Sync 365 vs Pax8
Keep Pax8 for marketplace, provisioning, and consolidated billing. Add Sync 365 when the PSA quantity depends on managed users, calculated overage, customer attributes, or reusable Microsoft mapping rules.
What Sync 365 does differently
A licence count is only the starting point. Sync 365 maps new subscriptions, builds the quantities your MSP sells, and routes each result to the right supported PSA record.
Major differentiator
Set the licence, commitment-term, billing-profile and PSA destination rules once. When matching subscriptions appear, AutoMap can apply those rules automatically or queue them for approval.
Custom licences
Create the active-user or managed-user count your MSP actually sells, then use it across related support, backup, security and filtering lines in the PSA.
Explore custom licence billing
Calculated custom licences
Add and subtract Microsoft licences, subscriptions, users, custom licences or fixed quantities to model bundles, included seats and overages before the result reaches the PSA.
Explore calculated billing
Filters and split billing
Split one Microsoft tenant into separate billable populations using office, city, state, country, department, company, domain, Entra ID group or custom attributes.
Explore filters and split billingAt a glance
Compare the jobs that determine billing accuracy: new-subscription mapping, custom and calculated quantities, split-tenant rules, Azure controls, and ownership of the final PSA record.
| What matters | Automates repeat billing workSync 365 | Pax8 | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary billing job | Microsoft billing workflowA focused Microsoft billing layer for licences, Azure, managed users, contacts, and custom recurring services while the supported PSA remains the invoicing system of record.[6][2][5] | Cloud marketplace operationsPax8: Cloud marketplace distribution, ordering, provisioning, consolidated billing, and native PSA product or seat sync.[7][9] | Start with the operational problem each product is designed to own before comparing individual features. |
| New subscription mapping | Term-aware AutoMap routingAutoMap applies reusable Microsoft licence and commitment-term rules to matching new subscriptions, routing each to the configured billing profile and PSA destination automatically or pending review.[1] | Marketplace PSA syncPax8 documents PSA auto-sync and custom billing agreements for marketplace products. Its reviewed public material does not describe the same Microsoft commitment-term rule routing to both a billing profile and PSA destination.[7][9] | A reusable mapping rule reduces the chance that a newly appearing subscription waits for another manual setup step before billing cutoff. |
| Custom recurring services | Managed-service quantity rulesA configured Microsoft or managed-user count can keep support, backup, antivirus, security, filtering, and other related recurring PSA lines aligned.[2] | Marketplace product seatsPax8 centres its public PSA workflow on products and seats purchased through its marketplace. Sync 365 adds managed-user and non-catalogue recurring quantities around those subscriptions.[7][8] | MSPs often sell a service bundle around each user, not only the underlying Microsoft licence. |
| Calculated quantities and overage | Bundle and overage formulasCalculated custom licences add and subtract Microsoft licences, subscriptions, users, custom licences, or fixed values to produce bundles, included-seat deductions, and overage quantities.[3] | Marketplace seat countsThe reviewed Pax8 material does not describe deriving a PSA quantity by adding and subtracting Microsoft, user, subscription, custom, and fixed counts for bundles or overage.[7][8] | The correct quantity may be a formula—such as protected mailboxes minus users already included in the bundle—not a copied vendor count. |
| Location, department, and split billing | Attribute-based billing splitsOffice, city, state, country, department, company, domain, Entra group, and custom attributes can split one tenant into separate billable populations and PSA records.[4] | No documented attribute splitsThe reviewed Pax8 material does not describe using Microsoft or Entra department, location, domain, group, or custom attributes to split one tenant across several PSA records.[7][9] | One Microsoft tenant can represent several sites, departments, franchises, cost centres, or legal billing entities. |
| Azure consumption workflow | Azure review and markupAzure consumption can move through billing profiles, markup, billing-period review, approval or configured auto-approval, and supported PSA posting.[5] | Microsoft cloud commercePax8 provides Microsoft cloud commerce and billing. Sync 365 adds a documented Azure consumption workflow with billing profiles, markup, review, approval, and supported PSA posting.[10][7] | Azure comparison should include data timing, markup, period review, approval, exception handling, and the final PSA record—not only ingestion. |
| PSA ownership and scope | PSA as invoice ownerSync 365 supports ConnectWise Manage, Autotask PSA, and HaloPSA workflows while the PSA remains responsible for invoices.[6] | Native marketplace syncPax8 offers free native PSA integrations and is the natural source for subscriptions bought through its marketplace.[7] | Clear system ownership prevents overlapping automations and keeps finance confident about which record becomes the invoice. |
Beyond one-to-one sync
Start with Microsoft, managed-user or recurring-service data. Apply the commercial rule. Keep the related PSA lines aligned without rebuilding the logic in a spreadsheet each month.
Billing sources
Sync 365 billing rules
Automated PSA billing
Workflow differences
These are the practical differences to test with your own customer data—not a generic feature-score exercise.
AutoMap is term-aware, destination-aware, and designed to keep applying the rule after initial setup.
With Sync 365
Configure monthly and annual Microsoft commitment-term defaults, the Sync 365 billing profile, the company or filter-group PSA destination, and automatic or pending approval. Matching new subscriptions can then follow that route.[1]
With Pax8
Pax8 documents PSA auto-sync and custom billing agreements for marketplace products. Its reviewed public material does not describe the same Microsoft commitment-term rule routing to both a billing profile and PSA destination.[7][9]
Why it matters
The useful distinction is not whether a product can sync a count. It is whether new Microsoft subscriptions inherit the right commercial and PSA-routing decisions without rebuilding the mapping.
