Your Microsoft 365 renews at the new price

Microsoft's own pricing announcement sets out the new list prices, per user per month:

• Business Basic: from $6 to $7
• Business Standard: from $12.50 to $14
• Business Premium: unchanged

These are list prices in US dollars. What you pay depends on your country, your currency and whether you buy through a reseller, so read your own invoice rather than this page.

The rise does not hit everyone on 1 July. Microsoft's announcement says: "Existing customers remain on current pricing until renewal." A firm whose annual plan renews in October pays the old price until October, then the new one.

Picture a 10-person office on Business Standard. The rise is $1.50 per user per month. That is $18 per user a year, so $180 across the office. On Business Basic the rise is $1 per user per month, so $120 a year for the same ten people. Neither figure ends a business. Both arrive without anyone deciding to spend the money.

That is the pattern in the wider post we have written on software renewal price increases: the bill goes up at renewal, on a date nobody put in a calendar.

Here is what Microsoft's cancel page says. The rules depend on your billing account type, which your Microsoft 365 admin centre shows.

On the newer account type, the refund window is seven days. If your billing account is a Microsoft Customer Agreement, you can cancel for a prorated refund only "within seven days after the start or renewal". Miss that, and you can only switch off recurring billing. You keep access until the term ends, and you do not get the money back.

Paying monthly does not mean you can stop monthly. On the same account type, for an annual plan paid monthly, Microsoft says: "If you have an annual subscription and are paying monthly, you're charged each month for the remainder of your subscription term." Monthly instalments look like a monthly contract. They are not.

Older accounts are different. Accounts on Microsoft's older agreement (a Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement) get a prorated credit or refund when they cancel, self-serve for up to 25 licences. If you are not sure which type you have, your billing admin can tell you.

If you buy through a reseller, the reseller's terms apply as well. Ask them what they offer before you assume the rules above are yours.

A price rise you hear about in July is useless in October unless you act on it before the renewal. The practical window is the days before the renewal date, when you can still decide whether you need every seat.

Three things are worth doing:

1. Find the renewal date. It is in the billing area of your Microsoft 365 admin account. Write it down somewhere other than that account.
2. Count your seats. Renewals are the one moment you can change the number. Leavers, shared mailboxes and unused seats cost the full new price.
3. Decide before the date, not after. If you want to switch off recurring billing, do it before renewal. After renewal, on the newer account type, your easy exit is the seven-day refund window, and on an annual plan paid monthly there is no refund route at all.

Keep a screenshot of what you set and when.

Renewly is built for this: the last day you can still say no, and an email before it. If you only want one date, our free renewal reminder works without an account. Tell it the renewal date and notice period and it emails you ahead of time. If you want the contract read for you, start free: your first five contracts cost nothing.

Our Microsoft 365 page sets out the clause in Microsoft's own words with the source link and the date we checked it.

This post gives general information from Microsoft's published pages, checked on 3 October 2026. Your own agreement may differ, and prices vary by country. It is not legal or financial advice.

Sources

Both pages checked on 3 October 2026.

• Microsoft 365 packaging and pricing updates (Microsoft licensing news)
• Cancel your Microsoft 365 for business subscription (Microsoft Learn)