Yammer Enterprise Stand-alone Sales Ending

Yammer Enterprise licenses will no longer be sold stand-alone and will only be available with Office 365 plans. Yammer Enterprise is a Microsoft-hosted service that offers Web-based discussion groups and data sharing for organizations and is similar to public social-networking services like Facebook. Organizations that bought stand-alone Yammer Enterprise licenses will no longer be able to add users after Dec. 31, 2016, and will need Office 365 licenses to retain access to Yammer Enterprise longer term.

Stand-alone Licenses Retired

Customers will not be able to purchase stand-alone Yammer Enterprise User Subscription Licenses (USLs) for new users after Dec. 31, 2016. Renewals for existing USLs will end between Dec. 31, 2017, and Dec. 31, 2019, depending on the channel and licensing program in which they were bought. When USLs expire, users will lose access to Yammer Enterprise, unless they hold another license.

To keep access to Yammer Enterprise, organizations will have to buy and assign Office 365 licenses that include it. The least expensive option is Office 365 Enterprise K1, which costs US$4 per user per month compared to US$3 per user per month for Yammer Enterprise stand-alone. (Prices are for U.S. direct online purchases with an annual commitment.) Office 365 Enterprise E1, E3, and E5, the most common plans bought in Microsoft Volume Licensing, also include Yammer Enterprise rights.