Azure product transfer hub
This article describes the types of supported transfers for Azure subscriptions, reservations, and savings plans referred to as products. This article also helps you understand the requirements to transfer Azure products across different billing agreements and it provides links to other articles for in-depth information on specific transfer processes. Azure products are created using different Azure agreement types and a transfer from a source agreement type to another varies depending on the source and destination agreement types. Azure product transfers can be an automatic or a manual process, depending on the source and destination agreement type. If it's a manual process, the agreement types determine how much manual effort is needed.
Note
There are many types of Azure products, however not every product can be transferred from one type to another. Only supported product transfers are documented in this article. If you need help with a situation that isn't addressed in this article, you can create an Azure support request for assistance.
This article also helps you understand the things you should know before you transfer billing ownership of an Azure product to another account. You might want to transfer billing ownership of your Azure product if you're leaving your organization, or you want your product to be billed to another account. Transferring billing ownership to another account provides the administrators in the new account permission for billing tasks. They can change the payment method, view charges, and cancel the product.
Note
You can't transfer subscriptions to a Microsoft Entra B2B or Azure B2C tenant.
If you want to keep the billing ownership but change the type of product, see Switch your Azure subscription to another offer. To control who can access resources in the product, see Azure built-in roles.
If you're an Enterprise Agreement (EA) customer, your enterprise administrators can transfer billing ownership of your products between accounts in the Azure portal. For more information, see Change Azure subscription or account ownership.
This article focuses on product transfers. However, resource transfer is also discussed because it's necessary for some product transfer scenarios.
For more information about product transfers between different Microsoft Entra tenants, see Transfer an Azure subscription to a different Microsoft Entra directory.
Note
Most billing ownership transfers don't change the service tenant of the underlying products. They don't cause any downtime. However, even when a billing tenant does change, the change doesn't affect running services or resources.
Product transfer planning
As you begin to plan your product transfer, consider the information needed to answer the following questions:
- Why is the product transfer required?
- What's the wanted timeline for the product transfer?
- What's the product's current offer type and what do you want to transfer it to?
- Microsoft Online Service Program (MOSP), also known as pay-as-you-go
- Previous Azure offer in CSP
- Enterprise Agreement (EA)
- Microsoft Customer Agreement in the Enterprise motion (MCA-E) where you buy Azure services through a Microsoft representative. Also called an MCA enterprise agreement.
- Microsoft Customer Agreement that you bought through the Azure website (MCA-online).
- Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) - MCA managed by partner
- Others like Visual Studio, EOPEN, Azure Pass, and Free Trial
- Do you have the required permissions on the product to accomplish a transfer? Specific permission needed for each transfer type is listed in the following product transfer support table.
- Only the billing administrator of an account can transfer subscription ownership.
- Only a billing administrator owner can transfer reservation or savings plan ownership.
- Are there existing subscriptions that benefit from reservations or savings plans and do they need to be transferred with the subscription?
You should have an answer for each question before you continue with any transfer.
Answers to the above questions can help you to communicate early with others to set expectations and timelines. Product transfer effort varies greatly, but a transfer is likely to take longer than expected.
Understanding the answers to source and destination offer type questions is crucial to determine the technical steps required and to recognize any potential restrictions in the transfer process. Limitations are covered in more detail in the next section.
If you're not sure what type of subscription you have, see Check the type of your account.
Parent subscription cancellation and transfer limitations
If your subscription contains an active Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) agreement, you can't cancel or transfer the subscription because of the contractual obligation to fulfill the terms of the MACC commitment. The parent subscription must remain active as long as it contains an active MACC. Once the MACC expires, the subscription is able to be canceled or transferred.
Support plan transfers
You can't transfer support plans. If you have a support plan, then you should cancel it. Then you can buy a new one for the new agreement. If you cancel an Azure support plan, you get billed for the rest of the month. Cancelling a support plan doesn't result in a prorated refund. For more information about support plans, see Azure support plans.
For information about how to cancel a support plan, see Cancel your Azure subscription.
Product transfer support
The following table describes product transfer support between the different agreement types. Links are provided for more information about each type of transfer.
Currently transfer isn't supported for Free Trial products. For a workaround, see Move resources to new resource group or subscription.
Dev/Test products aren't shown in the following table. Transfers for Dev/Test products are handled in the same way as other product types. For example, an EA Dev/Test product transfer is handled in the way an EA product transfer.
