Microsoft sells Business Central as user licences of several types, plus device licences for shared devices. What each type allows is the thing that decides your bill, so it is worth settling before you ask anyone for a quote.
We do not reproduce Microsoft’s prices here. They change, and a stale figure on a partner’s blog is worse than no figure at all. Current Australian pricing is on Microsoft’s Business Central pricing page.
Updated November 2026. The original version of this post, from August 2019, described Microsoft’s move away from bundled plans and quoted per-user prices for plans that no longer exist. Those prices and plan names have been removed rather than left to mislead.
How Business Central licences are bought
Microsoft’s licensing documentation is blunt about the channel: “Business Central licenses can only be purchased through CSP.” In practice that means you buy through a Cloud Solution Provider partner, not directly from Microsoft.
Which licence types does Microsoft list?
Microsoft names four paid licence types for business users, plus two other ways to get access.
- Essentials — full write access. Microsoft describes the Essentials experience as showing “all actions and fields for all common business functionality”.
- Premium — full write access, and the interface shows “all actions and fields for all business functionality, including Manufacturing and Service Management”. Only a user with a Premium or evaluation licence can switch a company’s Experience setting to Premium, and a user holding only Essentials cannot sign in to a company set to Premium.
- Team Member — limited write access. Its default permission sets are D365 READ, D365 TEAM MEMBER, EDIT IN EXCEL – VIEW, EXPORT REPORT EXCEL and LOCAL.
- External Accountant — listed by Microsoft alongside the three above, for an accountant outside the business.
Beyond those: Microsoft 365 licences give read-only access to Business Central records shared with someone in Microsoft Teams, as an addition to Essentials or Premium. And device licences cover a shared device rather than a person.
The rule that catches people out: entitlements beat permissions
Administrators can grant permissions, but the licence sets a ceiling the permissions cannot lift. Microsoft puts it plainly: even if an administrator gives a user the SUPER permission set, a user holding a Team Member licence can still only reach the objects defined by the Team Member entitlements.
This matters when you are tempted to save money by putting someone on Team Member and widening their permissions. It does not work. On sales and purchase documents, for instance, invoices, orders, quotes and credit memos share one table, and the Team Member licence reaches only quotes among them.
Device licences
A device licence lets several people use one covered device — Microsoft’s examples are a point-of-sale terminal, a shop floor station or a warehouse device. The number of devices that can be signed in at the same time is set by how many device licences you have bought, not by how many people use them.
Two practical limits: a device user cannot be the first user to sign in to a new environment, and members of the device users group do not each need their own Business Central licence.
Reassigning a licence
Licences can usually be reassigned, but not freely. Microsoft’s terms do not allow reassignment within 90 days of the last assignment, except to cover a user’s absence or a device that is out of service. Any other reassignment has to be permanent. Worth knowing before you plan around seasonal or contract staff.
Working out your mix
- List every person who will sign in, and what each one actually has to do in Business Central.
- Mark anyone who only needs to read records shared in Microsoft Teams. They may need no Business Central licence at all.
- Count the shared devices that will be signed in at the same time. Each concurrent device needs a device licence.
- Check anyone you are considering for Team Member against its entitlements, not against the permissions you could grant them.
- Take that mix to Microsoft’s pricing page for current figures, then to a CSP partner for a quote.
Questions people ask
Can we buy Business Central directly from Microsoft?
No. Microsoft’s licensing documentation says licences can only be purchased through CSP, so the purchase goes through a partner.
Do staff who only read reports need a full licence?
Not necessarily. A Microsoft 365 licence gives read-only access to Business Central records shared with that person in Microsoft Teams. Anyone who needs to change records needs a Business Central user licence.
Does a device licence cover one person or a team?
It covers the device. Several people can use a covered device, and the number of devices signed in at once is set by how many device licences you hold.
Is Team Member enough for finance staff?
It depends entirely on the tasks. Because entitlements outrank permissions, check the specific objects a finance role needs against the Team Member entitlements before assigning it. Getting this wrong is the most common licensing surprise.
What will the whole project cost?
Licences are rarely the largest line. Implementation, data migration, any extensions and training usually are. Microsoft’s page gives you the licence figures; the rest needs a scoped quote.
Next step
If you want help working out which licence each person needs before you commit, ask us for an implementation estimate. Austral Dynamics has been implementing Microsoft Dynamics from Sydney for 19+ years.
Sources
- Microsoft Learn, Licensing in Dynamics 365 Business Central — read 5 November 2026.
- Microsoft Learn, Business Central access with Microsoft 365 licenses — read 5 November 2026.
- Microsoft Learn, Create users according to licenses — read 5 November 2026.
- Microsoft Learn, Enable Premium features — read 5 November 2026.
- Microsoft, Dynamics 365 Business Central pricing (Australia) — linked for current figures.