Rebates-On
Book a demo
Microsoft partner incentives

Track Microsoft Commerce Incentives, CSP rebates and co-op in one dashboard.

Microsoft pays partner incentives through Commerce Incentives, and what you earn is decided one level down from the program name: per solution area, per motion, and per engagement you are eligible for on the last day of the month. Rebates-On holds that structure so your team can see what is at stake before the month closes, not after the payment does not arrive.

Book a demo Get a Microsoft rebate audit

Trusted by IT solution providers managing 20+ vendor programs · Built for CSP and Commerce Incentives

A laptop showing Microsoft Commerce Incentives tracking in Rebates-On, with CSP rebate and co-op positions across four solution areas
The program today

What are Microsoft Commerce Incentives?

Microsoft Commerce Incentives (MCI) is the framework Microsoft pays commercial partner incentives through. It sits under the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, the umbrella formerly called the Microsoft Partner Network. The umbrella name tells you almost nothing about what you earn. The terms that decide it sit one level down.

MCI is organised as engagements, each a specific earning opportunity with its own eligibility, inside four solution areas. Some engagements are transaction-based, paid on billed revenue or consumption. Others are activity-based, paid as a fee for work like envisioning, deployment or a workshop. Money arrives in three shapes and they do not behave the same way: a fee, a rebate paid automatically, and co-op, which is claim-based and is not paid unless you claim it with proof of execution. A partner who treats co-op as automatic has already left it behind.

  1. 1

    Modern Work

    Productivity and workplace, from presales through transaction to consumption.

  2. 2

    Security

    Security workload adoption, measured on seats and sustained value.

  3. 3

    Azure

    Earning on the Azure consumption your customers actually run.

  4. 4

    Business Applications

    Dynamics 365 and Power Platform, influence and usage.

What decides your earning

Your eligibility is re-tested every month, and the test has a date.

This is the mechanic most partners never see, and it is stated plainly in Microsoft's own incentives guide. Eligibility and enrolment are checked on the last day of each month, and earning is calculated from a data snapshot taken that same day. Only partners who are eligible and correctly associated as of that snapshot count for that month.

  • Month end is the deadline, not the quarter. Standing is re-tested monthly, so a designation that goes inactive on the 29th affects that month's earning on the engagements it gates.
  • Being the seller is not the same as being the recorded partner. Incentives follow the partner of record. If you are not associated to the subscription, or the subscription is no longer active, the earning stops, and association has to be renewed when the subscription is.
  • Two different roles decide two different things. Transacting partner of record (TPOR) and claiming partner of record (CPOR) are separate, and for Azure through CSP the transacting role is what carries eligibility. A tenant association on its own is not eligibility.
  • Good standing is measured, not assumed. Microsoft measures sustained portfolio performance to keep access to investments, monitored monthly against a customer baseline.
Month end
The date your standing is re-tested

Microsoft checks eligibility and enrolment on the last day of each month and calculates earning from a snapshot taken that day. **The guide we hold does not set out a cure period for a designation that lapses mid-year**, so month end is the only timing mechanic it documents. Treat it as the deadline.

For what actually changed in Microsoft's incentive structure, how the levers were rebuilt and where the money leaked during the transition, read our Vendor Program Watch: Microsoft partner incentives, and what changed in FY26

Where the money leaks

Where Microsoft partners leave rebate dollars behind.

Microsoft incentive leakage does not look like a lost deal. It looks like a status, an association or a claim that was not current on the day the snapshot was taken.

The month-end snapshot

Standing is re-tested on the last day of the month and earning is calculated from that snapshot. A designation or specialization that goes inactive before it is taken affects that month on every engagement it gates, and nothing announces it.

A designation that quietly goes inactive

Earning is gated on active Solutions Partner designations and specializations. Active is a state that has to be held, and nothing in the incentive flow announces the moment it stops being true.

Association that was never renewed

Partner-of-record association is not permanent. It has to be re-established when a subscription renews, and earning stops if you are not associated or the subscription is no longer current.

Co-op that was never claimed

Rebate is paid automatically. Co-op is claim-based and needs proof of execution inside its window. The money is real either way. Only one of the two arrives on its own.

The wrong partner of record

TPOR and CPOR are different roles with different consequences, and for Azure through CSP a tenant association alone does not make you eligible. You can do the work and not be the partner the incentive follows.

Four solution areas, four sets of rules

Modern Work, Security, Azure and Business Applications each run their own engagements and their own gates. A process built around one of them does not transfer to the others.

Presales work that never became earning

Activity-based engagements pay for delivered work, evidenced and submitted. Work delivered and never evidenced is cost your team already spent.
What Rebates-On tracks for Microsoft

The Commerce Incentives structure, maintained for you.

Rebates-On holds the Microsoft incentive structure so your team does not have to reread the guide every fiscal year. You get one view of what you are positioned to earn, and what has to be true on the last day of the month for it to pay.

