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LicenseMeter vs CIPP

The CyberDrain Improved Partner Portal: a free, AGPL-licensed, multi-tenant Microsoft 365 management portal built for MSPs and Microsoft partners, with a single-tenant mode. Next to user, mailbox, device, standards and security administration, it has a license report, an inactive users report, Copilot usage reports and a License Optimization tab that suggests removals, downgrades, bundles and term changes with estimated monthly savings from an editable price list.

LicenseMeter: A free, MIT-licensed tool that connects read-only to Microsoft 365, finds disabled, inactive and unassigned paid seats and unused Copilot licenses, prices each finding, and cross-checks a handful of other SaaS tools against Entra ID. Built for Microsoft 365 admins and MSPs who want the waste number without buying a platform.

The short answer

Pick CIPP if

  • You are an MSP already running CIPP for tenant administration: its optimization tab covers most Microsoft 365 license waste in a tool you use anyway.
  • You want downgrade and term-change suggestions, or want to remove licenses from the same screen.

Pick LicenseMeter if

  • You also need Adobe, Zoom, Atlassian, Salesforce, OpenAI, Anthropic, ChatGPT and Claude checked against Entra ID, or OpenAI and Anthropic API spend tracked.
  • You want a tool whose core connector only reads your tenant and that never changes licenses itself.
  • You do not want to run an Azure subscription to self-host: LicenseMeter runs with Docker Compose anywhere, or free on licensemeter.com.

Where CIPP is stronger

  • Deeper Microsoft 365 license analysis: downgrade, bundle and monthly-to-yearly term suggestions based on what each person actually used, not only idle seats.
  • Removes licenses from the same screen, in bulk, while LicenseMeter only generates a script for your admin to run.
  • Multi-tenant by design through GDAP, with broad Microsoft 365 administration (standards and drift, security, Intune, Exchange) in the same tool.
  • An active project with frequent releases and an established MSP community.

Feature by feature

Not stated means we could not find it on the vendor's own pages, not that it is missing. Not checked means we did not look into it for that product. Values link to where the claim comes from.

FeatureCIPPLicenseMeter
Finding Microsoft 365 waste
Flags inactive or disabled licensed usersYes

Inactive Users report, and optimization flags disabled and inactive users over a 30 to 180 day window. Source

Yes

Disabled accounts that keep licenses, licensed accounts that were never active, and seats idle past your threshold, from sign-in activity and per-workload usage. Source

Flags purchased but unassigned seatsYes

License report shows owned, used and available seats; optimization suggests reducing unassigned ones. Source

Yes

Paid seats bought but assigned to nobody become priced shelfware findings. Source

Reports unused Microsoft 365 Copilot licensesYes

Copilot activity and adoption reports; optimization suggests removing never-used Copilot. Source

Yes

Copilot seats with no Copilot activity in the threshold window are their own finding. Source

Puts a cost on each findingYes

Each suggestion carries an estimated monthly saving. Source

Yes

Every finding carries a monthly cost in the workspace currency. Source

Uses your own contract pricesYes

Editable monthly per-seat prices per currency, with CSV import and export. Source

Yes

An editable price book per workspace, prefilled with list-price estimates. Source

Coverage beyond Microsoft 365
Reads license data from non-Microsoft SaaSNo

License data comes from Microsoft 365; its integrations are PSA, documentation and RMM tools. Source

Yes

8 connectors: Adobe, Zoom, Atlassian, Salesforce, OpenAI, Anthropic, ChatGPT and Claude. Far fewer than a SaaS management platform. Source

Discovers unsanctioned apps (shadow IT)Not checked

Not part of our review of this product.

No

Only the apps you connect are read. There is no discovery of unknown apps. Source

Tracks OpenAI and Anthropic API spendNot checked

Not part of our review of this product.

Yes

Daily OpenAI and Anthropic API spend, kept separate from per-seat costs. Source

Measures desktop software usageNot stated

Shows apps Intune detected on devices, not whether they are used. Source

Partly

Windows apps deployed through Intune only, read from an Intune Remediation. Hosted Pro and MSP plans, or self-hosted. Source

Tracks contracts and renewalsPartly

Days until renewal per Microsoft subscription, marked as an estimate; no other vendors. Source

Yes

Contract dates and notice deadlines per vendor, shown next to the open findings they affect. Source

Acting on findings
Removes or reassigns licenses itselfYes

Remove license from user, in bulk, straight from the optimization view. Source

No

By design: LicenseMeter never changes licenses itself. It generates a PowerShell script for the seats you pick, and your IT reviews and runs it. Source

Deployment and price
Can be self-hostedYes

Deploys to your own Azure subscription (Web App, Storage, Key Vault). Source

Yes

Docker Compose, with every feature included. Source

Open sourceYes

AGPL-3.0. Source

Yes

MIT license. Source

Free plan (not just a trial)Yes

Self-hosting is free. Source

Yes

Free with no time limit, including monitoring and exports. Source

Prices publishedYes

Hosted CIPP at EUR 99 per month. Source

Yes

Pro EUR 99 per month, MSP EUR 299 per month. Source

Multi-tenant for MSPsYes

Built for MSPs managing many client tenants through GDAP. Source

Yes

Multiple workspaces on every plan; the MSP plan adds portfolio alerts, one team across clients and white-label reports. Source

EU hosting availableNot checked

Not part of our review of this product.

Yes

Hosted data lives in Frankfurt (AWS eu-central-1). Source

Pricing

CIPP

Free to self-host in your own Azure subscription. Hosted CIPP from CyberDrain costs EUR 99 per month.

LicenseMeter

Free, including continuous monitoring, with no time limit. Optional hosted plans: Pro at EUR 99 per month and MSP at EUR 299 per month for 10 client tenants. Self-hosted installs include every feature.

We last checked CIPP's own website and documentation on 6 November 2026.

Spot something wrong or out of date? Every claim on this page renders from one public file, src/lib/compare/products/cipp.ts. Open a pull request or email support@ugurlabs.com and we will fix it. Vendors are welcome to correct what we say about them.

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