions. The partner links its partner ID to the user or service principal you have already given access to. In Microsoft's words, it "doesn't alter any permissions (Azure role) or provide extra Azure service data to the partner or to Microsoft." Enterprise Agreement subscriptions use a different mechanism, Digital Partner of Record.
The Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA)
- "Before you can place an order on a customer's behalf, the customer must accept and sign the Microsoft Customer Agreement."
- Acceptance is recorded either by the customer directly in the Microsoft 365 admin center, or by partner attestation (name, email and acceptance date of the person who accepted). Indirect resellers can't attest — their indirect provider does.
- Since 7 October 2025, partners whose MCA attestations pre-date 1 April 2023 and were not re-attested are blocked from new purchases, quantity changes, term changes and upgrades for those customers until it is fixed.
- After attestation, your primary contact receives an automated email notice.
Make sure the person who accepts the MCA is authorised to sign for your company, and keep the confirmation email with your procurement file. It is your contract with Microsoft for the services; your commercial terms with XcellHost sit alongside it.
Sources: Partner Center — GDAP introduction (updated 28 Apr 2026); GDAP FAQ (updated 28 Oct 2026); DAP FAQ (updated 28 Oct 2026); link partner ID / PAL (updated 10 Jul 2025); confirm customer acceptance of the MCA (updated 22 Jan 2026).
#15Billing, invoices and GST in India
In CSP, Microsoft invoices the partner and the partner invoices you. What that looks like with XcellHost:
- One INR invoice. If you buy licences through XcellHost, licences and services come on one INR invoice with GST, and XcellHost handles renewals and seat changes (per our Managed Microsoft 365 page).
- Prices exclude GST. Every price on this guide and our product pages is shown excl. 18% GST.
- Quotes are held for 30 days. Our Microsoft 365 plan pages state that quoted INR prices are locked for 30 days; volume pricing from 500 seats is confirmed on quotation.
- Payment terms. Advance, monthly or annual payment depends on the term and billing plan you choose and on credit approval — confirm with XcellHost.
- Licences without management. You can also keep licences elsewhere and buy only XcellHost's management service.
| Line | Qty | Rate ₹ | Amount ₹ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium · annual term · per user/month | 25 | 1,830 | 45,750 |
| Managed Microsoft 365 Professional* · per user/month | 25 | 299 | 7,475 |
| Azure plan · consumption for the month | — | usage | as metered |
| Subtotal (fixed lines) | 53,225 | ||
| GST @ 18% | 9,580.50 | ||
| Total | 62,805.50 | ||
Sample only, using prices from our Defender and Managed Microsoft 365 pages; Azure usage varies. *Indicative — confirm with XcellHost.
When an Indian GST-registered partner supplies you, the invoice carries GST and a GST-registered business can generally claim input tax credit on it, subject to the conditions of GST law. Cross-border rules for online services supplied from outside India (the OIDAR provisions) are a separate regime that matters when you buy from a seller abroad. Ask your tax adviser how this applies to you.
Sources: XcellHost Managed Microsoft 365, Microsoft 365 E3/E5 and Defender pages; Partner Center — pricing and offers; cancellation policy (partner payment responsibility).
#16Switching CSP partners and moving from an EA
Moving NCE subscriptions to a new partner
You don't have to wait for renewal to change partner. Microsoft supports partner-to-partner transfers of new commerce licence subscriptions mid-term:
- You accept the new partner's relationship request (and approve GDAP for them).
- The new (target) partner creates a transfer request to your current (source) partner.
- The source partner reviews and submits it. Transfers take up to 72 hours; requests not acted on expire after 30 days.
- The transferred subscription is created "at the price of the original subscription" with a new subscription ID. User counts and renewal settings are preserved, and applied promotions carry over.
- "There's no new cancellation window because transferred subscriptions aren't considered new subscription terms."
- Up to 25 licence-based line items per billing plan per transfer. Azure subscriptions, reservations and savings plans under an Azure plan have their own transfer process.
