Microsoft 365
New CSP Copilot Business licenses default to usage-based billing
December 1, 2026 · In 46 days
Microsoft · high confidence · Last verified October 15, 2026
What breaks
New Microsoft 365 Copilot Business purchases through CSP, including standalone offers and bundles, enable usage-based billing by default. Pay-as-you-go is the default billing configuration, with a default spending limit of 4,000 Copilot Credits per user per month unless an admin changes it.
Who is affected
- CSP partners who sell new Microsoft 365 Copilot Business licenses
- Customers buying a new Copilot Business subscription through CSP on or after the effective date
- Customers adding seats to an existing Copilot Business subscription through the Partner Center portal
Source notes
The announcement says the change starts rolling out to eligible customers in supported markets. It is initially not available in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Italy, Korea, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain.
The default limit is adjustable. The post’s example: 100 Copilot Business users could consume up to 400,000 Copilot Credits in a month under the default limit, with charges based on actual usage.
Partner Center sandbox environments for technical readiness were scheduled for November 2, 2026. That sandbox date is not the billing effective date. Seat-count updates made only through the Partner Center API do not, by themselves, create the usage-based billing artifacts; portal seat adds do. See the Partner Center pricing article for that split.
Sources
Microsoft Learn: Partner Center announcements for October 2026
Microsoft Learn: Usage-based billing for Copilot Business in Partner Center
Date history
Published October 1, 2026
Partner Center announcements say the effective date was previously communicated as November 2, 2026, and is now December 1, 2026.