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Dynamics NAV (Navision) to Business Central: Upgrade Paths and Costs

Sherman Hsieh

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Last updated: November 4, 2026 · Independent guide · We do not sell rankings or coverage.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV (Navision) is the direct predecessor of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: Microsoft rebuilt NAV for the cloud and launched it as Business Central in 2018, and NAV 2018 was the last release under the old name. Moving from Navision to Business Central is therefore an upgrade along a fixed Microsoft path, but customers on NAV 2015 through 2018 must pass through Business Central version 14 and then version 25, and older versions need extra hops first. The main cost driver is not licensing. It is the work of converting C/AL customizations into AL extensions, or deciding to reimplement and leave them behind.

How NAV became Business Central

Navision began as a Danish product. On July 11, 2002, Microsoft announced that it had acquired Navision A/S, based in Vedbaek, Denmark, after its tender offer closed that week, for about $1.45 billion in stock and cash (Microsoft, July 11, 2002). The product later carried the Microsoft Dynamics NAV name, with releases from NAV 2009 through NAV 2018.

Microsoft announced Dynamics 365 Business Central as the cloud product that “brings the full power of Dynamics NAV to the cloud,” generally available from April 2, 2018 in 14 countries through Cloud Solution Provider partners (Microsoft Dynamics 365 blog, no date shown, published before April 2, 2018). An on-premises edition followed: the October ’18 release (version 13) became available on November 1, 2018, and the April ’19 release (version 14) on April 1, 2019 (Microsoft Learn, last updated May 11, 2023).

The practical difference between NAV and Business Central is the technical platform, because the business logic is largely the same.

Version 14 is the last release that supports C/AL, and the Txt2Al conversion tool ships only with it (Microsoft Learn, May 1, 2023), which is why every NAV upgrade path runs through version 14. Business Central online receives “a major update every six months” (Microsoft Learn, October 29, 2026).

The NAV to Business Central upgrade process at a glance

1. Confirm your NAV version, support status and the Microsoft upgrade path that applies to it.
2. Decide between Business Central online and on-premises.
3. Decide between a full upgrade and a reimplementation.
4. Inventory customizations and convert the ones you keep from C/AL to AL extensions.
5. Clean, archive and migrate data, with at least one full dry run.
6. Test, train users and cut over.
7. Stay current on the six-month update cycle after go-live.

Stage 1: Confirm your NAV version and upgrade path

Your IT lead owns this stage. The input is the exact NAV version and cumulative update you run, plus the list of ISV add-ons. The output is a written path with a support deadline attached. Microsoft documents a different route for each NAV generation (Microsoft Learn, June 19, 2026; Microsoft Learn, August 31, 2026).

Support dates come from Microsoft’s lifecycle page for each version, for example Dynamics NAV 2018 and Dynamics NAV 2017 (checked November 4, 2026). If you run NAV 2017, extended support ends in about two months.

What goes wrong: starting with 2025 release wave 1 (version 26), Microsoft no longer supports a direct upgrade from version 14 to the latest release, so you now step through v25, and Microsoft warns that not all minor updates between two releases are compatible (Microsoft Learn, August 31, 2026). Your partner must pick cumulative updates from its compatibility matrix.

Stage 2: Choose Business Central online or on-premises

Your CFO is accountable here. The inputs are integrations, data volume, hosting costs and any data residency constraint; the output is a deployment decision and license budget.

Online pricing is published. Microsoft lists Essentials at $80, Premium at $110 and Team Members at $8 per user per month, paid yearly (Microsoft, no date shown, checked November 4, 2026). Each tenant gets 80 GB of database capacity plus 3 GB per Premium and 2 GB per Essentials license, with one production and three sandbox environments included (Microsoft Learn, November 12, 2025). Size your NAV database against this before you commit.

On-premises prices are not published on Microsoft’s pricing page. Microsoft’s licensing guide describes perpetual licenses for self-managed deployments and monthly subscription licenses for partner-managed ones (Microsoft licensing guide, January 2024). The same guide says customers moving to on-premises from NAV may need to license Universal Code modules if their customizations are not Universal Code compatible. On-premises also keeps you on a short support clock: release 28 (2026 release wave 1) is supported from April 1, 2026 to October 13, 2027 (Microsoft Learn, April 1, 2026).

What goes wrong: teams choose on-premises to avoid converting customizations, then discover that current on-premises releases are AL-only as well. The conversion work is the same in both deployments.

Stage 3: Choose a full upgrade or a reimplementation

The executive sponsor owns this decision, with the controller deciding how much history you need. Microsoft offers two routes once you reach version 14 (Microsoft Learn, June 19, 2026):

• Full migration: moves all data and customizations, but requires converting C/AL customizations to AL extensions.
• Reimplementation: the Business Central 14 Reimplementation tool moves master data, open sales and purchase orders, opening balances, setup data and a defined subset of posted history. It does not carry legacy customizations or other ledger history, and Microsoft labels it a preview feature not meant for production use (Microsoft Learn, June 19, 2026).

