Business Central renewals in Africa, a year after Microsoft's price rise: the real cost and five ways to cut it

Why are African customers feeling the rise now?

Microsoft announced the increase in 2025 and applied it to new subscriptions and to renewals from late 2025. Business Central is usually sold through Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners on annual commitments, so many customers kept the old price until their anniversary. For a company that renewed in October or November 2025 just before the change, the new price arrives in late 2026.

The dollar increase — 14.3% on Essentials, 10% on Premium — compounds with currency moves since the last renewal. Partners that bill in local currency pass both through. Partners that bill in dollars pass on the dollar change and leave the currency risk with you.

What does a 25-user renewal look like?

Take a Lagos distribution company with 25 named Business Central users, all on Essentials.

• Last year: 25 × $70 = $1,750 a month.
• This year, like-for-like: 25 × $80 = $2,000 a month — $3,000 more a year, about ₦4.1 million at ₦1,370.64.

Now look at what those 25 people actually do. In most mid-sized companies we have looked at, a large share of "users" never post a transaction: managers who approve purchase orders and expenses, warehouse staff who look up stock, sales reps who check customer balances, directors who read reports. Microsoft's Team Member licence covers read access, approvals and limited edits for $8.

If 13 of the 25 only need those rights:

• 12 Essentials + 13 Team Members: 12 × $80 + 13 × $8 = $1,064 a month.
• Saving against the like-for-like renewal: $936 a month, or $11,232 a year — about ₦15.4 million.

That is nearly four times the cost of the price rise.

Does the increase change the ERP decision?

For companies already running Business Central, rarely. Migrating to another ERP costs far more than the increase — data migration, retraining, re-implementation of customisations and a year of disruption. Spend the effort on licence mix and process instead.

For companies choosing an ERP now, the increase narrows the gap with alternatives, and implementation cost — not licences — should still drive the comparison. In Africa:

• SAP Business One is strong in distribution and light manufacturing, with established partners in Lagos, Accra and Nairobi. See our SAP Business One profile for Nigeria.
• Oracle NetSuite fits multi-entity, multi-currency groups such as fintechs and regional holding companies. See Business Central vs NetSuite in South Africa.
• Odoo has a much lower licence cost but implementations vary widely in quality; budget for a strong partner.
• Dynamics 365 Finance is Microsoft's larger ERP for complex groups; it is rarely the answer below about 200 employees. Our Business Central vs Dynamics 365 Finance comparison explains where the line falls.

And if you are not yet sure you need an ERP at all, read when to move from accounting software to an ERP. Many companies on Business Central with fewer than ten users would be well served by a cloud ledger at a fraction of the cost.

How to run a licence review in a week

1. Day 1 — export users. From Business Central, export every licensed user with their licence type, permission sets and last login date.
2. Day 2 — export activity. Pull the posted-documents and change-log entries per user for the last 90 days.
3. Day 3 — classify. For each user, mark: posts transactions (needs Essentials or Premium), only approves or views (Team Member candidate), inactive (remove).
4. Day 4 — check with managers. Confirm with each department head before downgrading anyone; some users post rarely but critically, such as at month-end.
5. Day 5 — agree with the partner. Ask your CSP partner to apply the changes at the renewal date and confirm the new monthly cost in writing.

Keep the classification sheet. If Microsoft or the partner ever reviews licence compliance, it shows a reasoned decision for each user.

Does billing currency matter?

Yes, and it is negotiable. CSP partners buy from Microsoft in dollars (or through a regional distributor) and sell to you. A partner billing in naira, shillings or rand takes the currency risk for the billing period, usually with a buffer built into the price. A partner billing in dollars leaves the risk with you but may be cheaper on the day. For a 25-user customer the difference can be several million naira a year in either direction, so compare the two over the full term, using a realistic rate assumption rather than today's.

What about Premium?

Premium ($110) adds manufacturing and service management. Companies sometimes license every user on Premium because one department needs it. Business Central licensing has historically required all full users in a tenant to be on the same tier, so check the current rule with your partner — and if you are only using Premium for one module, ask whether an extension or process change could let you move everyone to Essentials.

Cover image: “Johannesburg CBD” by Evan Bench, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; cropped, toned and set with text by Accounting Software Africa.