To cancel a Microsoft subscription and get a refund, sign in to the Microsoft account that made the purchase, go to account.microsoft.com/services, select Manage next to the subscription, and choose Cancel. The cancellation flow itself tells you whether a refund is available and how much you’ll get back.1Microsoft Support. Cancel Your Microsoft Subscription Whether money comes back depends on which product you bought, when you bought it, and what country you’re in, so speed matters more here than with most services.
Whether You Qualify for a Refund
Microsoft’s Services Agreement says all purchases are final and non-refundable unless a specific offer or applicable law says otherwise.2Microsoft. Microsoft Services Agreement In practice, refunds do get issued on subscriptions canceled shortly after purchase or renewal, but there’s no single universal refund window. Eligibility is decided automatically during the cancellation flow, and the system either offers you a refund or it doesn’t.3Microsoft Support. Microsoft Subscription Refund Policy
The refund policy page does spell out a few product-specific rules:
- Microsoft 365 Basic, Personal, Family, OneDrive, ClipChamp, and Xbox subscriptions: prorated refunds are not available in most countries. In Canada, Denmark, France, Israel, Korea, and Turkey, you can cancel any time and get a prorated refund.
- Microsoft Copilot Pro and Microsoft 365 Premium: outside those countries, you have 14 days from the initial purchase date to cancel for a prorated refund. Inside them, you can cancel any time for a prorated refund.
A separate group of countries — Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and Portugal — offers prorated refunds only on subscriptions longer than one month that have already renewed at least once. Monthly plans and first-time purchases in those countries don’t qualify.4Microsoft Support. Countries With Prorated Refunds for Microsoft Subscriptions
If you’re in the United States or most other countries on a standard Microsoft 365 Personal or Family plan, your best shot is canceling as soon as possible after purchase or renewal. The system may still grant a refund at its discretion. If you believe Microsoft charged you in error, you have 90 days to dispute the charge with Microsoft before you lose the right to a correction.2Microsoft. Microsoft Services Agreement
One boundary worth naming: digital games, apps, and other one-time Microsoft Store purchases follow a different policy and are generally not refundable unless the law where you live requires it.5Microsoft. Microsoft Store Refund and Return Policy This article is about subscriptions.
How to Cancel a Personal Subscription
You have to be signed in to the same Microsoft account that bought the subscription. If you’re in the wrong account, the subscription won’t appear at all, and nothing you do will make it show up.6Microsoft Support. Unable to Cancel Your Microsoft Subscription Once you’ve confirmed you’re in the right one:
- Go to account.microsoft.com/services. Every active subscription tied to your account is listed there.
- Find the subscription and select Manage. If you see “Turn on recurring billing” instead, the subscription is already set to expire and won’t charge you again.
- Select Cancel subscription and follow the prompts. The flow will ask why you’re canceling and then show your options.1Microsoft Support. Cancel Your Microsoft Subscription
The flow typically offers two paths: stop recurring billing (you keep using the service until the current period ends) or cancel immediately. Pick immediate cancellation if you want a refund. This is the point where the screen tells you whether a refund will be issued and for how much.
Read the confirmation screen before you click through. It shows exactly what you’re losing access to, whether that’s OneDrive cloud storage, Outlook premium features, or Xbox Game Pass libraries. Confirm only after you’ve reviewed the details. Once you do, the subscription moves to a canceled status in your dashboard.
If You Subscribed Through Apple, Google, or Amazon
This is where a lot of people get stuck. If you subscribed to Microsoft 365 through the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or Amazon Appstore, Microsoft can’t cancel it or process your refund. You go through whichever platform billed you.
Apple App Store
On your iPhone or iPad, open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions. Find the Microsoft subscription and tap Cancel Subscription (you may need to scroll). If there’s no Cancel button and you see an expiration date in red, it’s already canceled.7Apple Support. If You Want to Cancel a Subscription From Apple Refund requests go through Apple, not Microsoft.
Google Play Store
Microsoft’s refund policy sends Google Play buyers straight to Google Play customer support. Google’s own refund rules and timelines apply instead of Microsoft’s.3Microsoft Support. Microsoft Subscription Refund Policy
Amazon Appstore
On Amazon, go to Your Account, then Your Apps under Digital Content and Devices, then Your Subscriptions under Manage. Cancel from there. Turning off auto-renewal keeps your access through the current period and stops future charges.8Amazon. Manage Your Appstore Subscriptions From the Website
Business and Enterprise Subscriptions
Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise plans run on a tighter clock than personal plans. For organizations with a Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) billing account, the window to cancel and receive a prorated credit or refund is seven days from the start or renewal date. Cancel after that and nothing comes back, though you can still turn off recurring billing to prevent future charges.9Microsoft Learn. Cancel Your Subscription in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center
Organizations in Chile that bought through a partner get 10 days. If you bought through a reseller or Microsoft representative rather than directly, the cancellation and refund have to go through that partner. Microsoft won’t handle it.9Microsoft Learn. Cancel Your Subscription in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center
Organizations on the older Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement (MOSA) billing type have more room. Canceling after the start or renewal date still qualifies for a prorated credit, applied to the next invoice or returned in the next billing cycle.
When to Expect the Money Back
If the system confirms a refund, you’ll get a confirmation email at the address on your account. Business subscription refunds processed inside the seven-day window typically land within one to two days.9Microsoft Learn. Cancel Your Subscription in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center Personal subscription refunds generally take three to five business days, and your bank may add its own processing time on top.
Track status in the Order History section of your Microsoft account. If nothing shows up after about a week, contact Microsoft support through the Get Help button at support.microsoft.com to describe the issue and get connected to chat or a callback.10Microsoft Support. Customer Service Phone Numbers Have the confirmation email or transaction number ready. It moves things along.
Save Your Files Before You Cancel
Canceling doesn’t wipe your data right away, but it does narrow what you can do with it. When a Microsoft 365 Personal or Basic subscription ends, OneDrive storage drops from 100 GB (or 1 TB on higher plans) back to the free 5 GB allowance, shared with Outlook.com attachments. If your stored files exceed 5 GB, you can’t upload, edit, or sync anything new, and Outlook.com stops sending and receiving email until you free up space.11Microsoft Learn. Change My OneDrive to Free and Allow Rest of Microsoft Office to Expire
For the first 30 days after cancellation you can still view, edit, and download everything. The account then goes read-only for roughly 90 more days: download but not change. After about six months of inactivity, Microsoft deletes the data.12Microsoft Learn. What Happens to OneDrive Data When You Cancel or Non-Renew a Microsoft Personal 365 Subscription Download what matters before you cancel, or at least in that first 30-day window.
Don’t File a Bank Chargeback
If Microsoft denies your refund and you’re frustrated, the instinct is to call your bank and dispute the charge. Don’t, unless you’ve genuinely exhausted every other option and understand what you’re risking. Microsoft’s Services Agreement is explicit: if you initiate a chargeback or payment reversal, Microsoft treats it as a cancellation effective on the date of the original payment, and it may immediately cancel your service and revoke any content you received in exchange for that payment.2Microsoft. Microsoft Services Agreement
That means your entire digital library can be at risk, not just the subscription you disputed. Repeated chargebacks have been flagged as potential fraud by Microsoft’s enforcement team, leading to permanent account suspensions that are difficult to reverse once upheld.13Microsoft Learn. Permanent Xbox Account Suspension Fraudulent Accusation Years of accumulated game purchases or stored files could be gone over a single disputed subscription charge. Work through Microsoft’s own support channels first.