Field guide 01 · Microsoft Agent 365 · Chapter 2
Agent 365 licensing: what the licence unlocks, what you must already own, and who can act
Agent 365 is included in Microsoft 365 E7 and sold as a per-user add-on. The registry, basic actions, lifecycle rules and Connected platforms work without it. Every other control needs it, and you cannot buy it without Microsoft 365 E5, or E3 with the Defender and Purview suites. Pick your plan below to see what opens up.
What you need before the controls appear
Chapter 2 of the full guide. Prices and dates render from the same data file as the guide. Reviewed 18 October 2026.
2.1 What the licence unlocks
The service description splits capabilities between ordinary Microsoft 365 plans and Microsoft 365 E7 or the Agent 365 add-on. A tenant without the add-on can already see its registry and take basic actions.
| Capability | Console | Microsoft 365 Enterprise, Business, Education, Frontline | Microsoft 365 E7 or Agent 365 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agent registry inventory | Microsoft 365 admin centre | Yes | Yes |
| Basic governance actions (publish, deploy, block, delete, approve, assign, reassign owner, pin) | Microsoft 365 admin centre | Yes | Yes |
| Rules-based lifecycle automation | Microsoft 365 admin centre | Yes | Yes |
| Connected platforms: sync from external platforms | Microsoft 365 admin centre | Yes | Yes |
| Policy templates | Microsoft 365 admin centre | No | Yes |
| Observability and monitoring of agent activity | Microsoft 365 admin centre | No | Yes |
| Tenant-wide tool controls, including Microsoft MCP servers | Microsoft 365 admin centre | No | Yes |
| Graph API for registry and governance actions | API | No | Yes |
| Access packages and sponsor-driven lifecycle for agents | Entra | No | Yes |
| Conditional Access and Identity Protection for agents | Entra | No | Yes |
| Network controls for agent traffic on user devices and Copilot Studio agents | Entra | No | Yes |
| Audit, eDiscovery, data lifecycle, Communication Compliance, Compliance Manager for agents | Purview | No | Yes |
| DSPM AI observability, Insider Risk Management, sensitivity labels, DLP for agents | Purview | No | Yes |
| Shadow AI endpoint sync, agent posture, threat detection and blocking, hunting | Defender | No | Yes |
| Device compliance for agent Conditional Access, policy-controlled runtime, block unsanctioned local agents | Intune | No | Yes |
Agent 365 is included in Microsoft 365 E7 and sold as a per-user add-on. The licensing FAQ sets what you must already own before you can buy it.
| Segment | Base plan that qualifies | Also needed |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | Microsoft 365 E5 | Nothing further |
| Enterprise | Microsoft 365 E3, or Office 365 E3 plus EMS E3 | Defender Suite and Purview Suite |
| Frontline | F1 or F3 | Defender and Purview Suite FLW |
| SMB | Business Premium | The SMB Defender and Purview suites, for the premium features to work |
| Education | A5 | Nothing further |
| Education | A3 | The education suites |
The pricing page lists the add-on at 13 euro and E7 at 91.92 euro, per user per month, annual commitment, Dutch-localised pricing page; check your own region and agreement. An admin-led trial of 25 seats for 30 days is available from the admin centre banner.
Two Learn pages list an Entra ID plan beside Agent 365 as a prerequisite. That is not a second purchase: every plan that qualifies you to buy Agent 365 already carries Entra ID P1 at least. E5, A5 and Defender Suite include P2; E3, EMS E3, Business Premium, F1 and F3 include P1 (Entra licensing). So:
- Covered by your base plan. Conditional Access for agents needs Microsoft 365 E7, or an Agent 365 licence paired with at least Entra ID P1 or Microsoft 365 E3, and your base plan already includes P1. The one exception is risk: agent risk-based policies need Entra ID P2 or Microsoft 365 E5 beside Agent 365, so on E3 the Agent risk condition is the one Conditional Access feature your base plan does not cover.
- Covered by your base plan. Entra ID Governance for agents is the same: Microsoft 365 E7, or Agent 365 on any qualifying base plan. The agent features (access packages for agents, sponsor tasks in lifecycle workflows) sit in the Agent 365 column of the governance licensing table; the rest of ID Governance still needs its own licence or the Entra Suite.
- The one extra. Learn's Conditional Access page says network controls for agents need Microsoft Entra Internet Access, standalone or in the Entra Suite, which E7 includes. The FAQ narrows that: Agent 365 on E3 or P1 covers the network controls for cloud agents such as Copilot Studio, while controls for local agents on devices need the Entra Suite or standalone Internet Access.
- Free for everyone. Entra Agent ID is available to all Entra customers. Extending Entra security to those identities needs Agent 365.
2.2 The 1 July 2026 transition
Agent security for Copilot Studio and Foundry is licensed differently since 1 July 2026. From that date, discovery, posture, detection and real-time protection for those platforms require Agent 365 and are no longer covered by Defender for Cloud Apps or Defender for Cloud. The AIAgentsInfo hunting table is replaced by AgentsInfo. Legacy real-time protection rules set to Block stopped enforcing on that date and must be redefined under Settings, Security for AI, Policies and rules. Third-party cloud agents previously found through Defender for Cloud connectors now arrive through Connected platforms. Update saved hunting queries and redefine blocking rules first.
2.3 Roles you will need
Agent management roles are Entra roles. Only two can act.
| Role | View insights | View registry | Install, approve, manage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global Administrator | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI Administrator | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Global Reader | Yes | Yes | Read-only tools and settings |
| AI Reader | Yes | Yes | Read-only tools and settings |
| Security Administrator | Yes | Yes | No |
| Security Reader | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reports Reader | Yes | Yes | No |
| User Experience Success Manager | Yes | Yes | No |
The enforcing products add their own roles.
| To do this | You need |
|---|---|
| Follow a Defender or Entra risk link from the registry | Security Reader, Security Administrator or Global Reader |
| Follow a Purview risk link | Insider Risk Management Analyst or Investigator, which AI Administrator lacks |
| Build custom policy templates on custom security attributes | Attribute Assignment Administrator |
| Set up Defender Security for AI | Security Administrator |
| Set up Purview | Compliance Administrator |
| Configure Global Secure Access | Global Secure Access Administrator plus Conditional Access Administrator |
| Run sponsor lifecycle workflows | Lifecycle Workflows Administrator |
No one person will hold all of these in a well-run tenant, so staff the evaluation accordingly.
Where this sits in the guide
Licensing is chapter 2 because nothing in the Observe, Govern and Secure chapters appears until the licence is active and the roles above are held. Once they are, the next question is how agents differ from the applications you already govern.