Microsoft makes company developer accounts free for the Microsoft Store

The Microsoft Store on Windows has over 250 million monthly users. It supports several app types, including Win32 apps such as .NET WPF and WinForms, UWP, PWA, .NET MAUI, and Electron apps. Developers can publish apps to the Microsoft Store without modifying existing code, while enterprise distribution is supported through Microsoft Intune.

To make the process of publishing apps to the Microsoft Store simpler, Microsoft today announced three new changes. As part of the update, Microsoft is first removing the $99 registration fee for company developer accounts, making it free for organizations to get started. Last year, Microsoft made it free for individual developers to publish apps on the Microsoft Store.

Along with free registration, Microsoft is adding support for Microsoft Entra ID during sign-up. This means organizations can now use their work accounts to create a company developer account, helping connect the account with the company’s organizational identity from the start.

Microsoft is also introducing a redesigned onboarding flow for developers with clearer requirements, upfront validation, real-time status updates, and email notifications. Microsoft even claims that many verification checks are now completed automatically, which should help developers move from sign-up to app submission faster.

To speed up verification, Microsoft recommends that developers have their D-U-N-S Number ready before starting the onboarding process. Developers without a D-U-N-S Number can instead upload supporting business documents, though this option may take longer to complete because it requires manual review. Supported business documents include company formation documents, government-issued business licenses or registration certificates, official government registry records, and tax or stock exchange filings.

Microsoft also recommended that developers use a business-domain email address in the contact details, as using a different domain may require additional verification to validate domain ownership.

Finally, Microsoft highlighted the main advantage of publishing to the Microsoft Store when compared to the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. Non-game app developers can use their own in-app commerce systems and keep 100% of the app revenue generated through the Microsoft Store.