Pricing and Licensing of Dynamics 365 Sales
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Anyone who deals with the pricing and license models of Microsoft's business solutions - especially with the products of the Dynamics 365 platform - will never get bored. Much has changed in Microsoft's pricing and licensing model in recent years, for example:
- the transition from comprehensive βone size fits allβ licensing plans to βlicensing Γ la carteβ and the introduction of basic and additional licenses in 2019
- the transition from legacy CSP to NCE (New Commerce Experience) and the introduction of runtime options in 2021
- or the simple price adjustment from April 1, 2023, as the euro (together with other currencies) has lost value against the US dollar
Different subscription models, basic and additional licenses and several different user types and authorizations ... there are a lot of possibilities and many price options per product to show.
Especially products such as Dynamics 365 Sales, the CRM system from Microsoft, which itself is a special case as it exists in three variants
- Sales Professional
- Sales Enterprise
- Sales Premium
are usually somewhat neglected here. Dynamics 365 Sales (as well as some other Dynamics products, such as Marketing or Business Central) always has a few more details that go unnoticed in a general description of the pricing and license model.
That's why we're focusing exclusively on Microsoft's CRM system for pricing and licensing in this blog post. And before we get started, some good news: you don't need to have any prior knowledge of the Microsoft pricing model to understand the Sales license model. Where necessary, we will simply explain this in the appropriate places.
2. Sales Professional, Sales Enterprise, Sales Premium
As mentioned at the beginning, Dynamics 365 Sales is available in three versions - Professional, Enterprise and Premium. The more expensive the version, the more functions are included in this CRM variant. An overview of the range of functions and the most important differences can be found in the table. We recommend a personal consultation to help you decide which version is right for you.
| Sales Professional | Sales Enterprise | Sales Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core functions Sales processes | x | x | x |
| Integration von Office-Programmen (Outlook, Exchange, Excel, OneNote, Teams, OneDrive) | x | x | x |
| Real-time analyses, sales reports and individual dashboards | x | x | x |
| Integration of knowledge management | x | x | x |
| Security roles on a user basis | x | x | x |
| Security roles on a team basis | x | x | |
| Representation of product families and hierarchies | x | x | |
| Hierarchical representation of business areas | x | x | |
| Integration of Power Apps and Power Automate | x | x | |
| Pipeline management (e.g. creation of Kanban boards) | x | x | |
| Number of individual dashboards | 5 | unlimited | unlimited |
| Extension with individual tables | 15 | unlimited | unlimited |
| Connection of Sales Insights (sales acceleration) | x | x | |
| Connection of Viva Sales (AI support, intelligent forecasts) | x |
And here you will find the basic prices of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales Professional, Enterprise and Premium. Shown are
- the monthly costs
- per user
- for a subscription term of at least one year
| Sales Professional | Sales Enterprise | Sales Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Licence | 60,80 β¬ | 88,90 β¬ | 126,40 β¬ |
| Attach Licence | 18,70 β¬ | 18,70 β¬ |
In this overview, we also show you the costs for the basic and additional licenses. We will explain what this is all about in detail in the next section.
3. Base- and Attach Licence for Dynamics 365 Sales
Many products on the Dynamics 365 platform are available as a basic license (Base License) and as an additional license (Attach License). The Base License is significantly more expensive than the Attach License. For anyone who does not yet know anything about Microsoft's licensing model, these are certainly confusing prices and terms, as both license types are full versions. Yes, you read that correctly: regardless of whether it is a basic or additional license, the user always has the same rights - namely all of them. But what justifies this difference in price? And why does this not apply to Sales Premium? To understand this, we need to dig a little deeper.
As you know, in addition to Dynamics 365 Sales, there are other workspaces on the Dynamics 365 platform such as
- Customer Service
- Field Service
- Finance
- Supply Chain Management
- Commerce
- Human Ressources
- Project Operations
- Marketing
- Business Central
And a few more. We have listed and linked the most important ones here.
Basic and additional licenses always come into play if you as a user want to license at least 2 of these work areas.
