Visual Studio subscriptions, the successors to the MSDN subscriptions (the Product Terms still list an MSDN Platforms offering), are Microsoft’s per-user licenses for software developers and testers. Besides the Visual Studio integrated development environment, a subscription gives the licensed user access to a large catalog of Microsoft software (Windows, Windows Server, SQL Server, Office and others) for design, development, testing and demonstration, together with cloud benefits such as a monthly Azure credit. The contractual terms are in the Visual Studio Subscriptions entry of the Microsoft Product Terms; Microsoft’s licensing white paper explains them with worked examples.[1][3]
The central idea is that subscriber software is licensed to people, not machines, and only for non-production use. A server running Windows Server and SQL Server from a subscription needs no server or core licenses as long as every person who uses it holds a suitable subscription and the server never becomes part of production.
Editions
The Product Terms availability table lists four offerings under the Enterprise Agreement: MSDN Platforms, Visual Studio Enterprise Subscription, Visual Studio Professional Subscription and Visual Studio Test Professional Subscription. The current version is Visual Studio 2026 (11/25) and the prior version Visual Studio 2022 (11/21).[1] Microsoft updated the terms for the Visual Studio 2026 launch on 11 November 2025.[6]
| Subscription | Retail price (US) | Monthly Azure credit |
|---|---|---|
| Visual Studio Enterprise (standard) | Starting at $499.92 user/month in the first year; renewal $214.09 user/month; one-time annual payment | $150 |
| Visual Studio Professional (standard) | $99.99 user/month; renewal $66.59 user/month; one-time annual payment | $50 |
Prices are from the retail pricing page; volume licensing prices vary.[4] The catalog records the renewal rates on the Enterprise and Professional SKU rows. The Down Editions right runs from Enterprise to Professional.[1]
Metrics
Visual Studio subscriptions use the Developer Tools license model, recorded as the Visual Studio Subscription (Developer Tools User License) metric. The Product Terms grant: “One Licensed User may use any number of copies of the software and any prior version on any device for each User License it acquires.” Devices managed by a third party are subject to the Outsourcing Software Management clause.[1]
Counting
One subscription per person
The white paper states: “Each member of the development team that will use (install, configure, or access) the software must have their own Visual Studio Subscription or standalone license.” Its first example is a team of six developers, an architect and three testers who all use a Windows Server and SQL Server test environment; all ten need a subscription, with Test Professional as the minimum for the testers who do not use Visual Studio.[3] Licenses cannot be shared between teams in different time zones who never work at the same time. An IT engineer who only installs software on shared hardware for licensed developers does not need a subscription (rule).[3]
What counts as production
The Product Terms limit use to evaluation and developing, testing and demonstrating the customer’s programs, including simulating an end-user environment to diagnose issues, and state that “The software is not licensed for use in a Production Environment.”[1] The Glossary defines a Production Environment as “any Physical or Virtual OSE running a production workload or accessing production data, or Physical OSE hosting one or more Virtual OSEs running production workloads or accessing production data.”[2] The white paper lists three typical cases: environments that connect to a production database, environments that support disaster recovery or backup for production, and servers rotated into production during peak periods.[3] See the production exclusion rule and the Production Environment definition.
The distinction applies to hosts as well as guests. If a physical host runs only development and test virtual machines, its operating system can be subscriber software; if any virtual machine on it is used for other purposes, both the host operating system and the production guests need normal licenses. A developer PC that is also used for email or other everyday work needs a normal Windows license.[3]
Unlicensed users
Two exceptions allow people without a subscription to use the software. End users “may access the Software, and online services made available with Customer’s Visual Studio Subscription, to perform acceptance tests or to provide feedback on its programs”, and “Up to 200 anonymous users at a time may use the Remote Desktop Services feature of the Windows Server software to access online demonstrations of Customer’s programs.”[1] The white paper adds that acceptance testing must not use live production data, and that a copy of production data used for testing must be discarded afterwards (rule).[3]
Production rights that are included
Some benefits are licensed for production. “Each Licensed User of Visual Studio Enterprise Subscription may also install and use one copy of Office LTSC Professional Plus or Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise for production use.”[1] Each licensed user of Enterprise, Professional, Test Professional and MSDN Platforms is also deemed to hold one Azure DevOps Server license and one Azure DevOps Server User CAL, and one license for SQL Server 2016 Parallel Data Warehouse Developer.[1]
Cloud
The Licensed User “may run the Software on Microsoft Azure Services during the term of its Visual Studio Subscription”, after activating the subscription by linking a Microsoft account. The Developer Tools terms still apply in Azure, except that Office Professional Plus and System Center Virtual Machine Manager may not run there for production use.[1]
The monthly Azure credit is for development and testing only: “The Visual Studio subscriber may not run production applications on these subscriptions; all use of this benefit is limited to development and testing.”[3] Credits cannot be pooled: “Microsoft Azure benefits cannot be combined from multiple Visual Studio Subscriptions or MSDN Platforms onto a single Microsoft Azure account.”[1] When the subscription expires or is removed, the credit ends with it.[5] See the Azure benefit rule.
Outside Azure, the white paper allows subscriber software on the user’s own devices, on a customer’s premises, and on dedicated hardware hosted by an “Authorized Outsourcer” that is not a “Listed Provider”.[3] The Listed Provider rules are covered in Microsoft licensing on third-party clouds.
Programs
Visual Studio subscriptions are sold with Software Assurance under volume licensing and through retail. The SA table lists no Disaster Recovery, License Mobility, Roaming or Self Hosting rights, and SA Equivalent Rights “Yes”.[1] Customers with expiring SA, or an active retail subscription, may renew into any Visual Studio subscription level; moving to a different level replaces the prior use terms, and software not included in the new level may no longer be used. Moving up an edition uses Step-up licenses. Rights to software licensed through the subscription “become perpetual when Customer’s right to use Visual Studio becomes perpetual.”[1]
Out of scope
- Azure DevOps Services user licenses and Azure DevOps Server licensing beyond the included server license and CAL.
- Visual Studio Code and Visual Studio Community, which have their own license terms.
- GitHub Enterprise and GitHub Copilot, including bundles sold with Visual Studio: see GitHub Copilot licensing.
- Azure Dev/Test pricing offers for teams (enterprise and pay-as-you-go dev/test subscriptions).
- Production licensing of the servers that developers deploy to: see Windows Server licensing and SQL Server licensing.