Microsoft perpetual licenses or cloud subscription: which licensing model is the best choice for businesses?

January 2026

Choosing the right licensing model is strategically important choice for a business, as it affects the quality of IT infrastructure management, the scalability of business processes, the level of corporate security and the efficiency of a company’s financial resource use.

It’s well known that Microsoft is constantly reducing the number of products available with perpetual licenses, limiting their use and reducing the number of programs through which they can be purchased. There are certain reasons behind these changes that companies cannot influence, but it is worth considering possible alternatives.

One such alternative is purchasing Microsoft cloud services through a subscription, using the Pay-as-you-go model, where payment is made only for the resources used. Innoware, a certified Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP), can assist with this.

The key advantages of purchasing cloud services through a Microsoft partner with Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider status are:

• a wide range of products – access to the vast majority of Microsoft solutions, including Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites with different plans for various user needs, collaboration apps (Exchange, Teams, SharePoint), analytics and development solutions (Power BI, Power Apps and Power Automate), IT infrastructure security tools (Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Intune), as well as OneDrive cloud storage. With Windows 365, available both as a standalone solution and as part of some Microsoft 365 plans, organizations can extend the lifecycle of Windows 10, which Microsoft ended support for in October 2025;
• access to the latest product versions without the payments for upgrades. This is especially important given the lifecycle of perpetual licenses and the end of support for products such as Microsoft Office (2016–2019), Access (2016–2019), PowerPoint (2016–2019), Project (2016–2019), as well as Windows 10 in various editions – Enterprise, Education, Home, Pro, IoT Enterprise;
• flexible licensing terms – the ability to choose monthly, annual, or three-year subscriptions with a fixed price, helping businesses avoid price increases and ensure predictable costs;
• the ability to increase or decrease the number of licenses as needed, according to the selected payment plan;
• no minimum purchase requirement – licenses can be purchased starting from a single unit if needed, unlike other volume licensing programs, where the minimum quantity is usually five licenses;
• expert licensing consultation from the certified Microsoft partner – Innoware.

Recently, one-time purchases of perpetual licenses were standard practice. However, with the development of cloud technologies, an increasing number of software developers are moving their products to a subscription-based licensing model, and Microsoft is no exception. While perpetual licenses may still be relevant in certain cases, today the subscription licensing model offers a significantly higher level of convenience, security and cost-effectiveness for businesses.

Innoware – a Microsoft Solutions Partner, provides a full range of professional services for the implementation and consultation on the effective use of Microsoft licensed products and services through the Cloud Solution Provider licensing program.

For consultation on selecting licenses for your business needs and subscribing to Microsoft cloud services, please contact our specialists at +971588894591, cloud@innoware.ae, or reach out to me directly.

Nataliia Sulzhyk,
Microsoft Volume Licensing Specialist, IT-consultant