February 2024 Update: At this time, we are limiting access to the Microsoft 365 developer subscription to developers and/or organizations with active subscriptions to Visual Studio Enterprise. The following Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program participants can contact their Microsoft partner to be added to an allow list to receive access to a developer subscription:
- ISV Success
- Solutions Partner
- Specialization/Expert
- Managed Partners
- Premier or Unified Support plan members
If you do not currently qualify for a developer subscription, you can purchase a single license Microsoft 365 plan and configure it for development. You also have the option to purchase a Copilot license as an add-on. Members who currently have a subscription are not affected by this change.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Microsoft 365 Developer Program is an excellent resource for developers looking to create solutions for the Microsoft 365 platform. The program offers a Microsoft 365 E5 developer subscription, access to sandbox environments, and a range of developer tools and documentation. Additionally, members have the opportunity to provide feedback to help shape the future of the platform.
Program updates
We value your trust. As part of the Microsoft Secure Future initiative, we’ve made the following improvements to the Microsoft 365 Developer Program.
Updated service plans. The Microsoft 365 developer subscription now includes service plans that were previously missing. For a complete list of the service plans that are included, see Product names and service plan identifiers for licensing.
Geographic limitations. For technical and security reasons, the Microsoft 365 Developer Program only supports a subset of countries/regions listed here: Microsoft 365 International Availability. We review our supported country list regularly. If you are unable to sign up from your country or region, then it means we do not support it at this time.
More frequent renewal checks. To offer a higher level of service to our valued customers, we are shortening the time between renewal checks. Renewal depends on meeting developer activity requirements and following our terms and conditions. This subscription should never be used for production purposes. Data can be removed, and membership suspended if we find violations of the terms and conditions.
Removal of the Microsoft Office 365 E3 Developer offer. We’re finishing the process for removal of the original Office 365 E3 developer offer. If you are one of our first developer program members and you are still using the old subscription, you must migrate to a new paid plan before April 1, 2024. Compare Microsoft 365 Plans | Microsoft 365.
Early access to new and improved services. Have you been caught off guard by a feature update or code change in your production tenant? The developer program is switching to preview mode. Coming soon, you can preview features in the Microsoft 365 Developer E5 subscription. This change will give you early access to updates and new features to test existing solutions, plus an opportunity to provide feedback to the product team to help reduce disruption before the change is generally available.
For more information about the Secure Future Initiative, see the following:
- Announcing Microsoft Secure Future Initiative to advance security engineering | Microsoft Security Blog
- Microsoft Built-In Security – Secure Platforms | Microsoft
Microsoft 365 developer research panel
We are creating a research panel of Microsoft 365 developers who can help guide us and influence the program development. By joining, you can help us determine and prioritize upcoming features, share your challenges, review design prototypes, and offer suggestions for program improvement. When you join the panel, we’ll reach out to you to share designs and a variety of studies to get your feedback.
As part of the research panel, you will receive invitations to participate in user research studies. You can decide how often you want to participate and which studies to do. You can leave the panel at any time.
Join the Microsoft 365 developer research panel today!
Follow us on X (Twitter) / @Microsoft365Dev and subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay up to date on the latest developer news and announcements.
I am following a training course in Phuralsight on Introduction to Microsoft Intune. Part of the training is to setup a Developer account to work with the dowloadable lab. Since the developer account is now closed, how am I supposed to complete the training? We don’t use Visual Studio and not going to spend $6k.
Hi there. I dont need that Ai stuff. i just need access to the Microsoft 365 Developer Program to test if software i am currently writing works with Micsosoft Exchange / Outlook. When will the Microsoft 365 Developer Program be available again?
Or if it now is a paid service, which is the cheapest Microsoft 365 plan that includes sandbox?
Kelly,
I am trying to design a solution for a large client, that cannot be completed in a production environment (for obvious reasons). I had a previous subscription on my personal account that unfortunately became inactive.
I have tried to sign my business up to the partner programs you mention, but this fails too. I just need access to a dev tenancy, please can you tell me what I have to buy/register/join to gain access to...
It seems things aren't very well joined up regarding this change!
The official Microsoft Learn Course for MS-900 (M365 Fundamentals) which I am working through, explicitly requires students to join the M365 Developer Program in order to take the course. I've been trying unsuccessfully for the last 90 minutes to register with various accounts, but keep getting the message "you don't currently qualify" with no detail as to why, or how to fix it.
See the MS900...
You now need to be in an organization with an Enterprise agreement and require a Visual Studio Enterprise subscription. Which locks out everyone trying to learn the platform. I can see that it was probably being exploited by some malicious users but there had to be a better way.
It’s unfortunate that there wasn’t an option to try and boot out bad actors before just booting everyone.
Hello,
I have a few queries regarding the Microsoft Developer Program:
1. I'm currently unable to qualify for the Microsoft 365 Developer Program Sandbox subscription. It seems access has been limited for some users. Could you please clarify if this limitation is permanent or if it's only for a certain time period?
2. On my previous account, I was inactive for an extended period. However, I now wish to resume development activities. Unfortunately, my account's sandbox subscription has...
For non-partners, non-MVPs and normal developers, professionals and experts, that means they have to pay now one of these two VS subscriptions to get a new developer tenant:
- Visual Studio Professional for 1.199 USD / 1.673 CHF / 1.530 EUR in the first year. In addition, customers have to buy productive M365 licenses.
- Visual Studio Enterprise for 5.999 USD / 8.371 CHF / 7.707 EUR in the first year. In addition, customers have...
Can you be more specific about the instruction in the February 2024 Update that states "The following Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program participants can contact their Microsoft partner to be added to an allow list to receive access to a developer subscription"?
As a Solutions Partner with multiple designations and Specialisations, it is not clear what action I am supposed to take. We are not a Managed Partner so I don't know where to begin...
Reach out to Partner Center support.
Reading the blog post it implies that existing subscribers are not impacted by this change. I had a subscription for over 3 years up until last month when I lost my subscription and the reason given for losing the subscription was the changes mentioned in this blog post. So which is it?
I have to say that I wrote my entire reply but realized it probably would have been bleeped at best had I posted it unfiltered.
So, here's how chatgpt made it kid friendly and put a comedic spin on it, and yes this is my true story:
Wow, talk about getting hit harder than a piñata at a birthday party gone wrong.
Apologies for the dramatic monologue; it's been a year that could rival a Shakespearean tragedy.
Picture this:Read more
I have been using the developer subscription for a long time now, and I can see both the positives and negatives for both MSFT and end developers like myself.
I have set up my developer account under my student (educational) account that will stop working in a few months’ time and I need to transfer it to another account – how would it be possible to change this moving forward, please? Thank you
That's a great question and one that generates a lot of customer frustration. Your developer account is associated with your general Microsoft account. You can associate one or more email accounts with your Microsoft Account and then set a specific one as your primary account. I just tested that I could use one of my other accounts to log in to the developer profile.
To change your email associated with your Microsoft 365 developer program...