Microsoft will retire its TechNet subscription service in favor of growing its free offerings, the company announced today.

IT professionals can purchase TechNet subscriptions until Aug. 31 and have until Sept. 30 to activate those accounts. “Microsoft will continue to honor all existing TechNet Subscriptions. Subscribers with active accounts may continue to access program benefits until their current subscription period concludes,” the company said.

TechNet is a resource for IT professionals who want more information about Microsoft products. Subscriptions provided early looks at upcoming Microsoft products, including new versions of its operating systems. According to Redmond, however, “we have seen a usage shift from paid to free evaluation experiences and resources,” prompting Microsoft to shutter the subscription part of TechNet.

“Microsoft will focus on growing and improving our free offerings for IT professionals, including evaluation resources through the TechNet Evaluation Center(Opens in a new window), expert-led learning through the Microsoft Virtual Academy(Opens in a new window), and community-moderated technical support through the TechNet Forums(Opens in a new window),” Microsoft said.

TechNet non-volume subscriptions(Opens in a new window) range from $199 for standard, $349 for professional retail, and $599 for professional with media, which provide varying levels of support and access. The TechNet benefits portal and the subscriber downloads page will be live for these customers until Sept. 30, 2014.

The TechNet website will remain online. “We are committed to helping customers through this transition phase and will remain focused on providing IT professionals with free access to a broad set of TechNet assets that support the needs of IT Professionals around the world,” Microsoft said.

More details are available on the TechNet FAQ page(Opens in a new window).