What Is MACC? Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment Explained (2026)
If your company has a multi-year Microsoft Azure agreement, there is a non-trivial chance you are leaving money on the table. The Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) is the mechanism that controls that money, and very few procurement and finance teams understand how it actually works.
This guide explains what MACC is, how it differs from older Microsoft commitment models, what counts against it, and the practical playbook for maximizing the commit you already signed.
If you have ever asked "what's the difference between EA and MACC?" or "why can't we just buy more SaaS through our Microsoft contract?" — this is the article.
The short answer
A Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) is a multi-year agreement where your organization commits to spending a defined amount with Microsoft Azure. Typical commitments range from $1M to $100M+ per year, over 1-5 years.
In exchange for the commitment, Microsoft provides:
- Discounted pricing on Azure services
- Predictable budget for your finance team
- Access to enterprise-tier support and account management
- Eligibility for partner incentives
The critical wrinkle is that eligible third-party software purchased through Microsoft's Marketplace counts toward the MACC. That means you can satisfy your commit not just with Azure infrastructure, but also with SaaS tools you would have bought anyway.
This is the procurement leverage point most teams miss.
How MACC actually works
The mechanics, in five steps:
1You sign a multi-year agreement
Through your Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA) or a direct MACC contract, you commit to a defined annual spend. Example: $5M per year for 3 years.
2Microsoft pre-allocates the budget internally
The committed amount sits on Microsoft's books as expected revenue. Your dedicated Microsoft account team has visibility into how much you have spent versus committed.
3You consume the commit through eligible spend
Every Azure service consumption (compute, storage, networking, databases) draws down the commit. So does eligible third-party SaaS purchased through Azure Marketplace.
4End of fiscal year, unused commit evaporates
If you committed to $5M but consumed $3.5M, the remaining $1.5M is lost. You do not get a credit or refund. Microsoft keeps the money. This is the "use it or lose it" pressure that drives MACC procurement behavior.
5Multi-year commitments often stack
Over a 3-year MACC, year 1 unused budget cannot roll to year 2. Each year is its own consumption window. Some agreements have "trueing-up" mechanisms but the default is annual.
The combination of pre-allocated budget plus end-of-year evaporation creates urgency: procurement teams aggressively look for eligible spend they can route through Marketplace to satisfy the commit.
What counts toward MACC
This is the rule that matters most:
Azure infrastructure spend. Compute, storage, networking, databases, identity, security, AI, monitoring — anything billed directly through Azure. 100% counts.
Eligible third-party SaaS on Azure Marketplace. Microsoft maintains a "MACC eligible" flag on each Marketplace offer. Eligible SaaS purchases count fully against the commit. Most modern B2B SaaS offers are eligible.
Microsoft AppSource transactable offers. A growing number of AppSource SaaS offers are MACC-eligible. Check the offer page or your Microsoft account team.
Some Microsoft consulting services. Direct from Microsoft, not all partner-delivered services.
What does NOT count:
- Microsoft 365 subscription licenses
- Dynamics 365 subscription licenses
- Power Platform per-user licenses
- Microsoft Office desktop apps
- Most Microsoft Surface hardware
- Azure services consumed under separate non-MACC agreements
The dividing line is roughly: anything billed to your Azure subscription as consumption counts. Anything billed as a per-user productivity license does not.
This rule has consequences. Procurement teams treat MACC as a separate budget pool from M365 licensing, with different optimization strategies.
MACC vs Enterprise Agreement
These two are constantly conflated.
Enterprise Agreement (EA) is the broader Microsoft licensing contract. It covers Microsoft 365, Dynamics, Power Platform, and Azure together. Multi-year commitment, custom pricing, dedicated account team.
MACC is the Azure-specific consumption commitment that lives inside (or alongside) an EA. You can have an EA without a MACC. You can have a MACC outside an EA in some contracts.
In a typical enterprise:
- EA covers $10M total Microsoft spend per year
- MACC commits $5M of that specifically to Azure consumption
- M365, Dynamics, etc. account for the other $5M
When people say "draw down our Azure commit," they usually mean the MACC portion.
Why MACC creates procurement pressure
The economics:
- Microsoft prices the MACC at a discount versus on-demand Azure
- The discount is contingent on actually consuming the committed amount
- Unused commit at year-end evaporates with no refund
For finance teams, this creates a sharp incentive: spend the committed amount, or lose the discount.
