Perpetual license (CSP)
Visual Studio Professional can be bought outright as a perpetual license through the Cloud Solution Provider program: one payment, the IDE and Azure DevOps, and the right to use that version for as long as you like. It does not bring new versions, the Azure credit or the dev/test software library. It is the same product Microsoft sells as a standalone license, at the same price for commercial buyers, and at a charity price for eligible nonprofits. Enterprise has no perpetual-only edition.
Open Value
Open Value is Microsoft’s volume-licensing agreement for small and mid-size organizations, with no minimum quantity. A three-year term bundles the license with Software Assurance, which is what carries the full subscription: new versions as released, the monthly Azure credit, the dev/test software library, Azure DevOps, training and support incidents. You pay once up front or in three yearly payments, the license is yours when the term ends, and from year four only Software Assurance renews, at a rate below Microsoft’s subscription renewal.
Open Value Subscription
The same full subscription rented by the year instead of owned. The yearly price is the lowest of the full-subscription paths, but the licenses end with the agreement, so it suits teams that value the lowest yearly cost over ownership. Minimums may apply.
Buying direct from Microsoft
Microsoft’s standard subscription is billed yearly, with a higher first year and lower renewals, and includes a perpetual license to the IDE plus the subscription benefits while it is active. The monthly cloud subscription is the only true month-to-month option: it covers the IDE and Azure DevOps only, with no Azure credit, software library, training or support. Both appear in the calculator as reference prices at Microsoft’s published list.
Where the numbers come from
Every price is read from one data file, updated monthly (prices as of September 2026, in US dollars, excluding tax). Savings are computed from the option totals, never fixed. Where we have not published a price, the calculator says “Request a quote” rather than estimating or borrowing another segment’s price. Quote-only today: every it partner option: no government price published yet; education perpetual (professional); education open value subscription, both editions; nonprofit open value (upfront, annual, renewal), both editions; nonprofit open value subscription for enterprise; commercial open value subscription for enterprise.