Note
Reservations and savings plans transfer with most supported product transfers. However, there are some transfers where reservations or savings plans won't transfer, as noted in the following table.
| Source (current) product agreement type | Destination (future) product agreement type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| EA | MOSP (pay-as-you-go) | • Transfer from an EA enrollment to a MOSP subscription requires a billing support ticket. • Reservations and savings plans don't automatically transfer and transferring them isn't supported. |
| EA | MCA-online | • For details, see Transfer Azure subscription billing ownership for a Microsoft Customer Agreement. • Self-service reservation and savings plan transfers with no currency change are supported. • You can't transfer a savings plan purchased under an Enterprise Agreement enrollment that was bought in a non-USD currency. However, you can change the savings plan scope so that it applies to other subscriptions. |
| EA | EA | • Transferring between EA enrollments requires a billing support ticket. • Reservations and savings plans automatically get transferred during EA to EA transfers, except in transfers with a currency change. • Transfer within the same enrollment is the same action as changing the account owner. For details, see Change Azure subscription or account ownership. |
| EA | MCA-E | • Transferring all enrollment products is completed as part of the MCA transition process from an EA. For more information, see Complete Enterprise Agreement tasks in your billing account for a Microsoft Customer Agreement. • For details about how to transfer an EA enrollment to a Microsoft Customer Agreement (enterprise), see Set up your billing account for a Microsoft Customer Agreement. • If you want to transfer specific products but not all of the products in an enrollment, see Transfer Azure subscription billing ownership for a Microsoft Customer Agreement. • Self-service reservation transfers with no currency change are supported. When there's a currency change during or after an enrollment transfer, reservations paid for monthly are canceled for the source enrollment. Cancellation happens at the time of the next monthly payment for an individual reservation. The cancellation is intentional and only affects monthly reservation purchases. For more information, see Transfer Azure Enterprise enrollment accounts and subscriptions. • You can't transfer a savings plan purchased under an Enterprise Agreement enrollment that was bought in a non-USD currency. You can change the savings plan scope so that it applies to other subscriptions. |
| EA | CSP (MCA managed by partner) | • Transfer is only allowed for direct EA to CSP (MCA managed by partner). A direct EA is signed between Microsoft and an EA customer. • Only CSP direct bill partners certified as an Azure Expert Managed Services Provider (MSP) can request to transfer Azure products for their customers that have a Direct Enterprise Agreement (EA). For more information, see Get billing ownership of Azure subscriptions to your MPA account. Product transfers are allowed only for customers that accepted a Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) and purchased an Azure plan with the CSP Program. • Transfer from EA Government to CSP (MCA managed by partner) isn't supported. • There are limitations and restrictions. For more information, see Transfer EA subscriptions to a CSP partner. |
| MCA-online | MOSP (pay-as-you-go) | • Microsoft doesn't support the transfer, so you must move resources yourself. For more information, see Move resources to a new resource group or subscription. • Reservations and savings plans don't automatically transfer and transferring them isn't supported. |
| MCA-online | MCA-online | • For details, see Transfer Azure subscription billing ownership for a Microsoft Customer Agreement. • Self-service reservation and savings plan transfers are supported. |
| MCA-online | EA | • Microsoft doesn't support the transfer, so you must move resources yourself. For more information, see Move resources to a new resource group or subscription. • Reservations and savings plans don't automatically transfer and transferring them isn't supported. |
| MCA-online | MCA-E | • For details, see Transfer Azure subscription billing ownership for a Microsoft Customer Agreement. • Self-service reservation and savings plan transfers are supported. |
| MCA-online | CSP (MCA managed by partner) | • Microsoft doesn't support the transfer, so you must move resources yourself. For more information, see Move resources to a new resource group or subscription. • Reservations and savings plans don't automatically transfer and transferring them isn't supported. |
| MCA-E | EA | • Microsoft doesn't support the transfer, so you must move resources yourself. For more information, see Move resources to a new resource group or subscription. • Reservations and savings plans don't automatically transfer and transferring them isn't supported. |
| MCA-E | MOSP | • Microsoft doesn't support the transfer, so you must move resources yourself. For more information, see Move resources to a new resource group or subscription. • Reservations and savings plans don't automatically transfer and transferring them isn't supported. |
| MCA-E | MCA-online | • For details, see Transfer Azure subscription billing ownership for a Microsoft Customer Agreement. • Self-service reservation and savings plan transfers are supported. |
| MCA-E | MCA-E | • For details, see Transfer Azure subscription billing ownership for a Microsoft Customer Agreement. • Self-service reservation and savings plan transfers are supported. |
| MCA-E | CSP (MCA managed by partner) | • Only CSP direct bill partners certified as an Azure Expert Managed Services Provider (MSP) can request to transfer Azure products for their customers that have a Microsoft Customer Agreement with a Microsoft representative. For more information, see Get billing ownership of Azure subscriptions to your MPA account. Product transfers are allowed only for customers that accepted a Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) and purchased an Azure plan with the CSP Program. • Self-service reservation and savings plan transfers are supported. • There are limitations and restrictions. For more information, see Transfer EA subscriptions to a CSP partner. |
