Starting from today customers are able to buy Microsoft Azure usage credits through Open Licensing programs.
Open License is Microsoft’s volume licensing option intended for corporate, academic, charitable, or government organizations that wants to pay as you go.
The Open License agreement requires a minimum initial purchase of five software licenses, but then you can acquire additional licensed products through Open License in any quantity at any time during the two-year agreement term.
Azure credits could be bought in blocks of $100 and the total amount purchased is summed in a single OSA key and last for 12 months.
This new purchasing option fits between the large Enterprise Agreements and the nearly-unmanageable (at least for a mid-size company) credit card payment method, it allows to create a budget and consequentely buy upfront as needed.