Before switching, export your subscription list (product, quantity, term, billing, end date, auto-renew) from the admin center so you can check every line arrived intact.
Enterprise Agreement to CSP
Microsoft's Enterprise Agreement is a three-year agreement "designed for organizations with at least 500 users and/or devices" (250 for public sector), with an annual true-up. Some organisations below or near that size move to CSP for monthly flexibility and partner-managed billing.
- In July 2026 Microsoft widened access to its EA to CSP for Azure transition tool, which moves Azure from an EA to CSP "without service disruption". It is available to partners with a Cloud & AI Solutions Partner designation and CSP direct bill authorisation, or a Frontier Distributor designation.
- For licence-based products, the move is usually timed to the EA anniversary or end, with new CSP subscriptions starting as EA ones end.
- Reports from licensing advisers say Microsoft removed volume price levels for online services from November 2025, narrowing the EA price advantage — we could not confirm this on a Microsoft page, so confirm with XcellHost for your products.
Sources: Partner Center — transfer new commerce licence-based subscriptions (updated 8 May 2026); July 2026 announcements; Microsoft Licensing — Enterprise Agreement guidance and FAQ.
#17CSP vs Enterprise Agreement vs MCA-E vs buying direct
Four main ways to buy Microsoft cloud. The right one depends on size, how often your headcount changes, and how much support you want from a partner.
| Aspect | CSP (via a partner) | Enterprise Agreement | MCA for enterprise (MCA-E) | Direct (web / self-serve) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who it's for | Any size; most SMBs and mid-market | Commercial organisations with 500+ users/devices (250 public sector) | Larger organisations buying from a Microsoft sales team | Small teams buying online with a card |
| Contract | Microsoft Customer Agreement + your partner's terms | Three-year Enterprise Agreement | Microsoft Customer Agreement | Microsoft Customer Agreement (online) |
| Commitment | Per subscription: monthly, annual or three-year | Three years, with annual true-up | Per purchase — confirm with Microsoft | Monthly or annual per subscription |
| Changes mid-term | Add any time; reduce within 7 days of adding; cancel within 7 days of a term | Add any time, reconcile at true-up | Confirm with Microsoft | Microsoft's online commitment rules apply |
| Who invoices | Your partner — INR with GST from an Indian partner | Microsoft or a licensing solution partner | Microsoft — monthly invoice per billing profile | Microsoft — card or invoice |
| Payment | Partner's terms (monthly or annual) | Upfront or three annual payments | Monthly invoice | Card, monthly or annual |
| Support | Partner first-line, partner escalates to Microsoft | Microsoft support plans; partner optional | Microsoft support plans | Microsoft standard support |
| Admin help | Partner manages via GDAP if you approve | In-house or separate partner | In-house or separate partner | In-house |
| Azure | Azure plan, reservations, savings plans | EA enrolment | MCA billing account | Pay-as-you-go |
| Flexibility | High (monthly terms available) | Low within the 3 years | Medium | High |
Sources: Microsoft Licensing — Enterprise Agreement guidance and FAQ; Azure — Microsoft Customer Agreement billing overview (updated 24 Aug 2026); Partner Center docs above. MCA-E rows marked "confirm" could not be verified in detail on an official page.
CSP vs EA vs direct — fit quiz
Six quick questions. We score each route and explain the result.
#18Mistakes and gotchas to avoid
Buying annual for temporary users
Annual seats can't be reduced after 7 days. Put contractors and seasonal staff on a separate monthly subscription.
Missing the 168-hour window
Order mistakes — wrong SKU, wrong quantity, wrong term — must be fixed within 7 days. Check every order confirmation the day it arrives.
Letting auto-renew decide
Renewal locks in another term. Review quantity, term and SKU 30 days before each end date.
Turning auto-renew off and walking away
Since 4 May 2026 that moves eligible subscriptions into a paid extended service term at the monthly rate + 3%.
