Microsoft announced this week that its 365 Copilot enterprise subscriptions will increase in price, at least for monthly payment plans.

According to the company, the plan combines the introduction of a new monthly payment option for Microsoft 365 Copilot with “standardization” of billing for all subscriptions already offered on a monthly basis.

As part of that standardization, Microsoft will raise the price of its monthly billing plans by 5% starting April 1, 2025. No, it does not appear to be a premature fool's prank.

According to Microsoft, the payment change will affect Buy Online, Cloud Solutions Partner, and those using the Microsoft Customer Agreement for Enterprises (MCA-E) channel. Specifically, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft 365 Pilot for Sales, and Microsoft 365 Copilot for Service will be affected. These programs will be available for monthly payments beginning December 1, 2024. Below is the full list of programs for which the 5% monthly payment will be introduced:

In addition, the Teams Phones program will also increase its price by 5%. This price will increase in April 2025, along with other Microsoft services.

Microsoft appears to be trying to move subscribers toward more annual subscriptions. Only monthly payments will increase by 5%.

However, the annual payment is an upfront lump sum payment. So even if the price goes up, it may be easier to cut costs than a monthly plan, but it remains to be seen how users will react.