On 1 November, Microsoft retired AI Builder capacity add-ons and stopped including AI Builder credits with new or renewed eligible Power Platform and Dynamics 365 licences. Microsoft’s Message Center notice says credits from active add-on contracts remain usable until those contracts expire, and AI Builder features now run on Copilot Credits instead.
If you use Power Apps, Power Automate or Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations, this is a quiet but real change to what your licences include. A renewal that used to carry a pool of AI credits now carries none. This article explains what has changed, who is affected and what to do before your next renewal.
How the change unfolded
The retirement happened in two steps. Microsoft stopped selling AI Builder capacity add-ons to new customers on 1 November 2025, while existing customers could keep using and renewing them. On 1 November 2026 the add-ons reached end of life and could no longer be renewed or bought, and new or renewed eligible licences stopped receiving seeded credits.
The detail that matters is the word renewed. Licences bought or renewed before 1 November keep their seeded credits until the end of the term. The change reaches each organisation at a different time, depending on when its contracts renew, which is why many teams will meet it only when a quote arrives.
Which licences are affected
Credits were seeded into several products. Microsoft’s credit management page lists examples such as Power Apps per app at 250 credits, Power Automate Premium at 5,000, the Power Automate Unattended RPA add-on at 5,000 and Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations at 20,000 per tenant. The same page says new customers can no longer buy an AI Builder capacity add-on and must purchase Copilot Credits instead.
In practice, the people affected are those who built flows that read documents, classify text, predict outcomes or call prompts using AI Builder. Many of those flows were created by makers who never looked at licensing, so the dependency may not be visible to the people who sign renewals.
From included credits to a meter
The shift is from an allowance that came with the licence to a meter you pay for as you go. Copilot Credits cost one cent each on pay-as-you-go, and AI Builder features consume them at their own rates, so you cannot simply convert an old credit balance into a dollar figure. Check consumption in your own environment before you estimate the cost.
Partners have been flagging the same point. One trade report advises partners to check renewals, included credits and replacement capacity so that workflows keep running. A workflow that quietly stops, or starts drawing on a pay-as-you-go meter nobody has set up, is the practical risk.
What to do now
Start by finding out what you have. List every Power Platform and Dynamics 365 licence that includes seeded credits, and the date each one renews. Identify any AI Builder capacity add-ons and when their contracts end. Microsoft’s guidance for add-ons is to turn off automatic renewal in the Microsoft 365 admin centre, or ask your partner to do so in Partner Center, because they can no longer be renewed.
Then find out what you use. Run the consumption reports in the Power Platform admin centre for each environment, and identify which apps and flows call AI Builder. Talk to the makers. You are looking for the small number of workflows that matter to the business and the larger number that were experiments.
Finally, decide how to cover the demand that is left. You can buy Copilot Credits capacity, use pay-as-you-go billing through an Azure subscription, or retire flows that do not justify a cost. Administrators can allow or block drawing from Copilot Credits capacity, so decide who may use it before the first bill arrives.
What to ask at renewal
When a Power Platform or Dynamics 365 renewal is due, ask for an itemised quote that shows whether credits are included, and compare it with your current agreement. Ask what the price would be if you remove any licence that you kept only for its AI allowance. Ask how Copilot Credits capacity will be priced, whether it can be shared across environments and whether unused capacity expires.
Think about timing too. Because seeded credits last until the end of a term, a longer term bought before the change keeps them longer, and a renewal after it does not. That is a reason to know each renewal date in advance, and not to treat the credits as a bonus you can rely on in the next term.
A note on governance
Low-code platforms put purchasing power in the hands of many small teams. A change like this shows how a dependency can build up unnoticed. Keep a short register of AI-dependent apps and flows, with an owner for each, and review it when Microsoft announces licensing changes. It costs little to maintain and it turns a surprise into a planned decision.
How it plays out in practice
Picture a finance team that built an invoice-reading flow two years ago using AI Builder document processing. It has run quietly on the credits that came with the Power Automate Premium licences. When those licences renew after 1 November, the seeded credits do not come with them. Unless someone has arranged Copilot Credits capacity or pay-as-you-go billing, the flow either stops or starts drawing on a meter that nobody budgeted for.
This scenario is invented, but it is the shape of the problem. The licence owner, the maker and the budget holder are often three different people, and none of them is looking at the same page. A short conversation between them before renewal is the cheapest fix.
Conclusion
Microsoft has ended AI Builder capacity add-ons and stopped seeding AI Builder credits into new or renewed Power Platform and Dynamics 365 licences. Existing credits last until the end of their term, and after that AI Builder runs on Copilot Credits.
Find your renewal dates, measure what your apps and flows consume, turn off add-on renewals and decide how you will cover the demand. Doing it before the next renewal turns a licensing change into a budget line you chose.
