Forum Discussion
Visual Studio Lite benefits - without Azure Credits and Keys
New benefits have been released as of February 13, 2026. Partner Blog | Expanded partner benefits are now available: What’s new in February 2026 | Microsoft Community Hub
The team also mentioned:
Refresh went live Feb 13, so any benefits packages that are available to purchase now will reflect that. Note that the changes are retroactive, except for changes to Microsoft Visual Studio.
Some other announcement links in case you find them helpful:
Explore your Visual Studio and GitHub benefits - Partner Center | Microsoft Learn
Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program: Key updates to developer benefits and Visual Studio access
Manage Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program benefits - Partner Center | Microsoft Learn
Thank you for your feedback as well!
Community ManagerThe team will be releasing an announcement on this on Friday, February 13th and I will be sure to publish those links in this string for you all.
Community ManagerNew benefits have been released as of February 13, 2026. Partner Blog | Expanded partner benefits are now available: What’s new in February 2026 | Microsoft Community Hub
The team also mentioned:
Refresh went live Feb 13, so any benefits packages that are available to purchase now will reflect that. Note that the changes are retroactive, except for changes to Microsoft Visual Studio.
Some other announcement links in case you find them helpful:
Explore your Visual Studio and GitHub benefits - Partner Center | Microsoft Learn
Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program: Key updates to developer benefits and Visual Studio access
Manage Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program benefits - Partner Center | Microsoft Learn
Thank you for your feedback as well!
Unfortunately, contrary to what the article states, this is a downgrade. Lack of dev/test downloads and keys is a huge loss and makes the whole benefit package significantly less valuable. Being able to create lab and dev environments to test in is critical. Renaming the product so it doesn't sound as inferior did not change the fact that it is. Please reconsider this.
- JillArmourMicrosoft
KolbyG thank you for your feedback, I will share it with the team.
Please be aware that we can share feedback we receive, but it doesn't always mean they will utilize it, just to set your expectations. ⭐
Unfortunately, this 'solution' still means the primary reason we go for the benefit packages - test and modernization labs to help customers bring forward software into the modern era - is still gone. Not much of a solution, for sure.
