Let's be honest. When January gets close, most hosters start watching for the next SPLA price letter.
Right now, there's no indication of a SPLA price increase for 2027. That can change. Always check with your SPLA reseller (and Partner Center) before you lock quotes, change customer rates, or tell finance the list is frozen.
Why hosters care
SPLA is still how a lot of hosters and MSPs license Microsoft software for multi-tenant services. Monthly reporting. Provider holds the license. Customer buys a service, not a SKU.
If January stays quiet on the product list, you get room to:
- Hold customer quotes steadier
- Plan capacity and margin without baking in another across-the-board uplift
- Spend the planning cycles on placement, reporting accuracy, and product mix instead of "how do we pass this through?"
Useful. Not a guarantee.
What can still move your invoice
Microsoft's SPLA rules still allow price changes for foreign-exchange adjustments on non-USD price lists. Your reseller can also change what they charge you even when Microsoft's list is flat. So "no indication of an increase" is not the same as "every line on every invoice stays identical in every currency."
Also still in play, price list or not:
- Use rights. The SPUR updates. What you can deploy and how you report it can change without a price bump.
- Placement. SPLA on Listed Provider infrastructure (AWS, Azure, Google, Alibaba) has been off-limits since October 1, 2025. Auditors look for that. A quiet price list doesn't fix a wrong placement.
- Product availability. SKUs get restricted, retired, or limited to existing end customers. A price that doesn't go up doesn't help if the product isn't available the way you sell it.
- Reporting drift. Under-reporting is still the expensive mistake. Over-reporting quietly eats margin. Clean monthly reports beat hoping January stays quiet.
What I'd do this month
- Ask your reseller in writing. Is there any SPLA product-list increase planned for January 1, 2027? Get the answer, the date, and whether FX is called out. Keep it with your agreement file.
- Don't assume forever. Channel notices can land late. Recheck before you finalize Q1 pricing.
- Reconcile reports to reality. Pull recent months of SPLA reports against what's actually running.
- Check Listed Provider leftovers. Anything still on a hyperscaler and getting reported through your SPLA needs a plan: move it, or license it through the provider.
- Map product risk, not just price risk. Know what's still available to new customers under current SPUR language.
- Treat Arc, CSP Hoster, and BYOL as tools, not religion. Use them where the customer and the workload fit. Don't rip out a working SPLA model because a conference slide said SPLA is dead. (It isn't.)
- Budget for audits and inventory work. Knowing what you deploy beats guessing about next year's list.
The short version for your leadership team
| Question | Straight answer |
|---|---|
| Is there a SPLA list-price increase for 2027? | No indication so far. Always confirm with your reseller. |
| Does that lock my reseller invoice? | No. FX and reseller margins can still move. |
| Can use rights or placement still bite me? | Yes. SPUR and Listed Provider rules don't care about a quiet January. |
| Should I freeze customer pricing automatically? | Not automatically. Review margin, competition, and what you actually report. |
| Is SPLA going away? | No. Hosters still run real businesses on it. Understand your options; don't panic-migrate. |
One caution
This post is general information for service providers and hosters, not legal advice, and it is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft. Licensing terms change. Read your own SPLA agreement, the current SPUR, and whatever your reseller tells you about 2027 pricing before you change a quote or a report.
If your reseller's notice says something different — an increase, a narrow set of products, or FX-only moves — trust that document over a blog post, including this one.
Need SPLA audit help?
Facing an audit, a license review, or a tricky reporting question? I offer independent SPLA consulting and audit support for service providers and hosters. Email info@splalicensing.com with a short summary of your situation. Please don’t include customer data, license keys, or full reports in the first email.
Independent consultant; not affiliated with Microsoft.
Thanks for reading,
SPLA Man
