Effective May 1, 2025, Microsoft has introduced a new pricing model for Microsoft Purview. This pay-as-you-go structure addresses the rapid growth of AI in business processes and the associated challenges around data security and compliance.

What is Microsoft Purview?

Microsoft Purview is Microsoft's central platform for data governance, information security and compliance. The service helps organizations classify, protect, manage and monitor their data - both inside and outside Microsoft 365.

At the heart of it all is the Purview Data Map: a metadata index that provides an up-to-date overview of your entire data environment. Functions such as Data Catalog (for overview and discovery), Data Policy (for policy management) and Data Estate Insights (for risk analysis) are built on this. Organisations use Purview to comply with regulations such as GDPR, NIS2 or industry-specific standards, and to keep control of sensitive data in hybrid or AI-driven IT landscapes.

Why a new pricing model?

Purview’s traditional licensing structure was based on fixed monthly user licenses (PUPM), with a focus on human interaction with data. But AI is fundamentally changing this playing field: data is increasingly being processed by models, agents and scripts – and no longer exclusively by end users.

That’s why Microsoft is now introducing a usage-based pricing model, which enables organizations to pay based on volume, throughput, and complexity. This enables flexible and scalable deployment of Purview in modern AI and data platforms.

What exactly is changing?

The new rates mainly apply to usage outside the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Think of AI applications such as ChatGPT Enterprise, own models in Azure, or external data lakes. Classic applications such as Microsoft 365 Copilot remain largely within the existing licenses, such as Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance.

Some notable rates:

  • Data protection in transit and at rest: €0,44 per 10.000 requests or per asset/month
  • Insider risk management: €21,98 per 10.000 log processing
  • On-demand classification: €17,58 per 10.000 assets
  • Non-Microsoft Application Audit: €0,0132 per 1.000 records
  • Data Map scans: €0,554 per vCore hour
  • eDiscovery: €0,586 per GB per day
  • DevOps policy enforcement: €0,003 per policy hour

Important to note: If no Azure subscription is associated with the Microsoft 30 tenant before June 2025, 365, all metered functionalities will be automatically disabled.

Who is this relevant for?

Organizations that use AI outside of standard Microsoft Copilot capabilities, or that store sensitive data in non-Microsoft environments, will be directly impacted by this new structure. Organizations that want to perform classification, auditing, or risk assessment at the compute level—for example, based on models, agents, or large-scale AI interactions—will also want to reevaluate their Purview usage.

What does this mean in concrete terms?

The transition to a pay-as-you-go model requires a review of cost structures, cloud architecture and governance policies. Organizations need to assess how their data and workloads relate to these new cost components, and whether existing licenses are still sufficient.

Linking an active Azure subscription to the Microsoft 365 tenant is no longer an option, but a requirement to maintain access to many of Purview's advanced functionalities.

Closing note

Microsoft is moving with Purview to the reality of AI. Data is increasingly processed outside the view of traditional users, and that is precisely why modern data governance is more important than ever. The new pricing model offers flexibility, but also requires clear choices in the areas of infrastructure, security and budgeting.

Does your organization have ambitions in the field of AI and data? Then now is the time to review your Purview strategy.