Microsoft 365 access reviews and leaver workflows need specific licences: what the licensing page says

What the licensing page says

Microsoft's Entra licensing page, checked on 12 October 2026, says using access reviews requires a Microsoft Entra ID Governance subscription for your member users, and that some capabilities might operate with an Entra ID P2 subscription. It says Lifecycle Workflows require an Entra ID Governance subscription. It says Entra ID P1 is included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium, and Entra ID P2 comes with the Defender Suite add-ons for Business Premium.

• Access reviews: Governance, and some capabilities P2.
• Lifecycle Workflows: Governance.
• Business Premium: P1 included.

Reviewed people need licences too

The page's own examples count licences for the reviewers and for the people being reviewed: a review of a group with 75 members and one owner as reviewer needs 76 licences. A learner on Microsoft Q&A, asking on 12 May 2025 which of two Microsoft sources was right, was told by a moderator that reviewed users need a licence even if they are only the subject of the review. So a licence quote that only counts reviewers will be too low.

If you do not have those licences

The same questions can still be asked of exports: who left and still has an account, who is an admin, who has no recent sign-in. That is slower and has to be repeated, and what each export shows depends on your plan and settings, so check before relying on it. The paid versions of this check read exports you run and change nothing.

Limits of this guide

Licensing pages change and plans differ by region and agreement, so read your own tenant's licences before acting. This guide is not licensing advice, and it does not say what you should buy.