What the calculator does and does not do
Most vendor cost calculators are lead capture with a number attached. You enter details, you get a form, and a salesperson calls. We built ours to answer the question instead, so it is worth publishing the method rather than presenting the output as a black box.
The calculator takes five questions and no sign-up. It returns two figures: a licence cost that is arithmetic, and an implementation range that is an estimate.
The distinction matters. The first number is as accurate as the price list. The second is a range, and anyone giving you a single figure for it before looking at your data is guessing.
The licence half: arithmetic
Nothing clever here. Microsoft publishes the prices, we multiply.
| Licence | Per user / month | Who needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $80 | Finance, sales, purchasing, inventory, projects |
| Premium | $110 | Everything above plus manufacturing and service management |
| Team Member | $8 | Read data, approve documents, enter time and expenses |
| Device | $45 | Shared terminals — a warehouse scanner station, a shop till |
Prices effective 1 November 2025, annual contract billed annually, excluding VAT. Two qualifications the calculator assumes and you should check: existing subscriptions move to these rates only at their first renewal after that date, and monthly billing adds roughly 5% on an annual contract or 20% on a month-to-month one.
Note also that the November increase did not touch Team Member — it stayed at $8. UK figures in sterling are set separately by Microsoft and reviewed twice yearly against exchange rates; those are in Business Central pricing in the UK.
Two constraints the calculator applies that people miss when estimating by hand.
Full users cannot be mixed. One environment is either Essentials or Premium for every full user. If three people need manufacturing and forty do not, all forty-three are on Premium. That single rule changes a mid-sized estimate by five figures a year.
Team Member is not a cheap full licence. It reads, approves and enters time. It does not raise a sales order. Sizing the mix optimistically is the most common way a hand estimate comes out too low.
The project half: a range, and why
The implementation figure is a range because the honest answer is a range. Industry data puts implementation at 50–70% of first-year spend and licences at 20–30%, so this is the half that decides the budget.
What we model:
- Number of functional areas. Finance only, finance and inventory, or a full scope with manufacturing. This drives configuration hours more than headcount does.
- Data migration volume. Number of records and how much history transfers.
- Integrations. Each external system is a discrete block of work.
- Training. Scales with the number of distinct roles, not with the number of people.
What we do not model, and cannot: the state of your data. A clean item master and a dirty one with the same record count differ by a factor of two in migration effort, and no calculator can see that from five questions.
The five questions, and what each one moves
| Question | What it changes |
|---|---|
| How many people work in the system daily | Full licence count — the largest recurring line |
| How many only approve or view | Team Member count. Getting this right typically saves 20–30% of the licence bill |
| Do you run production | Essentials or Premium for everyone. The single largest swing in the licence figure |
| Which areas go live first | Configuration effort and timeline |
| What are you moving from | Migration effort. 1C and spreadsheets are different problems |
The second question is the one people answer wrong. Companies count everyone who will "use the system" as a full user, when a third of them only approve purchase orders or check stock. That is a Team Member at $8 rather than a full licence at $80.
Where the number will be wrong
Four situations where the calculator understates, and you should treat its output as a floor.
Dirty master data. Duplicate items and counterparties are the single biggest driver of migration cost, and five questions cannot detect them. Check yours against the preparation checklist before trusting any estimate, including ours.
Undeclared integrations. Every system that needs to talk to the ERP and was not mentioned adds a discrete block of work. Panorama Consulting has flagged unplanned technology as the leading cause of ERP budget overruns every year since 2021.
Local statutory requirements. Country-specific accounting is not in the base product anywhere. For a Ukrainian entity that means VAT treatment, tax invoices and payroll come from a partner localisation with its own cost and its own maintenance.
Your own team's time. Not in any vendor calculator, including ours, because it is not billed by us. It is typically comparable to the invoice. Among companies that overran budget, 38% named underestimated internal staffing as the cause — the single most common reason.
The full list of what estimates miss is in what an implementation costs.
How to use the output
Treat the licence figure as accurate and the project figure as a floor with a 20–25% contingency on top. That is the standard reserve for a project of this type, and adding it yourself is more useful than hoping the estimate was conservative.
Then use the number for its actual purpose: comparing proposals. If a partner quotes far below the range, they have understood a smaller project than you described. If far above, ask which line drives the difference. Either way the conversation is now about specifics.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate is the calculator?
The licence figure is arithmetic and as accurate as the Microsoft price list. The implementation figure is a range and should be treated as a floor: add 20–25% contingency. No five-question tool can see the state of your data, which is the largest single cost driver.
Why does production change the price so much?
Manufacturing is a Premium-only capability, and full users cannot be mixed across tiers in one environment. If three people need production and forty do not, all forty-three move to Premium at $110 instead of $80 — a five-figure annual difference for a mid-sized company.
What is a Team Member licence actually for?
Reading data, approving documents, entering time and expenses. It cannot raise a sales order. Companies routinely count everyone as a full user when a third only approve or view, and sizing that mix correctly typically saves 20–30% of the licence bill.
Does the calculator include local statutory requirements?
No, and no vendor calculator does. Country-specific accounting comes from a partner localisation with its own cost and ongoing maintenance. For a Ukrainian entity that covers VAT, tax invoices and payroll.
Why is our own team's time not included?
Because we do not bill it, so it does not appear in any vendor estimate. It is typically comparable to the invoice — among companies that exceeded budget, 38% named underestimated internal staffing as the cause, ahead of scope expansion and technical issues.