| Previous Azure offer in CSP | Previous Azure offer in CSP | • Requires a billing support ticket. • Reservations don't automatically transfer and transferring them isn't supported. |
| Previous Azure offer in CSP | CSP (MCA managed by partner) | For details, see Transfer a customer's Azure subscriptions to a different CSP (under an Azure plan). |
| CSP (MCA managed by partner) | EA | • Automatic transfer isn't supported. Any transfer requires resources to move from the existing CSP (MCA managed by partner) product manually to a newly created or an existing EA product. • Use the information in the Perform resource transfers section. • Reservations and savings plan don't automatically transfer and transferring them isn't supported. |
| CSP (MCA managed by partner) | MCA-online | • Microsoft doesn't support the transfer, so you must move resources yourself. For more information, see Move resources to a new resource group or subscription. • Reservations and savings plans don't automatically transfer and transferring them isn't supported. |
| CSP (MCA managed by partner) | CSP (MCA managed by partner) | • For details, see Transfer a customer's Azure subscriptions and/or Reservations (under an Azure plan) to a different CSP. |
| MOSP (pay-as-you-go) | MOSP (pay-as-you-go) | • If you're changing the billing owner of the subscription, see Transfer billing ownership of an Azure subscription to another account. • Reservations don't automatically transfer so you must open a billing support ticket to transfer them. |
| MOSP (pay-as-you-go) | MCA-online | • For details, see Transfer Azure subscription billing ownership for a Microsoft Customer Agreement. • Self-service reservation transfers are supported. |
| MOSP (pay-as-you-go) | EA | • If you're transferring the admin account to the EA enrollment, see Transfer a subscription to an EA. • If you're transferring subscriptions to the EA enrollment, you must create a billing support ticket. |
| MOSP (pay-as-you-go) | MCA-E | • For details, see Transfer Azure subscription billing ownership for a Microsoft Customer Agreement. • Self-service reservation transfers are supported. |
Perform resource transfers
Some product transfers require you to manually move Azure resources between subscription. Moving resources can incur downtime and there are various limitations to move Azure resource types such as VMs, NSGs, App Services, and others.
Microsoft doesn't provide a tool to automatically move resources between subscriptions. When needed, you must manually move Azure resources between subscriptions. For details, see Move resources to a new resource group or subscription. Extra time and planning are needed when you have a large number of resources to move.
Other planning considerations
Read the following sections to learn more about other considerations before you start a product transfer.
Transfer terms and conditions
When you send or accept a transfer, you agree to terms and conditions. The following information provides more details.
Send transfer
When you send a transfer request, must select the Send transfer request option. By making the selection, you also agree to the following terms and conditions:
By sending this transfer request, you acknowledge and agree that the selected items will transfer to your account as of the Transition Date (date when the transfer completed successfully). You will be responsible to Microsoft for all ongoing, scheduled billings related to the transfer items as of the Transition Date; provided that Microsoft will move any prepaid subscriptions (including reserved instances) to your account. You agree that you may not cancel any prepaid subscriptions transferred to your account.
Transfer acceptance
When you accept a transfer, must select the Review + validate option. By making the selection, you also agree to the following terms and conditions:
By accepting this transfer request, you acknowledge and agree that the indicated items will transfer to the nominated destination account as of the Transition Date (date when the transfer completed successfully). Any prepaid subscriptions, if selected, (including reserved instances) will be moved to the destination account and, as of the Transition Date, you will no longer be responsible to Microsoft for ongoing payment obligations (if any) related to the transfer items.
Resources transfer with subscriptions
When only billing ownership is changing, then resources aren't affected. All resources from the subscriptions like VMs, disks, and websites transfer. However, when you do a resource move or change the service tenant, then resources could be affected.
Transfer a product from one account to another
If you're an administrator of two accounts, you can transfer a product between your accounts. Your accounts are conceptually considered accounts of two different users so you can transfer products between your accounts.
To view the steps needed to transfer your product, see Transfer billing ownership of an Azure subscription.
Transferring a product shouldn't create downtime
If you transfer a product to an account in the same Microsoft Entra tenant, there's no effect on the resources running in the subscription. However, context information saved in PowerShell isn't updated so you might have to clear it or change settings. When you do a resource move or change the service tenant, then resources could be affected.
New account usage and billing history
The only information available to users for the new account is usage and billing history starting from the time of transfer. Usage and billing history doesn't transfer with the product.
Remaining product credits
If you have a Visual Studio or Microsoft Cloud Partner Program product, you get monthly credits. Your credit doesn't carry forward with the product in the new account. The user who accepts the transfer request needs to have a Visual Studio license to accept the transfer request. The product uses the Visual Studio credit that's available in the user's account. For more information, see Transferring Visual Studio and Partner Network subscriptions.