Reimplementation suits a NAV system with years of modifications that standard Business Central now covers. A full upgrade suits lean customization and a need for detailed history in the live system. Either way, keep the old NAV database queryable for auditors after cutover.

Stage 4: Convert customizations to extensions

Your IT lead is accountable, the partner’s developers do the work, and process owners decide what each customization is for. The output is a register marking each modified object, add-on and integration as keep, replace with standard or an AppSource app, or retire.

Microsoft’s customization playbook maps each C/AL object type to an AL approach: page and table extensions for base objects, event subscribers instead of modified base codeunits, and AL enums in place of option fields (Microsoft Learn, August 4, 2026). It recommends a pilot conversion to estimate effort. The mechanical step uses the version 14 Txt2Al tool, followed by manual compile fixes in Visual Studio Code (Microsoft Learn, May 1, 2023).

Controls: freeze C/AL development once conversion starts, and require every kept customization to have a named business owner. What goes wrong: .NET add-ins are not available in Business Central online and must be redesigned as control add-ins, Azure Functions or external APIs. Data-carrying customizations, such as custom tables and added fields, must become extensions before migration or their data does not move. Our guide to ERP customization vs configuration covers how to keep the new system from accumulating the same debt.

Stage 5: Clean and migrate data

The controller owns data quality and the partner runs the tools. Microsoft’s prerequisites include archiving obsolete history, validating schema changes, a SQL Server compatibility level of 130 or higher, and at least one dry run of the full migration in a sandbox (Microsoft Learn, June 19, 2026).

For online migrations, Microsoft recommends keeping each run under 30 GB and deleting outdated log and archive data first. Only tables that exist both on-premises and online migrate, although table mappings can move customized fields into extension fields (Microsoft Learn, June 19, 2026).

Controls: after each dry run, reconcile the trial balance, customer and vendor ledgers and inventory value, with controller sign-off. What goes wrong: change log and archive tables inflate the database and the first dry run fails on capacity or time.

Stage 6: Test, train and cut over

Key users run test scripts for order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, inventory and month-end close. Users moving from the NAV Windows client to the browser client need training on navigation and role centers. If you run production in NAV, check our review of Business Central manufacturing for the Premium license and add-on questions.

The output is signed test evidence and a go or no-go decision. Plan cutover at a period end, freeze NAV posting, run the final migration, reconcile again and keep NAV read-only for reference.

Stage 7: Stay current after go-live

Your IT lead keeps an update calendar, tests each six-monthly release in a sandbox and confirms ISV app support. On-premises customers must schedule their own upgrades before each release leaves support.

What drives the cost of a NAV to Business Central upgrade

Microsoft does not publish an upgrade price, and partners quote after an assessment. ArcherPoint, a Business Central partner, lists the drivers as the NAV version, when you last upgraded, the number of customizations, the number and type of ISV add-ons, and database size (ArcherPoint, December 30, 2019, modified June 27, 2026).

The few published ranges are estimates, not quotes. Top Dynamics Partners, a partner directory that takes listing requests and advertising, estimates $30,000 to $100,000 for a NAV to Business Central migration at 25 to 100 users and $100,000 to $200,000 for 100 to 300 users, and says its ranges do not come from a single primary source (Top Dynamics Partners, June 19, 2026). Use them to sanity-check a quote. Our ERP implementation cost guide covers the general cost components.

We could not find a public Microsoft page with the terms of the Bridge to the Cloud 3 promotion, so the terms below come from two Microsoft partners. According to both, eligible NAV, GP, AX and SL customers can get 30% off Business Central online licenses on a three-year noncancellable term, through a CSP partner, during a promotion that runs from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027, and annual cloud license spend must at least equal the enhancement plan renewal. Western Computer adds that eligibility requires an active enhancement plan and perpetual licenses bought before September 1, 2024 (Western Computer, July 24, 2026; Clients First Business Solutions, August 6, 2026). Both firms sell Business Central services, so confirm terms with your CSP. The discount covers licenses only.

Illustration (our numbers, not a quote): 15 Essentials users at Microsoft’s $80 list price cost $1,200 a month, or $14,400 a year. At 30% off, that is $840 a month, or $10,080 a year, a saving of $4,320 a year for three years. After the term, licenses renew at the then-current list price.

Metrics to track

• Customizations retired: the share of modified objects replaced by standard features or apps rather than converted.
• Conversion effort vs estimate: developer hours per converted object, measured first in the pilot.
• Dry run reconciliation: differences in trial balance, AR, AP and inventory value between NAV and Business Central, targeted at zero before go-live.
• Test pass rate: percentage of user acceptance scripts passed at the final test cycle.
• Days to first close: how long the first month-end close takes in Business Central compared with your NAV average.

