| title | Visual Studio subscriptions offered to startups through the Microsoft for Startups program | Microsoft Docs |
|---|---|
| author | evanwindom |
| ms.author | v-evwin |
| manager | cabuschl |
| ms.assetid | 71af88da-b9fa-4d12-999c-7d461f3df0ec |
| ms.date | 03/09/2020 |
| ms.topic | conceptual |
| description | Details on subscriptions are offered through the Microsoft for Startups program. |
Qualified startups who join the Microsoft for Startups program can earn 5 Visual Studio Enterprise monthly cloud subscriptions.
These are the same subscriptions that are offered commercially, with no special limitations or restrictions. Each subscription must be assigned to an end user (who is the licensed user) before the user can run Visual Studio and be recognized as a Visual Studio Enterprise subscriber in Azure DevOps Services.
Monthly subscriptions renew automatically are billed
Note
With all Visual Studio cloud subscriptions, the licensed user must sign in to Visual Studio using the same identity/login that was used to activate the Visual Studio subscription.
Product keys are not offered to unlock the product; sign-in is the only option for running Visual Studio. The Visual Studio subscriber can operate offline for up to 30 days before Visual Studio stops working. While working online, Visual Studio silently refreshes the user's license status periodically to ensure the subscription is still valid.
A: At the first purchase, we bill a prorated quantity to cover the remaining days in the current month. For instance, if a purchase of 10 Visual Studio Professional monthly cloud subscriptions was made on April 15, then we would charge 5 units because 50% of the month remains (15 days of a 30-day month). On the first of May, and each month thereafter until you cancel, the full 10 units will be billed.
When you increase the paid quantity later, we also prorate the increased units to cover the remaining days in the current month. So if you bought 1 more Visual Studio Professional monthly cloud subscription on May 10, we would bill roughly 0.677 units (21 days remaining in the 31-day month of May).
A: When you cancel a Visual Studio cloud subscription, you are canceling automatic renewal. The subscription continues until its normal renewal date and then simply expires. At expiration, the Visual Studio subscriber can no longer use Visual Studio or any other benefits from the subscription.
With monthly cloud subscriptions, cancelations take effect the first day of the next month. If you only cancel some of your monthly cloud subscriptions, be sure to remove users on the first of the next month to ensure that the correct people continue to have active subscriptions assigned.
For annual cloud subscriptions, cancelations take effect the first day of the month following 12 months from the original purchase, or 12 months from the last annual renewal charge. For instance, if you bought a Visual Studio Professional annual cloud subscription on January 3, 2018 then it remains active until February 1, 2019 when it automatically renews for another year. If you cancel at any time between then and February 1, 2020 then the subscription will expire on February 1, 2020. There is no rebate for canceling part way through the subscription year with annual cloud subscriptions.