Dynamics NAV vs Dynamics 365: Should You Migrate Now?

TL;DR — Dynamics NAV 2018 reached end of mainstream support on January 10, 2023. Microsoft’s direct successor, Dynamics 365 Business Central, has been the actively developed platform since April 2018. If your organization still runs NAV, the real question is not whether to migrate but when and how. This guide compares the two systems and walks through the migration path Microsoft recommends.

Is Dynamics NAV Still Supported?

No — not in the way most businesses need it to be. Dynamics NAV 2018, the final release in the NAV product line, reached end of mainstream support on January 10, 2023, under Microsoft’s Fixed Lifecycle Policy. After that date Microsoft provides no new features, no non-critical bug fixes, and no tax or regulatory updates through standard support channels.

Extended support runs until January 11, 2028 — but only for customers who maintain an active Unified Support contract with Microsoft. Even then, you receive only critical security updates. You will not get the feature updates, regulatory changes, or platform improvements that keep an ERP system current with evolving business requirements.

NAV 2018 shipped on December 1, 2017. Microsoft has not released a new NAV version since. The product line was replaced by Dynamics 365 Business Central, which launched in April 2018 and continues to receive regular updates under Microsoft’s Modern Lifecycle Policy.

End-of-life note: Dynamics NAV is a discontinued product. Microsoft’s recommended path for every NAV customer is migration to Dynamics 365 Business Central — either the cloud (online) version or the on-premises version. Both receive regular updates and full Microsoft support.

What Is the Relationship Between NAV and Dynamics 365?

Business Central is the direct continuation of the NAV codebase — not a separate product built from scratch. Navision originated as a Danish accounting application in the 1980s. Microsoft acquired it in 2002 and rebranded it under the Dynamics NAV name. Over the following years, NAV grew into a widely deployed mid-market ERP system, with a strong reputation for financial management, manufacturing, and trade.

In November 2016, Microsoft launched Dynamics 365 as a cloud-first suite of business applications, splitting ERP and CRM into separate apps — Finance, Supply Chain Management, Sales, Customer Service, and others. The small and mid-market ERP segment that NAV had long served needed a cloud-ready successor. In April 2018, Microsoft relaunched NAV as Dynamics 365 Business Central, bringing the same core application to the cloud with a modern web interface and Azure-hosted infrastructure.

If you knew NAV, you already know a good portion of Business Central. The chart of accounts, posting groups, dimensions, journals, and workflow concepts carry over. What changed is everything around the core: the deployment model, the development tools, the update cadence, and the integration story.

Key milestones in the NAV to Business Central timeline

Year	Event
1980s	Navision launches as a Danish accounting application
2002	Microsoft acquires Navision; later rebranded Dynamics NAV
Nov 2016	Microsoft launches Dynamics 365
Dec 2017	NAV 2018 released — the final NAV version
Apr 2018	Dynamics 365 Business Central launches, replacing NAV
Oct 2019	Legacy Windows client removed from Business Central (release wave 2)
Jan 2023	Mainstream support for NAV 2018 ends
Jan 2028	Extended support for NAV 2018 ends

The legacy Windows desktop client — the interface long-time NAV users knew — was removed from Business Central starting with the 2019 release wave 2, according to Microsoft’s Business Central Windows client documentation. Business Central now runs in the browser, with companion apps for desktop and mobile built on the modern platform.

How Do NAV and Business Central Compare?

Business Central improves on NAV across deployment flexibility, update cadence, extensibility, integration, and licensing model. The comparison table below covers the most significant differences in each area, followed by detailed breakdowns.

Category	Dynamics NAV 2018	Dynamics 365 Business Central
Deployment	On-premises only	Cloud (SaaS), on-premises, or hybrid
Updates	Manual; last version Dec 2017	Major update every 6 months (cloud); customer-managed on-prem
Lifecycle policy	Fixed Lifecycle Policy	Modern Lifecycle Policy
Customization	C/SIDE; C/AL language	AL language; Visual Studio Code; AppSource extensions
Interface	Windows desktop client (discontinued)	Web-first; runs in any modern browser
Integration	Custom connectors required	Native Power Platform, Microsoft 365, Azure, Copilot
Mainstream support	Ended Jan 10, 2023	Active and ongoing

Deployment and Hosting

NAV runs on servers you own or manage. Your team is responsible for the hardware, SQL Server database, backups, operating system patches, and uptime. For organizations that needed complete control over infrastructure, this model worked — but it places a sustained burden on internal IT staff and capital budgets. Scaling up means buying more hardware. Recovering from a failure means hoping your last backup is recent enough.