- If you need a sales license for one user, this is always the (more expensive) base license
- If you need two licenses for one user - e.g. Sales and Finance - then you need one (expensive) main license and can choose the (cheaper) attach license for the other product.
- The same applies if you need 3 or more licenses. A base license is sufficient - apart from exceptions, which we will come to later. Attach licenses are sufficient for all other programs.
![[Translate to English:] Pricing and Licensing Sales - Die Regeln bei Basis- und Zusatzlizenz](/fileadmin/_processed_/2/2/csm_Pricing-and-Licensing-Sales-Checkliste_46f4d17aec.jpg "[Translate to English:] Pricing and Licensing Sales - Die Regeln bei Basis- und Zusatzlizenz")
- The base license and all other attach licenses are all full-user licenses. They only differ in price, but are completely identical in their range of functions.
- The Device User, Activity User and Team Member license types have a more limited range of functions and are therefore cheaper. But we'll come to that later.
- You can get both license types in a monthly, annual or three-year subscription. More on this later.
- Users who only need one workspace always need the more expensive base license.
- Users who need several workspaces require an expensive base license and attach licenses are sufficient for the rest.
And the most important rule
The base license must always be the most expensive license.
- For example, Sales Enterprise as a base license (β¬88.90) and Finance as an attach license (β¬28.10) is not possible.
- Finance as a base license (β¬168.50) and Sales Enterprise as an attach license (β¬18.70) is the only possible combination here.
- Sales Enterprise as a base license (β¬88.90) and Field Service as an attach license (β¬18.70) is again possible.
- However, Sales Professional as a base license (β¬ 60.80) and Field Service as an attach license (β¬ 18.70) is not possible. If you choose Sales Professional, this should be the other way around.
As you can see, in order to understand when Dynamics 365 Sales must be a basic license and when it can be an additional license, you need to know the prices and possible combinations of all work areas.
* Asterisk text
The system of base and attach licenses in Microsoft's pricing and licensing model shown here does not apply to Marketing and, with restrictions, to Business Central.
A little tip
The attach licenses for Sales Enterprise and Sales Professional cost the same at β¬18.70. So if you choose Sales as an attach license (e.g. because the more expensive Finance license has to become your base license), always choose Sales Enterprise and you will receive the slightly more expensive Sales version.
These are the rules that apply to all work areas of the platform. Now we come to an exception that only applies to Sales: Sales Premium.
The exception to this rule with Sales Premium
Sales Premium is not available as an attach license. If you purchase the high-end version of Sales with all functions and intelligent insights, you will therefore pay β¬126.40 per user per month (the price applies to the example annual subscription).
- If you would now like to combine Sales Premium with other work areas whose base licenses are cheaper than β¬126.40 (e.g. Customer Service, Field Service, Human Resources, Project Operations), the above rule applies and the additional license is sufficient for the second work area.
- If you would like to combine Sales Premium with work areas whose base license is more expensive than β¬126.40 (e.g. Finance, Supply Chain Management, Commerce cost β¬168.50 each), you will need two base licenses for this combination. In this case, the rule does not apply.
As just shown, Dynamics 365 Sales is available in three variants - Professional, Enterprise, Premium - of which you can purchase two of these variants - Professional and Enterprise - as a base or attach license. Premium is always a base license. This results in 5 prices.
But there is more. Since March 10, 2021 - the changeover from the old model (Legacy CSP) to NCE (New Commerce Experience) - the subscription term you choose also affects the prices. Here you have the option between
- Monatlichem Abo (monatlich zahlen, monatlich kΓΌndigen)
- Jahresabo (monatlich oder jΓ€hrlich zahlen, jΓ€hrlich zu einem Stichtag kΓΌndigen)
- Drei-Jahresabo (monatlich, jΓ€hrlich oder einmalig zahlen, zu einem Stichtag alle drei Jahre kΓΌndigen)
The following applies here:
Although the monthly subscription is the most flexible to cancel, it is also around 20% more expensive than the other two. We therefore always recommend the annual or three-year subscription.
- Although the three-year subscription ties you in for a long period of time, it has one major advantage: you have a full price guarantee for 3 years.
