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Buy or remove licenses for a Microsoft business subscription

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As an admin, you can buy or remove licenses for your business subscriptions in the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Before you begin

  • Find out what type of billing account you have.
  • If you have a Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) billing account type, you must be a Billing account owner or contributor, or a Billing profile owner or contributor to do the tasks in this article.
  • If you have a Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement (MOSA) billing account type, you must be at least a Billing Administrator to complete the tasks in this article. For more information, see About admin roles.
  • You can add users and assign licenses at the same time.
  • If you bought your subscription through a Microsoft representative, contact them directly to increase or reduce your license count.
  • You can't reduce the number of licenses for your subscription if all licenses are currently assigned to users. To reduce the number of licenses, first unassign one or more licenses from users, then remove the licenses from the subscription.

Note

If you're the person who signed up for the subscription, you're automatically a Billing account owner.

Buy or remove licenses if you have an MCA billing account type

Find out what type of billing account you have.

If you have an MCA billing account type, you can buy more licenses for your subscription at any time. However, you can only remove licenses from your subscription if it’s within seven days of buying or renewing your subscription. For more information, see Remove licenses from your subscription.

Watch: Buy new licenses

Check out this video and others on our YouTube channel.

If you found this video helpful, check out the complete training series for small businesses and those new to Microsoft 365 on YouTube.

Buy more licenses for your subscription

If you buy licenses in the middle of your billing period, you have seven days from when you buy them to reduce the number of licenses you bought.

  1. Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
    • If you’re using the Simplified view, select Subscriptions.
    • If you’re using the Dashboard view, go to the Billing > Your products page.
  2. Select the subscription that you want to change.
  3. On the subscription details page, select Buy licenses. What if I can't select the Buy licenses or Remove licenses buttons?
  4. Choose when to schedule the license change to happen.
    • If recurring billing is turned on, you can choose to make the change now, or when the subscription renews.
    • If recurring billing is turned off, you can only make the change now.
  5. To change the number of licenses, under New quantity in the Total licenses box, enter the total number of licenses that you want for this subscription. For example, if you have 100 licenses and you want to add five more, enter 105.
  6. Select Save.

Watch: Remove existing licenses

Check out this video and others on our YouTube channel.

If you found this video helpful, check out the complete training series for small businesses and those new to Microsoft 365 on YouTube.

Remove licenses from your subscription

You can only remove licenses from your subscription during a limited time window after you buy or renew your subscription, or if you recently bought more licenses. If the window is closed, the subscription details page lists the date when your plan changes take effect.

Note

You can only remove licenses when recurring billing is turned on.

  1. Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
    • If you’re using the Simplified view, select Subscriptions.
    • If you’re using the Dashboard view, go to the Billing > Your products page.
  2. Select the subscription that you want to change.
  3. On the subscription details page, select Remove licenses. What if I can't select the Buy licenses or Remove licenses buttons?
  4. Under New quantity in the Total licenses box, enter the total number of licenses that you want for this subscription. For example, if you have 100 licenses and you want to remove 25 licenses, enter 75.
  5. Select Save.

Buy or remove licenses if you have an MOSA billing account type

  1. Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
    • If you’re using the Simplified view, select Subscriptions.
    • If you’re using the Dashboard view, go to the Billing > Your products page.
  2. Select the subscription that you want to change.
  3. On the subscription details page, select Buy licenses or Remove licenses. What if I can't select the Buy licenses or Remove licenses buttons?
  4. To change the number of licenses, under New quantity in the Total licenses box, enter the total number of licenses that you want for this subscription. For example, if you have 100 licenses and you want to add five more, enter 105. If you want to remove five of them, enter 95.
  5. Select Save.

Add or reduce licenses for a prepaid subscription

Prepaid product licenses are issued to you as a 25-character alphanumeric code, called a product key. After you buy the licenses you need, you can add them to your subscription by using the following steps. You can also use a product key to extend the expiration date of your subscription.

Note

If you don't want to buy a new product key, you can always choose to add a credit card or debit card to your subscription to pay for more licenses. For more information, see What if I have a prepaid subscription?.

Add licenses to a prepaid subscription by using a product key

  1. Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
    • If you’re using the Simplified view, select Subscriptions.
    • If you’re using the Dashboard view, go to the Billing > Your products page.
  2. Select the subscription to which you want to add licenses.
  3. On the subscription details page, in the Licenses section, select Add more licenses.
  4. In the Add more licenses pane, select Use a new and unused product key, then select Next.
  5. Enter the product key, then select Next.

    Note

    If you have more than one product key, you can select Add another product key to enter them.

  6. Review your order details, then select Redeem.

Reduce licenses for a prepaid subscription by using a product key

If you used a product key to add licenses and you want to reduce the number of licenses in your subscription, you must renew your subscription with a product key that has fewer licenses.

  1. Buy a prepaid product key that has the desired number of licenses. For example, if you currently have 50 licenses, but you only need 30, buy a prepaid product key with 30 licenses.
  2. Reduce the total number of licenses that are currently assigned.
  3. Extend the subscription by using the new prepaid product key.

What if I can't select the Buy licenses or Remove licenses buttons?

This table describes the reasons why the Buy licenses or Remove licenses buttons aren't available, and possible solutions.

Reason Description Solution
A credit check is pending. If a credit check is pending, you can't buy or remove licenses until the credit check is complete. Check back later to see if the credit check is complete. Credit checks typically take up to two working days to complete.

After the credit check is complete, you can select the Buy licenses and Remove licenses buttons.
You activated the subscription by using a product key. If the subscription was bought and activated by using a 25-character product key, you see the word "Prepaid" in the Purchase channel column of the Your products page. See Add licenses to a prepaid subscription by using a product key.
You bought your subscription through a reseller. You see the word "Reseller" in the Purchase information section under Purchase channel on the subscription details page, and in the Purchase channel column of the Your products page. If you bought the subscription through a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partner, contact your CSP partner to buy more licenses.
You have a trial subscription. To view your trial subscriptions, select the filter button, then choose Trial. First buy your trial subscription, then you can buy more licenses.
The product has reached end of sale On the subscription details page, you see the following message: "This product is no longer available to buy, so some actions below are turned off." You can buy a different subscription. In some cases, you might be able to convert your subscription.

For more information, see Understand end-of-sale products in the Microsoft 365 admin center

When are the new licenses available to assign?

The payment method associated with your subscription or billing profile is charged as soon as you buy more licenses for a subscription. The licenses are immediately available for you to assign to users.

If you prepaid for your subscription with a product key, you can add more licenses by using another product key, or by adding a credit card or debit card to cover the extra cost of the new licenses. If your subscription is prepaid, you can't remove licenses.

How does buying or removing licenses affect my invoice?

Licenses added in the middle of your billing period appear on your next invoice. If you pay annually, you're invoiced within a month for these changes.

If you have an MCA billing account type, you have seven days to reduce the number of licenses. If you reduce the number of licenses after that seven day period, the change appears on the first invoice you receive after the subscription renewal date.

If you have an MOSA billing account type, the previous charge for the original number of licenses is deducted on your next invoice. We add a prorated charge for the time period with the original number of licenses and add a charge for the new license count. There's also a charge for the current license count for the remainder of your billing period.

Next steps

If you bought more licenses for your subscription, the next thing you should do is assign those licenses to users in your organization.

If you reduced the number of licenses for your subscription because someone left your organization, you might want to remove that user's account. To learn more, see Remove a former employee.

Related content

Assign Microsoft 365 licenses to users (article)
Understand subscriptions and licenses in Microsoft 365 for business (article)
Try or buy a Microsoft 365 subscription (article)