Forum Discussion
Business Central on premise subscription vs Business Central Cloud
Business Central Dual Use Rights generally allow a properly licensed Dynamics 365 Business Central cloud subscription user to access the equivalent Business Central on-premises deployment without requiring an additional on-premises CAL for that user.
It should not be interpreted in the opposite direction — purchasing a Business Central on-premises subscription does not automatically provide entitlement to use the Business Central SaaS service.
There are also practical differences beyond licensing. With Business Central Online, Microsoft manages the SaaS infrastructure, platform updates, environment administration and service availability. With an on-premises deployment, the customer/partner remains responsible for the underlying infrastructure and associated components.
So I would first confirm which specific licensing SKU/program is being compared, because “dual use rights” does not simply mean that an on-premises subscription can be purchased at a lower cost and then used as a Business Central cloud subscription.
I think the important part here now, with regards to this question: "why would customer buy BC cloud when they can abuy BC on prem subscription for less and use it for cloud?" = as of February 2027 customers will not be able to purchase on-premises subscriptions anymore and the only way to get a BC on-premises subscription is thru BC Cloud with DUR.
So it's not a question about 'why' anymore, but it's a 'must'.
And indeed, DUR is only applicable in one-way. Buy Cloud, get on-premises for free. It does not work the other way around. Buy on-premises, only get on-premises.