Stay ahead of the game with the latest updates to the Microsoft 365 Developer Program
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.
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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.
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156 comments
As part of M365 curriculum on learn.microsoft.com, I was instructed to join the developer program to proceed with my training. I am getting the same “don’t currently qualify” message. I figured I would sign up for a Visual Studio subscription to get access to a developer account, so I can proceed with my M365 training. However, based on the comments of this blog, it seems that avenue is no longer a viable option.
If possible, could we please get an update on the “new” developer program? Will it even be available in the future? If so, is there a new “roll-out” timeframe? Thank you for your time.
I am also curious, like most people who have posted here, on any potential updates regarding the developer program. The last update was February 2nd from what I can tell via comment on this blog which said a 2-3 week rollout time.
Post is updated with most recent news. Please review.
Is there any update on when sign-ups will return for this? It feels like a pretty big communication failure that Microsoft community leaders aren’t even fully aware that this program is on pause and continue to push it as a viable solution. I have wanted to get a dev sandbox for over a month so I can work on some career advancement activities, and all anyone can ever say is “We should probably have an update on this soon”. The PM of this post stopped responding at the beginning of February after saying 2-3 weeks so what should everyone do at this point?
Post is updated with most recent news. Please review.
Hello Kelly,
When the Microsoft 365 developer subscription will be available for everyone? Do you have any roadmap with any approximate dates? It took about 34 days for your team to open the registration only for Visual Studio Enterprise subscribers. Should we wait another one month more? Or you will open the registration for everybody only in 6 months, 1 year or some other time?
Unfortunate news, thanks for an update.
The M365 developer sandbox is a great environment, especially when you need to onboard a new team member. Sharing dev sandboxes among devs/engineers makes things complicated.
And it is also part of the offering of a visual enterprise subscription.
Please restore this functionality as soon as possible.
Thank you & kind regards !
The update is kinda outrageous.
Are there any plans to make the service available to the general public again?
I have a feeling that we won’t know until anything is actually live. There has been zero transparency on this issue thus far, and given how poorly this is being communicated I don’t think it would be wise to expect an actual roadmap. Really kicking myself for letting my last sandbox expire. I’ve needed one so badly for a couple of months now. I am almost ready to just pivot to Salesforce because at least I can get a sandbox environment.
With this latest update to the program only VS Enterprise subscribers are allowed to create a subscription and Cloud AI partner program participants (certain levels) can contact their Microsoft partner to get on an allow list, this last step how does this work and how can a MSFT partner put customers, users on that allow list?
We have an internal form. The MS partner submits the data, we manually validate, and if approved, we add the customer to the allow list.
I am a professional Power Platform developer. I want to become active on the https://powerusers.microsoft.com/ forums to give back and help aspiring developers / struggling users. I am not allowed to use my corporate account for personal uses. Therefore, I cannot reach out to my Microsoft contact. I have tried multiple times to join the Developer Program, but every time I get a generic message “You don’t current qualify for a Microsoft 365 Developer Program sandbox subscription.” There is no further explanation. Do you have any additional information that might help me get into the Program? Thanks!
I don’t believe you need to join the developer program to become active on the forums. Just create an account and get involved.
You do need one to find solutions in a non-production environment though, which I believe is what Jon was getting at.
Kelly,
Kody is correct. Without the developer program, I am not able to get a Corporate email, which is then required to sign up for the Power Platform. I can get involved by answer yes/no questions, but there is no way for me to help with any sort of syntax question without testing any of my answers. I don’t want to be providing bad information onto the forum, and there is no way anyone can memorize all the changes between each update Wave. Is there any way for me to join the Dev program?
I think the unoffical offical answer is to suck on your thumb and pray to a higher being.
This whole thing is broken and it’s beyond me as to how it can be broken for so long. We have a Visual Studio Enterprise subscription and are part of ISV success, and yet, it still says we do not qualify.
Pretty embarassing. I’m almost ready to just pivot completely to Salesforce solutions.
Hi, I saw your February 2024 update.
However, there are two options under ENTERPRISE (https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/pricing/?tab=enterprise) -> Professional subscription or Enterprise subscription. Do they both offer Developer Program Access? I may be interested in the Visual Studio Professional option @$45.I re-read your post and I can see clearly it is Visual Studio Enterprise @$250 a month. This is currently not an option for me.Buying a single business license would work much better for me, since my goal is to complete the learning tutorials for M365. Could you please indicate whether or not a single business license option would be enough to further my knowledge through the tutorials offered to become a M365 admin? The tutorial I was following was telling me to sign up for a Developer Account.
Lastly, if a single business license aligns with the tutorial objectives, do I just get the lowest one or; do I get the license that offers the most apps and features?
Next, how do we configure M365 single business license account to be a developer account?
I am sure this information would be helpful for everyone trying to gain access to Developer Program; we are all here to learn. Thanks in advance for your help.
Here are some resources that may help. Good luck and I’m sorry for the inconvenience.
Here’s some general info: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/educator-developer-blog/step-by-step-provisioning-a-microsoft-365-developer-tenant-and/ba-p/3784326
If you purchase a single license, start here to configure it for development: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/developer-program/microsoft-365-developer-program-get-started?source=recommendations#configure-the-subscription
Note that I don’t *believe* the sample packs will work but you could try it and see what happens.
Thank you. Looks like the process in a state of flux. I shall wait to see how everything looks in a month. Thanks again.
Hi Kelly,
I am a developer of MS Solutions for various SME’s. I am also an acitve forum participant (MS Power Platform).
Is there still a solution for developers to join a free Microsoft 365 Developer Program to create solutions for the Microsoft 365 platform?
Or do I need to purchase the Business Premium license in order to have access to all tools including the premium capabilities (e.g. PowerAutomate)?
Thanks for your kind feedback.
Jonas
See the latest update for groups that we’re currently supporting in the program.
Hi Kelly, thanks for your reply.
However when trying to sign up I still get the message that I don’t qualify.
Can you elaborate why and how I can still join the Program?
See here the detailled message: Thank you for joining. You don’t current qualify for a Microsoft 365 Developer Program sandbox subscription.
Thanks for your help Kelly
Hi Jonas,
I’m sorry that you are still having issues. We are currently manually approving customers who are part of one of the following:
* ISV Success
* Solutions Partner
* Specialization/Expert
* Managed Partners
* Premier or Unified Support plan members
Have you reached out to your Microsoft partner? That message indicates that you are not qualified – which means that the email you are using is not associated with one of the in-scope paid Visual Studio subscriptions or that your Microsoft partner has not requested adding you to the allow list.
Hi Kelly, I see, does that mean that if I didnt have a paid Visual Studio subscription before that I am not eligible to join freely?
@Jonas Königer if you do not have a paid VS subscription, but you ARE a part of one of the following Microsoft customer programs, you can reach out to your Microsoft account manager and ask them to add you to the allow list.