Beginning April 1, 2026, customers will no longer receive free access to services once a subscription expires and is not renewed.

When a subscription reaches the end of its term, customers and partners will have three options:

• Renew the subscription for a new term
• Allow it to expire and stop services immediately
• Move the subscription into the Extended Service Term (EST)

Microsoft is introducing the Extended Service Term (EST) to give customers more flexibility. EST allows services to continue after expiration without committing to a new subscription term, giving customers additional time to decide what they want to do next.

Starting April 1, 2026, subscriptions that meet all three conditions below will automatically move into EST at the end of their term:

• (1) Purchased on or after April 1, 2025;
• (2) Expire on or after April 1, 2026;
• (3) Auto-renew is turned off.

Under EST, services continue month-to-month at the current price plus 3%, or plus 23% if a monthly price does not exist for that subscription. A subscription can enter EST only when auto-renew is disabled and the term has fully ended. Customers must keep the same number of seats and the same subscription SKU they had at expiration. They cannot add seats or change the subscription level, but they can reassign existing seats as needed.  An EST subscription can run indefinitely. Billing is monthly, and customers can leave EST at any time. They will only be charged for the days used, with prorated refunds applied for the unused portion of the billing period. If EST is canceled, the service is immediately disabled. Data from disabled subscriptions will be retained for 90 days.

What happens next

After January 19, 2026:

• Partners will be able to manage and schedule renewals, cancellations, and EST transitions for eligible subscriptions in both sandbox and production environments.
• Partners will also be able to opt out of EST for subscriptions that expire after April 1, 2026.

From February 1, 2026, EST SKUs will appear in the pricelist preview so partners can prepare their systems ahead of the April changes.