Users keep access to transferred resources
Keep in mind that users with access to resources in a product keep their access when billing ownership is transferred. However, administrator roles and Azure role assignments might get removed. Losing access occurs when your account is in a Microsoft Entra tenant other than the product's tenant and the user who sent the transfer request moves the product to your account's tenant.
You can view the users who have Azure role assignments to access resources in the product in the Azure portal. Visit the Subscription page in the Azure portal. Then select the product you want to check, and then select Access control (IAM) from the left-hand pane. Next, select Role assignments from the top of the page. The role assignments page lists all users who have access on the product.
Even if the Azure role assignments are removed during transfer, users in the original owner account might continue to have access to the product through other security mechanisms, including:
- Management certificates that grant the user admin rights to subscription resources. For more information, see Create and Upload a Management Certificate for Azure.
- Access keys for services like Storage. For more information, see About Azure storage accounts.
- Remote Access credentials for services like Azure Virtual Machines.
When the recipient needs to restrict access to resources, they should consider updating any secrets associated with the service. Most resources can be updated. Sign in to the Azure portal and then on the Hub menu, select All resources. Next, Select the resource. Then in the resource page, select Settings. There you can view and update existing secrets.
You pay for usage when you receive ownership
Your account is responsible for payment for any usage that is reported from the time of transfer onwards. There might be some usage that took place before the transfer but was reported afterwards. The usage is included in your account's bill.
Transfer Enterprise Agreement product ownership
The Enterprise Administrator can update account ownership for any account, even after an original account owner is no longer part of the organization. For more information about transferring Azure Enterprise Agreement accounts, see Azure Enterprise transfers.
Supplemental information about transfers
The following sections provide additional information about transferring subscriptions.
Cancel a prior support plan
When you move your Azure subscriptions to a new agreement, remember to cancel your existing Azure support plan. It doesn't automatically move with the subscriptions. For example, when you transfer a Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement (an Azure subscription purchased on the web) to the Microsoft Customer Agreement. To cancel your support plan:
Use your account administrator credentials for your old account if the credentials differ from the ones used to access your new Microsoft Customer Agreement account.
- Sign in to the Azure portal.
- Navigate to Cost Management + Billing.
- Select Billing Scopes in the left pane.
- Select the billing account associated with your Microsoft support plan.
- For a Microsoft Customer Agreement:
- Select Recurring charges in the left pane.
- In the right pane, to the right of the support plan line item, select the ellipsis (...) and then select Turn off auto-renewal.
- For a Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement (MOSA):
- Select Subscriptions in the left pane.
- Select the support plan subscription in the right pane and then select Cancel.
- For a Microsoft Customer Agreement:
Access your historical invoices
You might want to access your invoices for your old Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement account (an Azure subscription purchased on the web) after you transfer billing ownership to your new Microsoft Customer Agreement account. To do so, use the following steps:
Use your account administrator credentials for your old account if the credentials differ from the ones used to access your new Microsoft Customer Agreement account.
- Sign in to the Azure portal at https://portal.azure.com/.
- Navigate to Cost Management + Billing.
- Select Billing Scopes in the left pane.
- Select the billing account associated with your Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement account.
- Select Invoices in the left pane to access your historical invoices.
Disabled subscriptions
Disabled subscriptions can't be transferred. Subscriptions must be in active state to transfer their billing ownership.
Azure Marketplace products transfer
Azure Marketplace products transfer along with their respective subscriptions.
Azure Reservations transfer
If you're transferring Enterprise Agreement (EA) subscriptions or Microsoft Customer Agreements, Azure Reservations automatically move with the subscriptions.
Access to Azure services
Access for existing users, groups, or service principals that was assigned using Azure role-based access control (Azure RBAC) isn't affected during the transition.
Charges for transferred subscription
Any charges after the time of transfer appear on the new account's invoice. Charges before the time of transfer appear on the previous account's invoice.
The original billing owner of the subscriptions is responsible for any charges that were reported up to the time that the transfer completes. Your invoice section is responsible for charges reported from the time of transfer onwards. There might be some charges that happened before the transfer but were reported afterward. The charges appear on your invoice section.
Cancel a transfer request
You can cancel the transfer request until the request is approved or declined. To cancel the transfer request, go to the transfer details page and select cancel from the bottom of the page.
Software as a Service (SaaS) transfer
SaaS products don't transfer with the subscriptions. Ask the user to Contact Azure support to transfer billing ownership of SaaS products. Along with the billing ownership, the user can also transfer resource ownership. Resource ownership lets you conduct management operations like deleting and viewing the details of the product. The user must be a resource owner on the SaaS product to transfer resource ownership.