Overview
This article answers the most common questions about licenses, prices, and costs in Tenant Manager. It explains why a figure is missing or different, where unit prices come from, and what Tenant Manager can and cannot do with the seats you purchased.
Business value
Clear answers about prices and idle seats help you explain a figure to a colleague and decide whether to set a custom price before you act on a recommendation.
How it works
Questions in this article are about licenses and costs, and each answer stands on its own. Prices come from your Microsoft billing or from a custom price you set. Where an answer needs more detail, it points to the article that covers the feature. For numbers and defaults, see Limits and defaults. For symptoms and fixes, see Report and pricing issues.
FAQs
Licenses and costs
Prices come from your Microsoft billing or from a custom price you set. These answers explain why a figure is missing or different.
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Why do some users have no license?
Guests, shared mailboxes, room accounts, and service accounts often have none. That is normal and isn't counted as waste. -
How is an idle seat different from the Inactive filter in Explore?
Overview counts a seat as idle when the user is disabled or has had no activity for 90 days, based on last activity. That line is fixed. The Inactive filter in Explore and Optimization uses a line that you choose in Filter settings, and the default is 30 days. -
Why does a recommendation show no saving?
No price is known for the license, the license is a trial, or the change saves no seat. Group-assigned licenses and multiple assignments free no seat. To add a price, set a custom price in the Global price catalog or connect an MCA billing account. -
Why are trial licenses left out of cost figures?
Microsoft gives trial licenses at no cost, whatever you purchased. They can't be given a price, so they aren't counted in purchased seats or cost. -
Can Tenant Manager buy or cancel seats?
No. Tenant Manager can't change how many seats you purchased. To reduce or renew a subscription, use the Microsoft 365 admin center. A license recommendation raises a task for your IT team, who make the change there. -
Where does the unit price come from, and can I override it?
From your Microsoft billing, or from a custom price that you set in the Global price catalog. A custom price replaces the invoiced price for that license on every tenant in your scope. Remove it to go back to the default. See Global price catalog. -
What is the difference between an idle seat and an unassigned seat?
An idle seat is a paid seat assigned to a user who is disabled or has had no activity for 90 days. An unassigned seat is a paid seat that you purchased but didn't give to anyone. On the Overview page, Active, Idle, and Unassigned together make up the paid seats. Seats assigned beyond what was purchased are left out. -
Why does Possible monthly savings show NA, or less than I expected?
Possible monthly savings adds the monthly cost of idle seats and unassigned seats. Licenses with no price are left out, so the real figure can be higher. It shows NA when no license has a price. Prices come from a Microsoft Customer Agreement billing account where the connection has the Billing account reader role, or from a custom price in the Global price catalog.