Unassigned licences
Paid seats sitting unassigned after leavers. Reassign before you buy more; run a monthly assigned-vs-active report.
Upgrading in a hurry
Mid-term upgrades have no cancellation window and you can't downgrade. Confirm the count before submitting.
Azure without budgets
Pay-as-you-go has no cap. Budgets, alerts, tags and reservations for steady workloads stop bill shock.
Standing Global Admin for partners
Grant least-privilege GDAP roles; keep Global Administrator time-bound; remove old DAP links.
Unclear MCA acceptance
Outdated attestations can block purchases and seat changes. Confirm who accepted and when.
Assuming promo prices last
A promotion renews at promo price only inside its date range; first-purchase promos always renew at list.
#19CSP buying checklist
Tick as you go — your ticks are saved in this browser. Download it as CSV for your procurement file, or print it.
#20Glossary
- CSP
- Cloud Solution Provider — Microsoft's programme for partners to sell, bill and support Microsoft cloud subscriptions.
- NCE
- New Commerce Experience — the purchase platform for CSP licence subscriptions; all licence-based CSP purchases since 1 Sep 2024 (except some public-sector legacy offers).
- Direct bill partner
- A CSP partner that buys from Microsoft directly and bills its customers.
- Indirect provider
- A CSP distributor that buys from Microsoft and supplies indirect resellers.
- Indirect reseller
- A CSP partner that buys through an indirect provider and serves customers.
- Term
- The commitment length of a subscription: monthly (P1M), annual (P1Y) or triennial (P3Y).
- Billing frequency
- How often a term is invoiced — upfront, annually or monthly.
- Cancellation window
- The first 168 hours (7 days) of a licence term, when cancellation with prorated refund is allowed.
- Co-terming
- Aligning end dates so licences renew together — automatic when you add seats to an existing subscription.
- EST
- Extended service term — a paid month-to-month extension after a non-renewed subscription ends; monthly rate + 3% (or + 23% where no monthly plan exists).
- Upgrade
- Moving licences to a higher-tier SKU, fully or partially; no downgrades; no cancellation window.
- Promotion
- A time-bound discount on the partner price for eligible purchases, applied for the term.
- Azure plan
- The CSP offer for pay-as-you-go Azure under the Microsoft Customer Agreement.
- Reservation
- A one- or three-year commitment to a specific Azure resource type for a lower rate.
- Savings plan
- A one- or three-year hourly-spend commitment on Azure compute, flexible across VM types and regions.
- PEC
- Partner earned credit — a credit for CSP partners who provide 24×7 operations management for an Azure plan.
- GDAP
- Granular delegated admin privileges — least-privilege, time-bound partner access to your tenant, approved by you.
- DAP
- Delegated admin privileges — the older, broad partner access model that GDAP is replacing.
- PAL
- Partner Admin Link — links a partner ID to existing Azure credentials for recognition; grants no extra access.
- DPOR
- Digital Partner of Record — the partner-recognition mechanism for Enterprise Agreement subscriptions.
- MCA
- Microsoft Customer Agreement — the customer contract with Microsoft that CSP purchases require.
- MCA-E
- The Microsoft Customer Agreement as used by enterprises buying from a Microsoft sales team.
- EA
- Enterprise Agreement — Microsoft's three-year volume agreement for 500+ users/devices (250 public sector).
- True-up
- The EA's annual reconciliation of products, users and devices added during the year.
- MOSA / MOSP
- Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement / Program — the older direct online agreement, replaced by the MCA for many direct purchases.
- SPLA
- Services Provider License Agreement — how hosting providers license Microsoft software monthly on servers they run for you.
- OIDAR
- Online information database access and retrieval — the Indian GST category for certain online services supplied from outside India.
- ITC
- Input tax credit — GST paid on business purchases that a registered business can generally set off, subject to GST law.
Related guides: Microsoft 365 Licensing Guide · Acronis Licensing Guide
General guidance; Microsoft terms change — confirm before purchase. Last verified 31 Oct 2026.