How software supports each stage

Microsoft supplies most of the tooling: upgrade path pages and the compatibility matrix for Stage 1, Txt2Al and the AL Language extension for Stage 4, Cloud Migration Management and the BC14 Reimplementation tool for Stage 5, and included sandboxes for Stages 6 and 7. AppSource apps can replace many NAV customizations, but each adds a subscription and a release schedule you depend on. If you are reconsidering the platform entirely, our NetSuite vs Business Central comparison covers the main alternative NAV customers evaluate.

How we researched this

We read Microsoft Learn upgrade, migration, lifecycle and capacity documentation, Microsoft’s pricing page and licensing guide, checking each on November 4, 2026. We used partner pages only for cost drivers and promotion terms, and we name each firm’s commercial interest. The top-ranking partner guides we reviewed rarely list version-specific paths, support dates or published cost ranges, so this guide does. No vendor or partner paid for or reviewed this article.

Related guides

• Dynamics GP to Business Central Migration Guide
• Business Central Implementation: Phases and Timeline
• Business Central Support Plans: Prices and Options

Frequently asked questions

Is Business Central just the new name for Navision?

Business Central is built on Dynamics NAV and keeps most of its business functions. The platform differs: customizations are AL extensions instead of modified C/AL code, and the online version updates every six months.

Can I upgrade NAV 2009 directly to Business Central?

No. Microsoft’s path goes through NAV 2013 or 2015, NAV 2018, Business Central version 14 and then version 25 or later. Because of the number of steps, a reimplementation that carries master data and open balances is often simpler.

When does support for Dynamics NAV end?

Microsoft lists extended support for NAV 2017 ending January 12, 2027, and for NAV 2018 ending January 12, 2028. NAV 2016 and earlier are already out of extended support.

How much does it cost to move from NAV to Business Central?

Microsoft does not publish an upgrade price. One partner directory estimates $30,000 to $100,000 for 25 to 100 users, but the real driver is how many customizations and add-ons you carry. Online licenses list at $80 (Essentials) and $110 (Premium) per user per month.

Do I have to move to the cloud?

No. Business Central is still sold on-premises, but each release is supported for about 18 months and also requires AL extensions, so on-premises does not avoid customization conversion.

Sources

• Microsoft, Microsoft Acquires Navision, July 11, 2002. news.microsoft.com
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 blog, Announcing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, no date shown (published before April 2, 2018). cloudblogs.microsoft.com
• Microsoft Learn, Supported upgrade paths to Business Central releases, August 31, 2026. learn.microsoft.com
• Microsoft Learn, Migrate Dynamics NAV to Business Central online, June 19, 2026. learn.microsoft.com
• Microsoft Learn, NAV customization playbook, August 4, 2026. learn.microsoft.com
• Microsoft Learn, Converting C/AL to AL, May 1, 2023. learn.microsoft.com
• Microsoft Learn, Business Central 14 reimplementation, June 19, 2026. learn.microsoft.com
• Microsoft Learn, FAQ about migrating to Business Central online, June 19, 2026. learn.microsoft.com
• Microsoft Learn, Managing capacity, November 12, 2025. learn.microsoft.com
• Microsoft Learn, Business Central FAQ, October 29, 2026. learn.microsoft.com
• Microsoft Learn, Software lifecycle policy and Business Central on-premises updates, May 11, 2023. learn.microsoft.com
• Microsoft Lifecycle, Business Central on-premises (Modern Policy), April 1, 2026. learn.microsoft.com
• Microsoft Lifecycle, Dynamics NAV 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2013 and 2009 R2 product pages, no date shown, checked November 4, 2026. learn.microsoft.com
• Microsoft, Dynamics 365 Business Central pricing, no date shown, checked November 4, 2026. microsoft.com
• Microsoft, Dynamics 365 Business Central licensing guide, January 2024. microsoft.com
• ArcherPoint (Business Central partner), Upgrading from Dynamics NAV to Business Central: how much will it cost, December 30, 2019, modified June 27, 2026. archerpoint.com
• Top Dynamics Partners (partner directory that takes listing requests and advertising), Dynamics 365 migration costs, June 19, 2026. topdynamicspartners.com
• Western Computer (Microsoft partner), Bridge to Cloud promotion for Dynamics NAV migrations, July 24, 2026. westerncomputer.com
• Clients First Business Solutions (Microsoft partner), Dynamics AX, GP, NAV and on-prem BC upgrade opportunity, August 6, 2026. erpsoftwareblog.com

10218 Overall Score

Sherman Hsieh

CEO & Editor-in-Chief, Business-Software.com
Independent analysis of enterprise software — ERP, CRM and more

Sherman Hsieh is the founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief of Business-Software.com. He leads the site's independent, buyer-focused coverage of ERP, CRM, and other business systems, including vendor-neutral comparisons, pricing analysis, and implementation guidance. Before founding Business-Software.com, Sherman was an executive at Siebel ...