[German]No, it's not an April Fool's joke – it's still March. But as of April 1, 2023, Microsoft's cloud offerings will simply become a bit more expensive. True, it had already been announced in January 2023 – no one really took note of that either. Microsoft is thus heralding a new policy in which the subscription prices are to be reviewed every six months and adjusted to the dollar prices if necessary.
I hadn't really noticed the whole thing myself – the last information about more expensive subscriptions can be found in the blog post Microsoft has plans to increase Monthly subscription for Microsoft Office 365 by 20%. Martin Geuß, however, has mentioned the price hike this German post. Microsoft will rise the prices for its cloud products April 1, 2023 for Customers in Europe. The new price policy was announced on January 5, 2023 in the post Consistent global pricing for the Microsoft Cloud. There you will find the information that Microsoft is taking steps to align the pricing of its Microsoft Cloud products globally.
This means that the prices for Microsoft 365, Azure, Exchange Online, etc. will be adjusted to the exchange rate of the local currency to the US dollar (USD). From April 1, 2023, this will result in the following pricing for Microsoft Cloud products for European customers:
GBP: +9%
DKK, EUR and NOK: +11%
SEK: +15%
I'll interpret the above list to mean that everything will be more expensive. For customers of Microsoft Cloud products in German-speaking countries, the price increase hits by 11 percent – is still almost below the inflation rate and so super cheap. For existing customers, the increase will only take effect at the end of the respective billing period. It should be noted that it only affects businesses – the consumer versions of Microsoft 365 will remain the same in price.
In the future, Microsoft will evaluate pricing in local currency on a regular semi-annual basis, taking into account currency fluctuations against the US dollar.
