# Dynamics 365 Commerce licensing and pricing 2026: full users, attach, devices, e-commerce tiers and Ratings and Reviews > Dynamics 365 Commerce is licensed like the other Finance and Operations apps: full users with a minimum purchase, attach for Finance and Supply Chain users, device licenses for registers, cloud or self-hosted scale units, e-commerce tiers, Ratings and Reviews, storage and sandbox add-ons. Canonical: https://o365hq.com/blog/dynamics-365-commerce-licensing-and-pricing-2026-users-attach-devices-e-commerce Provider: IT Partner LLC — US Microsoft partner since 2006. Book: https://o365hq.com/book Published: 2026-11-09 · IT Partner Dynamics 365 Commerce is Microsoft's point-of-sale, store operations and online storefront application, and it is licensed under the Finance and Operations rules rather than the Sales and Customer Service rules most 20 to 500 person organizations already know. That matters because the Finance and Operations rules bring a minimum purchase, a shared device license for registers, and a set of capacity add-ons that the customer-engagement apps do not have. This guide walks through each line you will see on a Commerce quote, and ends with the case where Business Central and a third-party point of sale is the smaller fit. ## Where Commerce sits in the Dynamics 365 lineup Microsoft groups Dynamics 365 into two families. The customer-engagement apps (Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Customer Insights) are licensed per user with no minimum. The Finance and Operations apps (Finance, Supply Chain Management, Commerce, Project Operations, Human Resources) carry their own rules: a minimum full-user purchase, the Operations Device and Operations Activity licenses, and capacity add-ons for database, file storage and sandboxes. Commerce is the retail member of that second family. One license covers the headquarters application (merchandising, pricing and promotions, assortments, loyalty, channel setup), the Store Commerce point-of-sale client, call center order entry, and the components behind an online storefront when the e-commerce add-on is present. Our wider [Dynamics 365 pricing guide](/blog/dynamics-365-pricing-guide-2026-sales-customer-service-field-service-business-central) covers the whole lineup; this article stays on Commerce. ## Full user, attach and the minimum purchase The Commerce full user license is a named-user subscription for anyone who works in headquarters: merchandisers, pricing staff, store operations managers, call center agents and the IT staff who administer channels and registers. It is the base license for a person whose first Dynamics 365 application is Commerce. If a person already holds a Finance or Supply Chain Management full user license, Commerce is bought for that person as an attach license rather than a second base, at a far lower price for the same rights. The qualifying-base matrix in Microsoft's Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide is the authority: Finance, Supply Chain Management and Commerce attach to one another, including the Premium editions. A Sales or Business Central base does not qualify a Commerce attach. The minimum purchase is the line that surprises smaller retailers. The Licensing Guide, November 2026 edition, states a minimum of 20 full user licenses for Commerce, counted per product rather than pooled with Finance or Supply Chain Management. A retailer with eight back-office staff still licenses 20. Whether attach licenses count toward that minimum is a footnote that has moved between editions, so read the current edition before you plan a mixed order. Microsoft's list prices for the full user and the attach, with the one-month, one-year and three-year terms, are on our [Dynamics 365 Commerce plan page](/subscriptions/dynamics-365-commerce). ## Commerce Scale Unit: cloud and self-hosted Registers and storefronts talk to a Commerce Scale Unit, the channel component that holds products, prices, inventory and transactions for a group of stores or an online channel and synchronizes with headquarters. The cloud scale unit is hosted by Microsoft in your environment's region. The Licensing Guide includes one cloud scale unit with a deployment that meets the minimum purchase; the Basic, Standard and Premium tiers are sized by transaction volume and channel count, and larger tiers or additional units are add-ons listed on our [Commerce scale unit and Ratings and Reviews plan page](/subscriptions/dynamics-365-commerce-ecommerce). The self-hosted scale unit is the same component installed on your own Windows Server with SQL Server, in a store or regional data center, for locations that must keep ringing sales when the internet link drops. There is no separate Microsoft subscription for it; the right comes with the Commerce licenses, while the hardware, the Windows Server license and any SQL Server edition beyond Express are yours. Many deployments mix the two. ## Point-of-sale devices, Operations Activity and Team Members Cashiers are not licensed per person. The Dynamics 365 Operations Device license covers a shared device, such as a register, a mobile point-of-sale tablet, a self-checkout kiosk or a warehouse scanner, and any number of staff may use the Store Commerce client on it without a user license of their own, as long as they stay within the point-of-sale scenarios the guide lists for a licensed device. Six stores with three registers each and forty part-time associates means eighteen device licenses, not forty user licenses; our [Dynamics 365 licensing review](/services/dynamics-365-licensing-review) models the count against the store list. A store manager who approves returns, counts inventory and reads reports in the back office may fit the Operations Activity license, a mid-tier license for light transactional work across the Finance and Operations apps. A manager who edits prices or assortments in headquarters needs a full user or attach. Team Members is the lowest tier: reading data, approvals, time and expense entry, and light edits to a limited set of records. It does not cover operating the point of sale or maintaining merchandising data, so it suits a finance clerk who reads Commerce reports, not anyone in a store. ## E-commerce tiers and Ratings and Reviews The online storefront is a tenant-level add-on, not a per-user one. Microsoft licenses e-commerce