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Purchase channels · CSP, Open Value, or Microsoft directly
The most common licensing question, and the one resellers answer least clearly. Microsoft sells each product through a fixed set of channels: most through Cloud Solution Provider, some also under Open Value, a few only under Open Value, and a few only directly. The channel decides the commitment, the invoice, and whether we can supply it at all.
The whole table
CSP is our default channel: monthly or annual, invoiced in your currency by our entity in your country. Open Value is the three-year agreement with Software Assurance. “Not through us” means Microsoft sells it directly or only through partners with an authorisation we do not hold.
| Product | Channel | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 (Business, E3, E5, F-plans) | CSP, monthly or annual | Subscriptions only; no volume-licensing version worth having. Invoiced by our entity in your currency. → |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | CSP, annual | Add-on to a qualifying plan; per user per month, annual commitment. → |
| Exchange Online, SharePoint, Teams Phone, Defender, Purview, Entra ID, Intune (standalone) | CSP | All standalone cloud services and add-ons. → |
| Azure | CSP or direct | Consumption through CSP with our support, or an Azure plan you already hold; Hybrid Benefit and dev/test rates apply either way. → |
| Dynamics 365 | CSP | Sales, Customer Service, Business Central and the rest, per user per month. → |
| Windows Server (perpetual) | CSP perpetual, or Open Value with SA | CSP: one payment, no agreement. Open Value: three annual payments with Software Assurance (new versions, licence mobility, failover, Azure Hybrid Benefit). → |
| Windows Server (subscription) | CSP, 1-year or 3-year | Subscription core licences with Azure Hybrid Benefit and failover rights included. → |
| SQL Server (perpetual) | CSP perpetual, or Open Value with SA | Same choice as Windows Server; a passive replica is free only with SA or a subscription. → |
| SQL Server (subscription) | CSP, 1-year or 3-year | Per-core subscription with passive replica and unlimited virtualisation rights on Enterprise. → |
| Windows Server CALs, RDS CALs, SQL CALs | CSP perpetual, or Open Value | Perpetual through either; subscription CALs through CSP. → |
| Office LTSC, Visio, Project (perpetual) | CSP perpetual, or Open Value with SA | One payment through CSP; with Software Assurance under Open Value. → |
| Windows 11 Enterprise / Pro upgrade | CSP (E3/E5 subscription), or Open Value | Enterprise as a subscription through CSP; Pro upgrades and Enterprise with SA under Open Value. → |
| Visual Studio Professional / Enterprise subscription with MSDN | Open Value only | Not sold through CSP. Three-year agreement, paid once a year, from five subscriptions. Microsoft sells single seats directly to individuals and to companies under five. → |
| Visual Studio Professional, monthly cloud subscription | CSP (Azure Marketplace) | The editor and Azure DevOps only; no dev/test catalogue, no Azure credit, no perpetual rights. → |
| Visual Studio Professional 2026, perpetual, no subscription | CSP perpetual | One payment, that version only. → |
| Visual Studio Community | Free from Microsoft | Not sold by anyone. Free for individuals, open source, academia, and organisations with five or fewer developers, under 250 PCs and under $1 million revenue. → |
| GitHub Enterprise, GitHub Copilot | CSP or included | GitHub Enterprise is included in Visual Studio subscriptions; sold separately through CSP. → |
| Enterprise Agreement (any product) | Licensing Solution Partners only | We are not one. Organisations of 500 or more that want an EA ask Microsoft for an LSP; everything an EA holds can also be bought through CSP and Open Value. → |
| Purchases by a private individual | Microsoft directly | We sell to legal entities only. Individuals buy from the Microsoft Store, the Visual Studio Marketplace, or an Azure account in their own name. → |
Sources: Microsoft partner programme terms and the September 2026 price lists. We hold CSP authorisations in five regions and sell Open Value in the euro area and the UK; we are not a Licensing Solution Partner and cannot sell Enterprise Agreements; we sell to legal entities only. Every claim with its source →
Questions
No. Visual Studio Professional and Enterprise subscriptions with MSDN are sold under Open Value (and Enterprise Agreements), not through Cloud Solution Provider. CSP has only the monthly cloud subscription without the dev/test catalogue. We sell the Open Value subscription; it needs five or more.
Yes: both as one-payment perpetual licences and as 1-year or 3-year subscriptions. Open Value is the alternative when you want Software Assurance and three annual payments.
Open Value Subscription exists for desktop software, but Microsoft 365 is a cloud subscription and CSP is the channel built for it; no volume-licensing route is better.
No. Enterprise Agreements are sold only by Microsoft-authorised Licensing Solution Partners. Everything an EA contains can be bought through CSP and Open Value, which we do sell.
No; we sell to legal entities. Individuals buy Visual Studio from Microsoft directly, or use Community free.