Microsoft Store for Business and Education will only support free apps from April 14

Microsoft Store for Business and Education are application stores provided by Microsoft specifically for enterprises and educational institutions.

However, the number of users currently used by the Microsoft Store has been gradually reduced, and it seems that Microsoft is not prepared to continue to spend time and energy to continue to maintain the enterprise version with changing user numbers.

Therefore, Microsoft has decided to stop supporting the paid applications of Microsoft Store for Business and Education from April 14, 2021, that is, it no longer supports the purchase of paid applications.

This change is more about licenses. The distribution of paid licenses is no longer supported in the Microsoft Store Enterprise and Education Edition, and free applications will not be affected.

Therefore, if developers provide paid applications to enterprises and educational institutions, they must use other methods for charging and distribution, otherwise, they will not be delivered.

If the developer provides free applications, it will not be affected temporarily. Enterprises and educational institutions can still download any free applications through the Microsoft Store.

Microsft says: “Starting April 14, 2021, all apps that charge a base price above free will no longer be available to buy in the Microsoft Store for Business and Education. If you’ve already bought a paid app, you can still use it, but no new purchases will be possible from businessstore.microsoft.com or educationstore.microsoft.com. Also, you won’t be able to buy additional licenses for apps you already bought. You can still assign and reassign licenses for apps that you already own and use the private store. Apps with a base price of “free” will still be available. This change doesn’t impact apps in the Microsoft Store on Windows 10.

Also starting April 14, 2021, you must sign in with your Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) account before you browse Microsoft Store for Business and Education.“