Retiring my tenant: how can I keep Partner Center access without paying?

You can stop paying for Microsoft 365 without necessarily deleting the Entra directory that provides your Partner Center identities. Those are separate decisions: Entra ID Free has no product charges, while Partner Center uses work accounts in an associated tenant. A personal Microsoft account is not a replacement for that work-account administration model. The simplest approach is to retain your existing tenant and administrator accounts after migrating workloads and cancelling unwanted paid subscriptions. Keep the initial onmicrosoft domain available for sign-in if you remove your custom domain. If you genuinely need to delete the directory, first associate a replacement tenant, assign appropriate Partner Center permissions, and test access. The portal blocks removal of the primary tenant, so involve support before proceeding. Avoid relying on an expiring developer sandbox. Ask Partner Center support to confirm implications for benefits, competencies, and incentives before retiring the original directory.