in tiers and bands keyed to the online sales volume the site processes each year; you buy the tier that matches your trailing twelve months and move up when volume crosses the band. Current list prices by tier are on our [Dynamics 365 e-commerce plan page](/subscriptions/dynamics-365-ecommerce). The add-on requires Commerce full users in the tenant, and the 20-user minimum applies underneath it. Ratings and Reviews is a separate tenant-level add-on: a hosted service that collects, moderates and publishes product reviews on the storefront, with moderator tools in headquarters. In the current catalog it is sold on a monthly commitment only, which makes it simple to run alongside a new storefront and drop later if the catalog draws few reviews. Retailers that already run a storefront elsewhere can skip the add-on and run Commerce headquarters and a scale unit behind it. ## Storage, sandboxes and what is Microsoft's charge Two kinds of storage appear on a Finance and Operations quote. Dataverse capacity (database, file and log) follows the tenant and accrues per full user, as for every Dynamics 365 app. Finance and Operations database and file capacity is separate, with a default tenant allowance and per-user accrual; the figures are in the capacity table of the Licensing Guide, November 2026 edition. Overage is bought as a capacity add-on in gigabyte increments. Commerce is heavier on file storage than most operations apps because product images and storefront media live there. Sandboxes are also licensed. A deployment that meets the minimum purchase includes one Standard Acceptance Testing sandbox; additional sandboxes at that tier, and the higher tiers for performance testing, are subscription add-ons listed by tier on the Microsoft price list. Development environments are cloud-hosted on an Azure subscription you own, and that Azure consumption is yours. The general rule holds across Commerce: every subscription line is a Microsoft list price, and every metered charge (Azure consumption for development environments, Azure storage for data export, payment connector fees) is the customer's. ## When Business Central with a third-party point of sale is the smaller fit Commerce earns its place when a retailer already runs Finance or Supply Chain Management, has 20 or more people in headquarters roles, sells through stores, call center and web with one pricing and promotion engine, and expects scale units across regions. Below that line, the minimum and the platform add-ons pay for scale you do not use. For a 20 to 500 person organization with two to fifteen stores and a handful of back-office users, Dynamics 365 Business Central with a point-of-sale app from AppSource is the smaller fit. Business Central has no minimum seat count, its Essentials and Premium licenses are per user, it has its own device license for shared registers, and the point-of-sale vendors in its ecosystem sell per register or per store. Our [Business Central Essentials vs Premium vs Team Members](/blog/dynamics-365-business-central-essentials-vs-premium-vs-team-members-licensing-2026) guide covers the user licensing on that side, and our [Business Central integration development](/services/dynamics-365-business-central-integration-development) service connects a storefront or point of sale to it. Four numbers settle most of the licensing before any demonstration: headquarters headcount, register count, online sales volume and whether Finance or Supply Chain Management is already in the tenant. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can we buy Commerce for fewer than 20 users? The Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide, November 2026 edition, sets a minimum of 20 full user licenses for Commerce, per product. Fewer headquarters staff than that means licensing 20 anyway or choosing Business Central with a point-of-sale app. ### Does every cashier need a license? No. A Dynamics 365 Operations Device license covers a shared register, kiosk or mobile point-of-sale device, and any number of staff may use the Store Commerce client on it within the point-of-sale scenarios the guide allows. ### Is the Commerce attach available on a Sales or Business Central base? No. Commerce attaches to Finance, Supply Chain Management and their Premium editions. A person whose only Dynamics 365 license is Sales or Business Central needs a Commerce base license. ### Is the cloud scale unit included or an add-on? One cloud scale unit comes with a deployment that meets the minimum purchase; larger tiers and additional units are add-ons. The self-hosted scale unit has no Microsoft subscription of its own; you supply the server, Windows Server and SQL Server. ## Sources - Microsoft, Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide, November 2026 edition (Finance and Operations full user, attach, Operations Device, Operations Activity and Team Members; the 20-user minimum for Commerce; capacity and sandbox tables), consulted November 2026. - Microsoft Learn, "Dynamics 365 Commerce architecture overview", "Commerce Scale Unit (self-hosted)", "Ratings and reviews overview" and "Finance and Operations apps environment planning", consulted November 2026. - Microsoft Dynamics 365 pricing page for Commerce, Microsoft list price, November 2026 price list, consulted November 2026. ## Key takeaways - Commerce is a Finance and Operations app: full user base license, attach for people who already hold Finance or Supply Chain Management, and a minimum of 20 full users as the Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide (November 2026) reads. - Registers, kiosks and mobile point-of-sale devices are licensed per device with the Dynamics 365 Operations Device license; cashiers need no user license of their own. - One cloud Commerce Scale Unit is included with a qualifying deployment; larger tiers, additional units, e-commerce tiers, Ratings and Reviews, storage and extra sandboxes are add-ons, and Azure consumption for development environments is the customer's. - Under 20 headquarters users with a handful of stores, Business Central with an AppSource point of sale is the smaller fit. --- Send us your headquarters headcount, register count by store, online sales volume and which Dynamics 365 apps are already in the tenant, and we will return a Commerce license model against the Business Central alternative.