Business Central offers three deployment paths: online (SaaS, hosted by Microsoft on Azure), on-premises (installed on your own servers), or hybrid using cloud migration tools to replicate on-premises data to the cloud. The online version removes server management entirely. Microsoft handles patching, backups (retained for 28 days per the Business Central FAQ), scaling, and security.

For companies that want cloud benefits without a full migration in one step, the hybrid model lets you keep Business Central on-premises running while replicating data to an online environment — useful for reporting, AI features, or a phased transition.

Updates and Lifecycle

NAV 2018 is frozen. It will never receive another feature update, regulatory patch, or platform improvement from Microsoft. That matters for businesses in jurisdictions where tax rules, e-invoicing mandates, or accounting standards change regularly. A system that cannot keep up with compliance requirements is a liability, not an asset.

Business Central online receives a major update every six months with continuous service updates in between, all under the Modern Lifecycle Policy. New capabilities, regulatory changes, and platform improvements arrive on a predictable schedule — Microsoft publishes the release plans in advance so you can plan around them. This eliminates the cost and disruption of a full upgrade project every few years.

To see how Business Central fits into the broader Dynamics 365 ecosystem, including its relationship to Finance and Supply Chain Management, read our platform overview.

Customization: C/SIDE vs. AL Extensions

NAV customization relied on C/SIDE, Microsoft’s proprietary development environment, and the C/AL programming language. Customizations were written directly into the application database. Every NAV upgrade required carefully merging custom code with Microsoft’s base application — a process that could take weeks and carried real risk of introducing errors. Many organizations delayed upgrades for years precisely because the merge process was so painful.

Business Central moved to a modern extension model. Customizations are written in AL using Visual Studio Code and packaged as extensions that install, update, and uninstall without altering the core application. Thousands of pre-built extensions are available on Microsoft AppSource, covering everything from payment processing to warehouse management. Partners can also develop custom extensions for industry-specific needs. This model keeps the base application clean and makes upgrades far less disruptive — a direct response to the pain points that plagued NAV customization.

Integration with the Microsoft Cloud

NAV was built before the modern Microsoft cloud existed. Integration with Microsoft 365, Power BI, Power Automate, and other services typically required custom connectors, middleware, or third-party tools that added cost and maintenance overhead. Getting data out of NAV for reporting or automation was a project, not a configuration setting.

Business Central is part of the Power Platform and the broader Microsoft cloud natively. It connects to Microsoft 365, Teams, Power BI, Power Apps, and Power Automate out of the box — no middleware required. Microsoft has also integrated Copilot AI capabilities directly into Business Central for bank reconciliation, marketing text generation, sales order analysis, and other tasks. These are capabilities NAV will never receive.

Pricing and Licensing

NAV was licensed through the Business Ready Enhancement Plan (BREP) with perpetual server and user licenses — a model requiring significant upfront capital expenditure plus ongoing enhancement plan payments to stay current.

Business Central uses subscription licensing with three core plans. According to Microsoft’s Business Central pricing page, current published rates are:

• Essentials — $80 per user/month (paid annually): full ERP functionality covering financials, sales, purchasing, inventory, and project management.
• Premium — $110 per user/month (paid annually): everything in Essentials plus manufacturing and service management.
• Team Members — $8 per user/month (paid annually): read access and limited write capabilities for users who do not need full ERP functionality.

There is no large upfront license purchase. Cloud hosting, updates, and security patching are included in the subscription. Pricing is subject to change — verify current rates on Microsoft’s pricing page before budgeting.

What Do You Lose by Staying on NAV?

Running an ERP system past its mainstream support date creates real business exposure. Organizations still on NAV face compliance gaps, security risk, and growing incompatibility with modern tools — costs that accumulate silently until something breaks. Here is what specifically happens when you stay on NAV past its support window:

• No security patches or regulatory updates beyond what extended support provides — a compliance risk for businesses in regulated industries or jurisdictions with changing tax rules.
• No new features — every Business Central update since April 2018 represents functionality your organization will never access while staying on NAV.
• No AI capabilities — Microsoft’s Copilot investments are entirely in the cloud version of Business Central. NAV has no path to receive them.
• Shrinking partner support — fewer Microsoft partners maintain active NAV practices as the talent pool moves to Business Central. Finding qualified NAV developers gets harder and more expensive every year.
• Growing compatibility gaps with modern operating systems, SQL Server versions, and Microsoft 365 integrations. What works today may break with the next OS update.
• No path to the Power Platform without custom middleware, cutting you off from low-code automation and analytics tools that competitors are already using.

