Changes to Microsoft licence prices from 1st February 2025
Microsoft are increasing prices for many of the products used on our remote desktop platform by approximately 10%. This is for products licenced under the Service Provider Licence Agreement (SPLA) which includes:
Microsoft Windows Client Access Licences (CALs)
Microsoft Remote Desktop CALs
These are used by all hosted desktop customers and will increase the base price for a hosted desktop by £2.00 per user.
Also increasing are Microsoft Office licences licenced under SPLA, and individual Office applications such as Excel or Access. Microsoft SQL Server CALs are also affected.
Microsoft are also increasing prices other licences used on our platform for things like systems management, antivirus, and backup systems. These are not invoiced individually to customers but are wrapped up in what we charge for Windows and Remote Desktop CALs.
While Microsoft are increasing prices from 1st January they have not given sufficient notice for us to advise customers, so we will increase from 1st February, i.e. the invoice dated 31st January 2025.
Please note that we have taken the decision not to increase our own hosting charges this year, it is purely the Microsoft licences that are increasing.
The specific licences that are changing are listed below:
Microsoft Windows Client Access Licence (shown on invoice as Client Access License Windows) – increases from £8.00 to £9.00 – This will affect all customers.
Microsoft Remote Desktop Client Access Licence (shown on invoice as Terminal Server Access License) – increases from £8.00 to £9.00 – This will affect all customers.
Microsoft Office Standard – increases from £15.00 to £16.50
Microsoft Office Professional – increases from £21.00 to £23.00
Microsoft Access – increases from £7.50 to £8.25
Microsoft Excel – increases from £7.50 to £8.25
Microsoft Word – increases from £7.50 to £8.25
Microsoft PowerPoint – increases from £7.50 to £8.25
Microsoft Outlook – increases from £5.50 to £6.00
Microsoft Vision Standard – increases from £8.10 to £9.00
Microsoft Vision Professional – increases from £17.80 to £19.80
Microsoft SQL Server CAL – increases from £7.50 to £8.25
Does this affect Microsoft 365?
No, Microsoft are not specifically increasing the prices for Microsoft 365 subscriptions, in fact they are expected to reduce the prices for UK customers for Microsoft 365 by about 5 or 6%. This will be announced separately once we have confirmation of the actual new prices. This is to realign UK prices with US dollar prices, and will affect subscriptions from 1st February only when they renew.
We are aware that Microsoft will also be introducing a 5% premium for Microsoft 365 subscriptions on annual contracts that are paid monthly. This is for subscriptions renewing after 1st April 2025. As with above we will send a separate notification.
Energy Surcharge
In December 2022 we introduced a £2.50 Energy Surcharge for hosted desktop customers, on the back of massive increases in data centre costs for electric power. At the time we hoped that this would be temporary, as this was what was suggested by our data centre provider. In reality energy prices and certainly data centre costs have not returned to previous levels and are predicted to rise further. To simplify invoices and remove any ambiguity we are going to roll the energy surcharge into our normal hosting charges and remove the Energy Surcharge line from future invoices.
This will have no impact on the total invoice value, just reduce the number of line items in the invoice.
Summary
We are always reluctant to increase prices, and long-standing customers will recognise that the price for many of our services have not increased in over 10 years. Unfortunately, where Microsoft licences are concerned, these changes are unavoidable.
However, we are pleased to say that we are not making any changes to our own hosting charges, and this will remain the same.
Please can we take this opportunity to thank all our customers for their continued business and support.
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