News
Visual Studio Online and Team Foundation Server Pricing, Licensing Updated
Microsoft's new build/test pricing and licensing reductions that were proposed last month are now in effect.
Microsoft now has new build/test pricing and licensing for Visual Studio Online and Team Foundation Server that is significantly reduced. Those changes were expected and previewed in early December in a blog from Microsoft Technical Fellow Brian Harry.
Most significant is the removal of per-processor licensing. "The biggest feedback we've gotten is that, in the modern DevOps, cloud first world, counting processors and VMs simply isn't viable," writes Harry. With the dynamic nature of test environments, the hope is that no longer having to count processors "will make Release Management more affordable" as well as manageable.
Build services are now 5 cents a minute up to 20 hours/month, and then 1 cent for any minutes over 20 hours in the same billable month. Harry writes that teams running a large number of builds can realize a 5x savings when exceeding 20 hours of usage regularly.
As for load testing, test execution capabilities are now available to all VSO users in the test hub. All that's required to run tests is a Basic license. An Advanced license, however, is needed for those who need to manage tests. In similar fashion, test execution rights for those using Team Foundation Server 2015 will be included in the TFS Client Access License (that is, you just need the one CAL to run a test).
Load testing is broken out into three phases: $0.0004 per virtual user minute for 20,001 to 2 million VUM; $0.0002 until 10 million VUMs is reached; then $0.001thereafter. The 20K minute limit is worthwhile to note, as that's an increase of 5K minutes that were available before.
One other highlight is that there is now a 100-user limit for VSO Professional (it was 10).
Those changes were among a number of changes over the course of the last year, including a new Stakeholder licensing scheme that was introduced midyear 2014.
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