Microsoft Azure AD – licensing

This is part 3 of the Azure AD series. This time it’s about licensing Azure AD. I have described the different license types in the second part of the series. Today it’s about buying the licenses.

There are wasted possibilities for licensing. Here I introduce the ones I know.

Licensing via bundles

Azure-AD is also included in various cloud bundles. Depending on this, you may not need additional licenses. Here are a few examples:

  • Microsoft 365 F1, Microsoft 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 Business includes an Azure AD P1 Plan
  • Microsoft 365 E5 includes an Azure-AD P2 Plan
  • Office 365 includes always an Azure-AD Office365 Plan

These bands can usually also be licensed via the possibilities mentioned as well.

Online licensing on Microsoft.com (MOSP)

The easiest and probably most expensive way is to get Azure AD directly from Microsoft via the website. You can get Azure AD there at list price.

Licensing via volume licensing agreements

The Azure AD Plans Basic, P1 and P2 can also be licensed through Microsoft Volume License Agreements, such as MPSA, EA or CSP. Here the customer gets a discount level depending on the volume of licenses purchased. Since the licenses are sold via an official license distributor, further price differences can also be achieved here.

Licensing via resellers

Some companies, such as large cellular carriers, also sell corresponding licenses for companies. Since these orders are declining, they are usually cheaper than Microsoft. But here it is a matter of checking the contracts to see what minimum terms and similar details are involved.

This does not mean the German Office365 instance with the Deutsche Telekom as data trustee, this is another and probably the extinct product.

Conclusion on licensing opportunities

For customers with a certain size (from approx. 150 systems), volume licenses can be an economical option. If a volume license agreement already exists, it is likely to be cheaper than the other methods.

If you only need a few licenses, Microsoft or a reseller can do it for you.

I don’t know whether it is possible to license Azure-AD via Open-License.