Turn the trusted user or licence count into the support, backup, security, and filtering lines the MSP actually sells.
With Sync 365
Custom licences can use managed users, filtered licences, minimums, exclusions, and customer rules. One configured count can drive several related recurring items through their billing profiles into supported PSA records.[2]
With Pax8
Pax8 centres its public PSA workflow on products and seats purchased through its marketplace. Sync 365 adds managed-user and non-catalogue recurring quantities around those subscriptions.[7][8]
Why it matters
A Microsoft seat count can be correct while the surrounding managed-service invoice is still wrong. Keeping related lines tied to one reviewed quantity reduces that drift.
Use ordered additions and deductions when the billable number does not exist in any single source system.
With Sync 365
Calculated custom licences can combine Microsoft licences, subscriptions, all users, custom licences, and fixed quantities. Rules can apply filters, configured duplicate removal, included-seat deductions, and a zero floor before mapping the result to the PSA.[3]
With Pax8
The reviewed Pax8 material does not describe deriving a PSA quantity by adding and subtracting Microsoft, user, subscription, custom, and fixed counts for bundles or overage.[7][8]
Why it matters
Finance gets an explainable recurring result for rules that otherwise tend to live in spreadsheet formulas, custom scripts, or month-end adjustments.
Keep one tenant while producing separate location, department, franchise, group, or entity-specific billing populations.
With Sync 365
Sync 365 can include or exclude users by Microsoft and Entra attributes, map each filtered population to the relevant PSA record, and use a separate AutoMap destination for each filter group.[4][1]
With Pax8
The reviewed Pax8 material does not describe using Microsoft or Entra department, location, domain, group, or custom attributes to split one tenant across several PSA records.[7][9]
Why it matters
The tenant-wide total is often wrong for a multi-site or multi-entity agreement. Billing populations should reflect the customer structure that finance actually invoices.
Built around real MSP billing
Sync 365 customer stories show custom recurring rules and split-tenant billing working in live MSP operations.
Custom recurring billing
“Everyone can do 365 licensing. It’s the custom stuff I need.”
Chris F, Operations Director · Cleva Group
Read the Cleva Group storyOne tenant, many billing records
“There’s no way we would be able to service a customer like that manually.”
Sean Stuart, Operations Manager · IT Global
Read the IT Global storyCustomer-specific examples, not typical or guaranteed results.
Best fit
Choose around the system that should own the billing logic, the source data that determines quantity, and the amount of mapping or custom engineering your team wants to maintain.
Choose Sync 365 when
Sync 365 fits when Microsoft and Entra data must produce customer-specific recurring quantities and the MSP wants ConnectWise, Autotask, or HaloPSA to remain responsible for invoicing.[1][2][3][4][6]
Choose the alternative when
Pax8 fits an MSP that wants a marketplace, provisioning, consolidated billing, and native PSA sync for products purchased through the distributor.[7][8]
Use a real customer in the demo
Use one real customer to compare Sync 365 with Pax8: a new annual Microsoft subscription, a managed-user bundle, an overage calculation, one filtered department or site, and the final PSA record. Follow every mapping, review, and exception step.
How Sync 365 fits
The PSA stays in control of invoicing. Sync 365 owns the reusable mapping, quantity and review logic that prepares supported billing records.
Bring Microsoft 365, Azure, managed-user and supported PSA data into one billing workflow.
Use AutoMap, billing profiles, minimums, exclusions, filters and calculated custom quantities.
Check pending mappings, calculated quantities, billing changes and configured Azure approvals.
Update supported PSA billing records while the PSA remains the invoicing system of record.
Frequently asked questions
Pax8 is designed primarily for cloud marketplace distribution, ordering, provisioning, consolidated billing, and native PSA product or seat sync. Sync 365 focuses on turning Microsoft and Entra data into mapped, filtered, custom, or calculated quantities while a supported PSA remains the invoicing system of record.[1][2][3][4][6][7][9]
In the public Pax8 material reviewed, we did not find the same documented combination of Microsoft commitment-term rules, Sync 365 billing-profile routing, PSA destination routing, and per-company automatic or pending approval. That is a documentation comparison, not proof that an unpublished capability does not exist; verify it directly.[1][7][9]
Sync 365 provides custom and calculated licence workflows for managed-user services, minimums, filters, additions, deductions, bundles, and overage. Pax8 should be tested with the same real customer rule so buyers can see where the source data, calculation, review, and PSA update live.[2][3][4][7][8]
Pax8 and Sync 365 can be complementary. Keep Pax8 as the distributor and define Sync 365 as the billing-rules layer only for quantities that need additional Microsoft, user, or customer logic. Whichever design you choose, document the system of record and ensure two automations do not update the same customer quantity.[6][7][9]
Compare with your own billing data
Use one real Microsoft tenant, one new subscription, one custom quantity, and one PSA agreement to compare Sync 365 with Pax8. See the mapping, calculation, review, and update path end to end.
This buyer guide compares documented workflows rather than awarding a generic feature score. A capability not found in the public Pax8 material reviewed is labelled as such, not presented as proof that no private or newer capability exists. Product information was reviewed on. Confirm plan, region, integration and workflow details with each vendor before buying.