  • Your position across Modern Work, Security, Azure and Business Applications, in one place rather than four portals.
  • Every gate that has to be active at month end, with alerts before a designation or specialization stops being current.
  • Partner-of-record association, including which subscriptions need re-association at renewal and where TPOR and CPOR differ.
  • Rebate against co-op, so the claim-based half is visible as work owed rather than money that turns up by itself.
  • The next move that grows the number, not only what is at risk: which certification, which association, or which engagement your team is closest to qualifying for.
  • US Market A context, including the geographic claiming policy that can pause a claim when your market does not match the customer's.
Book a demo on your Microsoft programs
Eligibility, designations & specializations

Eligibility is granted once, then evaluated engagement by engagement.

Enrolling in MCI is a single step and open at any time. It does not, by itself, make you eligible for anything. Eligibility is assessed per engagement after enrolment, and the criteria are the things your technical organisation holds rather than anything your sales team controls.

  1. Specialization Per engagement

    Narrower proof on top of a designation, required by many activity engagements.

  2. Solutions Partner designation Per area

    The primary gate on most transaction incentives, and it has to be active.

  3. MCI enrolment Once

    One-time enrolment in Commerce Incentives. The door, not the room.

What Microsoft weighs when it evaluates an engagement

Competency status Held and current
Expert programs Participation where the engagement requires it
Specializations Achieved and active
Revenue performance Measured, on a rolling basis
LowHigh
Why partners use us for Microsoft

How Rebates-On keeps Microsoft incentives from slipping.

Rebates-On turns the things that leak Microsoft incentive dollars into things you can see and act on before the month closes.

  • Month end stops being a surprise. Every gate that has to be active on the snapshot date, in one view, with alerts while there is still time to act.
  • Association is tracked, not assumed. Which subscriptions you are the recorded partner on, which renewals need re-association, and where the transacting and claiming roles diverge.
  • Co-op is visible as work owed. The claim-based half of your earning sits beside the automatic half, with what still needs evidencing, so it stops being the part everyone forgets.
  • You see the move that grows the number. Not only what is at risk. Which qualification your team is closest to, and which engagement it opens, so the next move is a decision rather than a guess.
FAQ

Microsoft incentive questions partners ask first.

Microsoft Commerce Incentives (MCI) is the framework Microsoft pays commercial partner incentives through, sitting under the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program umbrella. It covers four solution areas, Modern Work, Security, Azure and Business Applications, and three customer purchasing motions, New Commerce CSP, Microsoft Customer Agreement for Enterprise, and Buy Online. It is a framework name rather than a single rebate: what any one partner earns is set by the individual engagements underneath it, and those terms sit behind Microsoft's partner portal.
Microsoft's incentives guide states that eligibility and enrolment requirements are checked on the last day of each month, and that earning is calculated from a data snapshot taken that day, counting only partners who are eligible and correctly associated as of the snapshot. In practice your standing is re-tested every month rather than annually, and the month-end date is the one that decides that month.
The mechanic Microsoft documents is the monthly re-check: gated engagements require the designation or specialization to be active, and the month-end snapshot is what counts. The guide we hold does not set out a defined cure or grace period for a designation lost mid-year; that detail sits in the Engagement Terms and the partner agreement rather than in the incentives guide. The practical consequence is to treat month end as the deadline rather than assume a window exists. Confirm your own position against the terms that apply to you.
A rebate is paid automatically against qualifying activity. Co-op is claim-based: it accrues, and it is only paid when you claim it and evidence what you did with it inside the applicable window. Both are earned. Only one of them arrives without anyone doing anything, which is why co-op is one of the most common places partner incentive money is left behind.
They are two different partner-of-record roles. The transacting partner of record (TPOR) is the partner that transacts the subscription; the claiming partner of record (CPOR) is the partner claiming an incentive for the work associated with it. Different engagements attach to different roles, and for Azure through CSP the transacting role is what carries eligibility, so a tenant association on its own is not the same as being eligible. Earning also stops if you are not associated, or the subscription is no longer active, and association has to be renewed when a subscription renews.
No. Microsoft tiers payment by market, and the United States sits in the top market tier, with a separate carve-out for US Federal customers depending on whether they are on Microsoft Cloud for US Government or the commercial cloud. There is also a geographic claiming policy that can pause a partner whose market does not match the customer's headquarters market. Rates, thresholds and market figures are set out in your own program documentation and are not published here.
Rebates-On maintains the Microsoft Commerce Incentives structure across all four solution areas and shows it against your own position: which gates have to be active at month end, which subscriptions you are the recorded partner on, which co-op is accrued and still needs claiming, and the next qualification your team is closest to. It sits alongside every other vendor program you sell, so Microsoft is one view in one dashboard rather than one more portal to remember.

From the wiki

The Microsoft program terms behind this page, explained.

Microsoft Commerce Incentives (MCI)Microsoft AI Cloud Partner ProgramCSP (Cloud Solution Provider)Co-op fundsRebate leakageBrowse the wiki →

See what month end decides about your Microsoft incentives.

Book a demo, or get a Microsoft rebate audit and we will show you the gaps across designations, associations and co-op you have not claimed.

Book a demo Get a Microsoft rebate audit