Practical implications:
Q3 and Q4 are MACC drawdown season. Procurement teams audit how much commit remains and aggressively look for spend to route. ISVs who pitch enterprise deals in Q3 with Marketplace transactability often see deals close faster than the same pitch in Q1.
SaaS renewals get re-routed through Marketplace. If your existing vendors are available on Marketplace, finance teams will switch the billing relationship to draw down commit. Even if the underlying product does not change.
Vendor selection adds a Marketplace criterion. When two vendors are otherwise comparable, the one with a Marketplace listing wins because they can be paid with existing committed budget.
Net-new vendor evaluation includes Marketplace question. Sales teams selling to MACC enterprises now expect "are you on Azure Marketplace?" as a deal qualification question.
If you are an ISV selling to large enterprises, Marketplace listing has become a competitive necessity, not a nice-to-have.
How to maximize your MACC commit (procurement playbook)
For procurement and finance teams managing an active MACC, the optimization playbook:
Step 1Audit your SaaS vendor stack
List every SaaS vendor you spend more than $25K/year with. For each:
- Are they on Azure Marketplace? (Check the marketplace listing or ask vendor)
- Are they on Microsoft AppSource?
- Is the offer MACC-eligible?
You will typically find 20-40% of your SaaS vendors are already available on Marketplace and you are paying them directly outside the commit.
Step 2Route eligible renewals through Marketplace
For each vendor that has a Marketplace offer, switch the next renewal to a Marketplace transaction. Mechanics:
- Vendor creates a private offer in Partner Center scoped to your billing account
- Your team accepts the offer in Azure portal
- Microsoft handles billing; the spend counts against MACC
The product, terms, and price often stay identical. Only the billing relationship changes. Net effect: that vendor spend now satisfies MACC.
Step 3Push net-new vendors to publish on Marketplace
When evaluating new vendors, make Marketplace availability a procurement criterion. If two competing vendors are similar, the Marketplace-listed one transacts faster.
For non-listed vendors, ask them to publish. Many ISVs will prioritize publishing if a customer commits to volume.
Step 4Track MACC burn-down
Monthly review:
- Current commit consumed
- Remaining commit
- Days remaining in commit period
- Required burn rate to hit target
Most procurement teams underspend their MACC in Q1-Q2 and panic in Q3-Q4. Tracking monthly prevents the panic and lets you plan vendor migrations smoothly.
Step 5Negotiate the next MACC with data
When the current MACC term ends, your renewal negotiation should reflect actual consumption patterns plus expected growth. Microsoft will push for a larger commit; you should push back with data on your actual ability to consume.
A common mistake: signing a bigger MACC than you can realistically consume. The discount is worth less than the evaporated budget. Right-size based on multi-year actuals, not aspirational forecast.
The vendor side: why ISVs care about MACC
If you are an ISV, MACC is not just a procurement curiosity. It is a sales acceleration tool.
When an enterprise buyer says "I love your product but I can't get budget approved" — and they have an active MACC — the unlocking question is "do you have remaining Azure commit?"
If yes, your sales motion becomes:
- Confirm the buyer has MACC commit available
- Publish on Azure Marketplace (if not already)
- Create a private offer scoped to their billing account
- Buyer accepts; the deal closes through their existing committed budget
You converted a "no budget" deal into a "yes, commit drawdown" deal. The product cost the buyer the same. The procurement friction dropped to zero.
This is why Marketplace listing has become a sales infrastructure investment, not a marketing channel. ISVs without Marketplace listings lose deals to competitors who can transact through MACC.
For the technical setup work, see How to Sell Software on Azure Marketplace. For the private offer mechanics that close enterprise deals, see Azure Marketplace Private Offers.
If your team does not want to build the Marketplace technical infrastructure in-house, services like WeTransact operate the entire Marketplace listing and transaction infrastructure as a managed service. Your engineering team avoids 3-6 months on Microsoft commerce APIs; your sales team gets MACC-eligible transactability.
The "327% MACC increase" claim
If you have looked at MACC tooling, you have probably seen a claim that enterprises can "increase their committed spend by 327%" by routing SaaS through Marketplace. Where does that number come from?