- Example: 1.4.2023 was the key date on which Microsoft raised its prices by 11% or adjusted the euro prices to the US dollar prices. Anyone who had a three-year subscription before April 1 will probably still benefit from the lower price until 2026. With an annual subscription, it is still 12 months.
Back to the prices: If you integrate the subscription term options into the pricing of Sales, you now have 15 possible prices that the Sales license can cost.
| Sales Professional | Sales Enterprise | Sales Premium | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base Licence | 1 year, monthly billing | 60,80 β¬ | 88,90 β¬ | 126,40 β¬ |
| Base Licence | 1 month, monthly billing | 72,96 β¬ | 106,68 β¬ | 151,68 β¬ |
| Base Licence | 1 year, annual billing | 729,60 β¬ | 1066,80 β¬ | 1516,80 β¬ |
| Attach Licence | 1 year, monthly billing | 18,70 β¬ | 18,70 β¬ | |
| Attach Licence | 1 month, monthly billing | 22,44 β¬ | 22,44 β¬ | |
| Attach Licence | 1 year, annual billing | 224,40 β¬ | 224,40 β¬ |
As mentioned, there are other ways of licensing Microsoft products, such as the full version or licensing per user.
Of course, you also have the option of choosing cheaper licenses with limited functionality for the workspaces shown. Or you can choose device-based licenses to which several users have access. These additional user types are called:
- Device User
- Activity User
- Team Member
- Human Resources Self Service
For Dynamics 365 Sales, there is only the Device User and the Team Member. The Device User is only available for Sales Enterprise. The Team Member is available for all work areas.
Device User
The device user is a license that is linked to a device that is used by several users who do not have their own license. As a device-based license can therefore be used by any number of users, the price of this license is slightly higher than the price of a full version.
Team Member
The Team Member license, on the other hand, is a user-related license with limited functions. Here you have all read rights but only limited write and editing rights. This license type is very attractively priced.
There is no distinction between base and attach licenses for Device Users and Team Members. There are only price differences with regard to the subscription term.
| Device User | Team Member | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year, monthly billing | 135,70 β¬ | 7,55 β¬ |
| 1 month, monthly billing | 162,84 β¬ | 9,00 β¬ |
| 1 year, annual billing | 1628,40 β¬ | 90,00 β¬ |
6 Dynamics 365 Sales and Dynamics 365 Business Central
A popular and frequently used combination of Microsoft workspaces is Dynamics 365 Business Central as an ERP system and Dynamics 365 Sales as a CRM system. There are also a few licensing peculiarities here, as Business Central is available in two variants (Essentials and Premium) and both variants are only available as a base license and not as an attach license.
These combinations are possible:
- Business Central - whether Essentials or Premium - is the base license; if you would like to add Sales Professional, this is possible as an inexpensive attach license.
- Business Central - whether Essentials or Premium - is the base license; if you want to add Sales Enterprise, you need a second base license. This is despite the fact that the Business Central Premium license is more expensive than the Sales Enterprise license. So there is an exception to the rule here.
Would you like to implement Dynamics 365 Sales without other workspaces? Then you will find all the information you need on pricing and licensing in this blog post. The exceptions are described and the most important information on the interaction between Dynamics 365 Sales and Business Central has also been provided.
It usually gets trickier if you need different combinations of applications for different users and you are looking more towards Finance & Supply Chain Management in the ERP system. In this case, you cannot avoid looking at Microsoft's current pricing and license model in its entirety. We last described this here on our blog in May 2021.
Pricing & Licensing von Microsoft Dynamics 365
An update of the entire model is in progress. You can already download the prices that have been valid since April 2023 as a PDF.
Dynamics 365 β the current prices (as of April 1, 2023)
Or simply leave us a message in the contact form below. Because calculating and knowing how much which licenses and which combinations cost is only half the battle.
Because do you know:
- How many licenses you need in total?
- Whether you will benefit from Microsoft promotions and discounts?
- How expensive your entire CRM / ERP project will be?
These and other questions are very important, but can often only be answered individually. We are happy to support you.
