Municipalities pay Microsoft 185 million annually; with AI, they still have a choice

Dutch municipalities together paid nearly 185 million euros to Microsoft in 2025. This is revealed by research conducted by Binnenlands Bestuur and the AD, which for the first time mapped out how much public money flows to the American tech giant per municipality. Converted, this amounts to over ten euros per Dutch citizen and approximately 25 euros per household. Tech expert Bert Hubert summarises it succinctly: "We spend all our money on Microsoft."

We see one main thing in these figures. Over the past twenty years, dependency at the workplace has grown; with AI, the choice is only now being made. And here, things can still be different.

What the research shows

The researchers approached all 342 municipalities between April and September. 334 eventually responded, some only after an appeal to the Open Government Act. On average, this amounts to around 550,000 euros per municipality. Amsterdam paid the most at 20 million euros, followed by The Hague with 9.4 million, Rotterdam with 8.5 million, and Utrecht with 7.3 million.

It is striking how many municipalities do not know themselves what they are spending on Microsoft. Licences are managed via intermediaries, included in broader workplace contracts, or are handled by regional ICT collaborations. The Limburg municipality of Simpelveld could provide exact figures. For 168 users, 51,047.93 euros were charged for Microsoft E3 licences, over 300 euros per employee per year. On top of that came Power BI for ten users and two Copilot licences totalling 686.88 euros.

According to tech philosopher Martijn Aslander and former MP Kees Verhoeven, the 185 million is just the tip of the iceberg. Aslander estimates that the entire government spends two to three billion euros a year on Microsoft. He also points out that significant sums are paid for products the government does not need, added to solve problems arising from the way information is stored and managed.

The next stream of money is being determined now

Verhoeven is right that switching workplace systems takes time and money. You cannot replace twenty years of documents, integrations, and habits in a single budget year. This argument does not apply to AI. There is no legacy yet. The two Copilot licences in Simpelveld show how the next stream of money arises, as an extra line on an existing contract, without anyone making a real choice.

MP Barbara Kathmann concludes from the research that there is financial capacity to strengthen European alternatives. She advocates structurally allocating part of the budget for Dutch and European technology. State Secretary Willemijn Aerdts calls digital autonomy a joint task for central government and municipalities. We would say, start with AI. That is the one area where a municipality can still make a fresh choice today.

How things can be different: GovGPT as an example

With GovGPT we demonstrate that a secure AI environment for government can also be European. GovGPT runs by default on European infrastructure from our partner Scaleway, in data centres in France and the Netherlands. Municipal data remains within the European Union and is not subject to the American Cloud Act. Conversations and documents are never used to train models; this is contractually guaranteed.

Staff analyse documents, images, and spreadsheets, build AI agents per team for recurring tasks, and use a prompt library for government tasks. The organisation centrally determines which AI models are available, and everything is traceable via audit logging. A DPIA and a data processing agreement are ready, the platform is designed according to the Baseline Information Security Government standard, and integrates with the login environment the municipality already uses, with mandatory two-factor authentication.

The licence costs 35 euros per user per month, excluding VAT, and can be cancelled monthly. No multi-year contract, no bundle with products you do not use. Municipalities wishing to start can run a free trial for three to six months with up to twenty users. We previously calculated that an employee with a lot of document work saves six to nine hours per week, meaning the licence pays for itself after just ten minutes of time saved per week. Several municipalities and a youth care region are already working with GovGPT.

What a municipality can do as early as tomorrow

In our view, the research by Binnenlands Bestuur and the AD is not a reason for gloom, but for action. Three steps every municipality can take this month.

1. Identify AI expenditure separately. Which Copilot and other AI licences are already included in workplace contracts, and what do they cost? That is the line where the next dependency begins.

2. Reserve part of the budget for European alternatives. Exactly as Kathmann suggests. It does not have to be all or nothing; a few percent of 550,000 euros is already a serious pilot.

3. Start small and measure. One team, a free pilot, track the results for four weeks. Verhoeven rightly states that European alternatives need purchase guarantees from public organisations. A municipality that starts a pilot provides that guarantee itself.

Digital sovereignty does not begin with a major migration, but with the next choice. Especially in an era of AI, that is a choice municipalities still have in their own hands. Want to know how GovGPT fits your municipality? Visit govgpt.nl or email us at info@civai.eu. We are happy to think along with you.

Sources. iBestuur, 29 September 2026, on the research by Binnenlands Bestuur and the AD. Also read our previous article about the mail servers of EU institutions.

Image for illustration, created with AI