The cost of staying on NAV is not zero. It is the cost of your enhancement plan, plus the opportunity cost of missing every improvement Microsoft has shipped since 2018, plus the risk of running unsupported software as extended support approaches its January 2028 end date. After that date, even critical security updates stop.

How Do You Migrate from NAV to Business Central?

Microsoft provides a defined migration path, but it is not a single step. According to Microsoft’s cloud migration documentation, NAV customers cannot migrate directly to Business Central online. The path requires two stages.

Stage 1: Upgrade to Business Central On-Premises

Your current NAV database must first be upgraded to a supported version of Business Central on-premises. This involves converting the database schema, migrating C/AL customizations to AL extensions, and updating to at least Business Central version 25.0 — the minimum version Microsoft requires for cloud migration. Your on-premises environment must run SQL Server 2016 SP1 or later with database compatibility level set to 130 or higher.

If you are on NAV 2018, this stage involves a technical upgrade that modernizes the platform while keeping your data and configuration. Customizations written in C/AL need to be rewritten as AL extensions. Tables that existed in NAV carry over; heavily customized tables require extensions on both the source and target before replication will work.

Stage 2: Migrate to Business Central Online

Once you are running Business Central on-premises (version 25 or later), Microsoft’s built-in cloud migration tools replicate your data to a Business Central online tenant. The migration is managed by Azure Data Factory, with a self-hosted integration runtime installed on your on-premises server to handle the connection without opening inbound firewall ports.

Key things to plan for:

• Convert customizations to AL extensions before migration. Microsoft’s standard replication only moves data from tables that exist in both environments. Customized fields need matching extensions on both sides, or they will not transfer.
• Size your data carefully. Business Central online includes 80 GB of base database storage plus an allowance per licensed user, per the Business Central FAQ. Microsoft recommends keeping each migration run under 30 GB — larger datasets should be split into multiple runs, per the cloud migration FAQ.
• Replication is one-way. Once you go live online, you stop using your on-premises system as the source of truth. Plan your cutover date and freeze changes during the final sync.
• Users are recreated in the online tenant using Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) accounts. On-premises users and permission sets do not carry over automatically — they need to be mapped or recreated.

The timeline depends on customization complexity, data volume, and the number of companies being migrated. A straightforward migration with minimal customizations can take a few weeks; a heavily customized environment with years of accumulated data can take several months. Working with an experienced Dynamics 365 partner can reduce risk and compress the schedule. If you need help planning or executing the move, our Business Central implementation services cover assessment, customization conversion, and full migration.

For organizations evaluating the platform before committing, Business Central reviews from companies that have already migrated offer useful perspective on what to expect.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Dynamics NAV the same as Dynamics 365 Business Central?

No, but they share the same codebase lineage. Business Central is the direct successor to Dynamics NAV, launched by Microsoft in April 2018. It runs the same core application logic but on a modern cloud platform with regular updates, a browser-based interface, and an AL extension model for customization.

When did Microsoft end support for Dynamics NAV?

Dynamics NAV 2018 mainstream support ended on January 10, 2023, per Microsoft’s Fixed Lifecycle Policy. Extended support continues until January 11, 2028, for organizations with an active Unified Support contract. No new NAV versions have been released since December 2017.

Can I migrate directly from NAV to Business Central online?

No. Microsoft requires NAV customers to first upgrade to Business Central on-premises (version 25 or later), then use the built-in cloud migration tools to replicate data online. This two-stage process is documented in Microsoft’s migration guide.

What happens to my NAV customizations?

Customizations written in C/SIDE and C/AL must be converted to AL extensions before migration. Microsoft’s standard migration only replicates data from tables that exist in both the on-premises and online environments. Customized fields require matching extensions or manually configured table mappings.

Is Business Central available on-premises?

Yes. Business Central on-premises is available for organizations that need to keep data on their own servers. It follows the Modern Lifecycle Policy and receives regular updates. Some cloud-only features — including Copilot AI — are not available on-premises.

How much does Business Central cost?

Microsoft’s published pricing lists Business Central Essentials at $80 per user/month, Premium at $110 per user/month, and Team Members at $8 per user/month, paid annually. Cloud hosting and updates are included. See the Business Central pricing page for current rates.