Dynamics 365 Business Central: Different licenses for different production environments (Essentials and Premium in separate environments, on the same tenant)

Hi, Readers.
I just noticed an important change in Business Central licensing policy today. So I’ll share it briefly in this post.

The change was published in the Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide last December.

First, by November 2022:

Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide | November 2022:

Business Central, licensed by assigned user, is available with Essentials or Premium levels of capabilities. You may license users either with an Essentials license or a Premium license, but not both.

On page 7:

Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide | December 2022

Business Central, licensed by assigned user, is available with Essentials or Premium levels of capabilities. Customers may deploy Business Central Essentials and Business Central Premium in separate environments, on the same tenant.

On page 7:

And Microsoft removed the following service specific term in Microsoft Product Terms.

So, we can now deploy Essentials and Premium licenses on the same tenant, as long as the environments are different 🎉🎊.

Great update, give it a try!!!😁

PS: Download Dynamics 365 Business Central Licensing Guide (SaaS/Cloud and On-Premises)

Update 2024.04.10: Link

In 2024 release wave 1, a user with the Premium plan can sign in to a company that’s using the Essentials plan. However, the Premium user can’t use any of the features that the Premium license provides. The same isn’t true in the opposite direction. Users who have the Essentials plan can’t sign in to a company that’s using the Premium plan.

END

Hope this will help.

Thanks for reading.

ZHU