Microsoft Partners Must Prepare for AI Builder Capacity Retirement
- Microsoft will officially retire AI Builder capacity add-ons from sale on Nov.
- 22 Partner Center notice, follows an earlier restriction that blocked new customers from purchasing the add-ons on Nov.
- The upcoming deadline applies directly to Cloud Solution Provider distributors, direct-bill partners, and indirect resellers whose clients rely on AI Builder add-ons.
Microsoft will officially retire AI Builder capacity add-ons from sale on Nov. 1, 2026, according to a Partner Center notice.
The scheduled retirement, outlined in an Oct. 22 Partner Center notice, follows an earlier restriction that blocked new customers from purchasing the add-ons on Nov. 1, 2025. Existing customers retained the ability to renew or add capacity during the interim period.
Partner Responsibilities and Affected Subscriptions
The upcoming deadline applies directly to Cloud Solution Provider distributors, direct-bill partners, and indirect resellers whose clients rely on AI Builder add-ons. Direct-bill partners and indirect providers can disable auto-renew directly within the Partner Center, while indirect resellers must coordinate with their distributors.
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Active subscriptions extending past Nov. 1 preserve a customer’s credit entitlement until the current term expires. However, partners must ensure auto-renew is turned off prior to the next renewal date.
Changes to Seeded Credits in Power Platform and Dynamics 365
The licensing transition extends beyond separately purchased add-ons to affect bundled allowances. Beginning Nov. 1, newly purchased or renewed Power Platform and Dynamics 365 licenses will no longer receive included, or seeded, AI Builder credits.
Customers with eligible licenses secured before that date retain their bundled credits through the remainder of their contract term. Microsoft advises partners to check both standalone add-on purchases and bundled credits to avoid missing workflows dependent on an included allowance.
Calculating Copilot Credit Consumption
Microsoft directs partners to plan for Copilot Credits when customers require continued AI Builder functionality after existing credits expire. The company does not automatically convert AI Builder credits into Copilot Credits, and no single conversion ratio exists because consumption rates vary by workload.
For features embedded in Power Apps and Power Automate, available AI Builder credits are consumed first, followed by Copilot Credits. Workflows can fail if neither credit type remains available. Furthermore, because design-stage testing does not consume credits, building and testing models cannot verify whether production environments hold sufficient capacity.
Transition Steps for Customer Workflows
Partners managing the transition should establish subscription deadlines, identify production dependencies, estimate peak monthly capacity, and designate who monitors consumption. Because monthly consumption resets without rolling over unused balances, partners must base estimates on expected peak monthly usage.