The basic math: most enterprises consume less than 30% of their MACC through directly billed Azure infrastructure. The remaining commit gets drawn down (or evaporates) through other eligible spend. By auditing SaaS vendors and rerouting eligible spend through Marketplace, finance teams can dramatically increase the effective commit utilization.
In practical terms, organizations that actively audit and reroute see 2-4x more of their committed budget actually consumed productively, rather than lost at year-end.
The 327% figure comes from analysis by Marketplace consulting partners who track aggregate enterprise data. Your mileage will vary based on your existing vendor stack and commit size, but the directional finding (most enterprises drastically under-utilize MACC) is consistent across analyses.
Common MACC mistakes to avoid
Treating MACC as just an Azure budget. It is not. It is a multi-purpose commit that covers Azure infrastructure AND eligible third-party SaaS. Procurement teams that only optimize the Azure side leave the larger optimization untouched.
Letting MACC evaporate. Year-end unused commit is wasted spend. Build the audit and reroute process well before fiscal year-end pressure hits.
Signing a MACC larger than realistic consumption. The discount is real, but only if you actually consume. Right-size based on multi-year actuals.
Not knowing your MACC eligibility for SaaS vendors. Most vendors will not proactively tell you they are on Marketplace. Procurement has to ask, audit, and push.
Negotiating new MACC without a consumption strategy. Going into a renewal without a plan for how to draw down the new commit creates the same evaporation problem in the next cycle.
Frequently asked questions
Is MACC mandatory for Azure customers?
No. You can use Azure without MACC, on pay-as-you-go pricing or other agreements. MACC is for organizations that want discount pricing in exchange for a multi-year commitment.
What's the minimum MACC commitment?
Typically $250K to $1M per year for entry-level MACC, scaling up to $100M+ for the largest enterprise commitments. Exact thresholds vary by region and account team.
Can MACC be paused or restructured mid-term?
Sometimes. If your business changes significantly (acquisition, divestiture, major Azure migration), your Microsoft account team can sometimes restructure the commit. Default is the original terms hold.
Does MACC apply to Microsoft 365 or Dynamics 365 licenses?
No. Those are separate licensing commitments under the Enterprise Agreement. MACC specifically covers Azure consumption and eligible Marketplace transactions.
How do I know if a Marketplace offer is MACC-eligible?
Microsoft displays a "MACC eligible" indicator on each offer page. Your Microsoft account team can also provide a list of MACC-eligible offers across your committed vendor stack.
Can I use MACC to buy Microsoft consulting services?
Direct Microsoft consulting services often count toward MACC. Partner-delivered consulting (through systems integrators) usually does not, unless specifically structured through Marketplace.
What happens at MACC renewal?
Your Microsoft account team will push for a higher commit reflecting growth assumptions. You negotiate based on actual consumption data. The discount tier on the new MACC is usually contingent on the commitment level.
Is MACC public information or confidential?
The fact that MACC exists is public. Specific commitment amounts and pricing discounts are confidential to your contract.
Final word
MACC is the most under-leveraged enterprise procurement tool in the Microsoft stack. Most companies sign the commitment, consume their Azure infrastructure, and let the remainder evaporate at year-end.
The optimization is straightforward but rarely executed: audit your SaaS vendor stack, route eligible spend through Marketplace, push net-new vendors to publish, track burn-down monthly.
For finance and procurement teams managing active MACC commitments, this is one of the highest-ROI optimization projects available. The mechanism already exists. The execution is the hard part.
For ISVs selling to MACC enterprises, listing on Azure Marketplace is no longer optional. The buyers who matter most actively prefer vendors who can transact through their existing committed budget.
Two paths if you are an ISV reading this:
- Build Marketplace listing in-house. Plan for 3-6 months of engineering on Microsoft commerce APIs, then operationalize private offers and co-sell.
- Use a managed service. WeTransact operates Marketplace listings, transactable infrastructure, private offers, and ongoing operations end-to-end. Most growth-stage SaaS companies pick this because the alternative is paying senior engineering time for a quarter against Microsoft's commerce stack.
For procurement and finance teams: the playbook above is the work. Start with the audit. The MACC optimization is real, the math compounds, and most of your peers are leaving money on the table.
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission when you sign up through links on this page at no extra cost to you. Read our affiliate disclosure.
