Microsoft Licensing Newsletter – May 2025
Three-year subscription terms for Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 coming to CSP
On June 1st 2025 Microsoft will launch three-year subscription terms for E3 and E5, with or without Teams, and Teams Enterprise in CSP. The plans are only available for purchase with three-year upfront or triennial/annual billing options.
Also, starting July 1, 2025, a three-year subscription for Microsoft 365 E5 Security and E5 Compliance mini suites is available.
Updated pricing for server products and suites
Microsoft announce that in July 2025 Exchange Server, Skype Business Server, and SharePoint Server will have a 10% price increase. Core CAL Suite and Enterprise CAL Suite will increase by 15% and 20% respectively.
Find the announcement here.
E5 Compliance Promo add on for Co-pilot licenses
Now, existing or new Microsoft 365 Copilot customers can take advantage of this promo for additional users who do not have licenses for Microsoft 365 Co-pilot. The promotion still requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot license and existing E5 Compliance prerequisite licensing.
With the expansion in scope beyond only Copilot users, a new restriction has been added so that customers can only use the promo for incremental net-new seat adds
License cap expanded to 2400! Microsoft 365 Copilot CSP Getting Started 15% off promo extended
Starting immediately, Microsoft have increased the license cap for the Microsoft 365 Copilot Getting Started Promo via CSP to 2,400 licenses. The promo minimum remains at 10 licenses.
We're also thrilled to announce that the Microsoft 365 Copilot CSP Getting Started 15% off Promotion is extended through June 30th 2025.
Copilot in Azure
Microsoft announce that Copilot in Azure is now generally available, this can be accessed via the Azure Management Portal, Copilot in Azure is designed to help answer questions, complete tasks, and discover new Azure services. Copilot in Azure remains to be free, although excessive use of Microsoft’s generative AI service will result in throttling of access to the service.
Find the announcement here.
Purview Pay-As-You-Go meters
Microsoft announced a new Pay-As-You-Go meter option for Purview. The meters are available from 1st May 2022, and will be billed on a consumption basis via an Azure Subscription.
Find the announcement article here.
Hot patching for Windows Server
Microsoft announce that hot patching for Windows Server 2025 will be generally available as a subscription service on July 1st 2025, costing $1.50 per CPU core per month. This means Servers won’t require a reboot after installation, this has been available for the Azure Edition of Windows Server Datacenter, but is now available to servers running outside of Azure, as long as they’re connected to Azure Arc.
Find the announcement here.
Hot patching for Windows client
Microsoft announce that hot patching for Windows 11 Enterprise is now available. This will minimise user disruptions and enhance cyber security since hot patch updates don't require a PC to be restarted.
Find the announcement article here.
