Clipchamp licence not appearing for faculty.

[kennysarmy]

I am able to allocate licences to students from our Microsoft 365 Apps for Students licence as it appears as one of the options, "Microsoft Clipchamp"

 

See image.

 

However when I look to allocate a licence for staff from our Microsoft 365 Apps for Faculty licence, there is no option for "Microsoft Clipchamp" - is this normal and I have allocate from Student? Or has something not been correctly set at the Microsoft side?

 

Cheers

 

[DavR]

Same this end - Clipchamp isn't an option in our Microsoft 365 Apps for Faculty license either. Which is annoying, as it is free if you log in with a regular consumer Microsoft account.

 

I hadn't thought of checking the student license, as I've not bothered loading those on our tenant. I just shrugged it off and reinstalled Windows Movie Maker instead. 

[JazzFlute]

29 minutes ago, kennysarmy said:

I am able to allocate licences to students from our Microsoft 365 Apps for Students licence as it appears as one of the options, "Microsoft Clipchamp"

 

See image.

 

However when I look to allocate a licence for staff from our Microsoft 365 Apps for Faculty licence, there is no option for "Microsoft Clipchamp" - is this normal and I have allocate from Student? Or has something not been correctly set at the Microsoft side?

 

Cheers

 

I’m not entirely sure what’s changed with the Clipchamp licensing. It previously stopped being available for most work and school accounts and, as far as I was aware, was possibly only included with A3+ licences, not Apps for Faculty.

For several months, work/school accounts couldn’t sign in to Clipchamp at all. You could only log in using a personal Microsoft account or a Google account, and even then, only via the web version, not the desktop app.

However, I’ve just tested this:

• Using a student account (Office 365 A1 for Students with Microsoft 365 Apps for Students assigned), I was able to launch the Clipchamp app, sign in successfully, and use it — which I didn’t realise was possible.
• I then tried my staff account (Office 365 A1 for Staff with Microsoft 365 Apps for Faculty assigned), and it also allowed me to sign in successfully. This hasn’t worked for the past six months or more.

It looks like something has changed on the licensing side, but I’m not sure exactly what. I can’t see Clipchamp listed as an enabled app or tick box (as shown in your screenshot), but launching the app directly still allows sign‑in. It may be worth trying that approach.

 

[kennysarmy]

1 minute ago, JazzFlute said:

 

I’m not entirely sure what’s changed with the Clipchamp licensing. It previously stopped being available for most work and school accounts and, as far as I was aware, was possibly only included with A3+ licences, not Apps for Faculty.

For several months, work/school accounts couldn’t sign in to Clipchamp at all. You could only log in using a personal Microsoft account or a Google account, and even then, only via the web version, not the desktop app.

However, I’ve just tested this:

• Using a student account (Office 365 A1 for Students with Microsoft 365 Apps for Students assigned), I was able to launch the Clipchamp app, sign in successfully, and use it — which I didn’t realise was possible.
• I then tried my staff account (Office 365 A1 for Staff with Microsoft 365 Apps for Faculty assigned), and it also allowed me to sign in successfully. This hasn’t worked for the past six months or more.

It looks like something has changed on the licensing side, but I’m not sure exactly what. I can’t see Clipchamp listed as an enabled app or tick box (as shown in your screenshot), but launching the app directly still allows sign‑in. It may be worth trying that approach.

 

 

Unless I allocate the licence to staff from the student licence my staff get an error saying "Clipchamp is not available to you!"

 

 

[DavR]

1 minute ago, kennysarmy said:

 

Unless I allocate the licence to staff from the student licence my staff get an error saying "Clipchamp is not available to you!"

 

 

 

Same error message here, logging into the app using the staff license.

 

[JazzFlute]

Just now, kennysarmy said:

 

Unless I allocate the licence to staff from the student licence my staff get an error saying "Clipchamp is not available to you!"

 

 

Mine works with the 2 licenses assigned as below using the ClipChamp App.  Is that why you have assigned to staff as well?

• Office 365 A1 for Staff
• Microsoft 365 Apps for Faculty

[JazzFlute]

Ignore everything I've said regarding the staff license lol as just realised i signed in with my google account (it was cached 🤣)

 

Still works with the student licenses as explained though so not sure why staff have no access/license for it 🤷🏻‍♂️

[JazzFlute]

They've definitely updated the App as it includes "CoPilot" now as before it was just labelled "AI" how you could create videos.  Just tested creating making a video with student account with the CoPilot prompt and it worked fine and was quick.

[JazzFlute]

Copilot response which makes sense as to why it initially works for Students with A1 licensing when i tried earlier but will soon fail.  Only solution is A3 + licenses.

 

---

You said:

why does Microsoft Clipchamp app let me login with a student Office A1 and Microsoft Apps for students licenses but doesn't let me logon to Clipchamp with the same licenses but faculty versions

Copilot said:

 

Copilot

 

This behaviour is confusing, but it is expected once you look at how Microsoft has split Clipchamp by license tier and by app surface.

Below is a clear, plain‑English explanation of why students can sign in but faculty often can’t with the same “A1-style” licensing, and why the Clipchamp Windows app behaves differently from the web experience.

---

1. Clipchamp is not included in Office 365 / Microsoft 365 A1 (faculty or student)

Microsoft Clipchamp editor is only licensed for Education A3 and A5, not A1 — for either students or staff.

Microsoft explicitly states:

Clipchamp for education is available to users on Microsoft 365 A3 and A5 licenses at no additional cost.
A1 users are not entitled to the Clipchamp video editor.clipchamp+1

So from a licensing point of view:

License	Clipchamp editor entitlement
Office 365 / M365 A1 (Students)	❌ Not licensed
Office 365 / M365 A1 (Faculty)	❌ Not licensed
Microsoft 365 A3 / A5	✅ Licensed

---

2. Why students appear able to log in anyway (but faculty can’t)

This is where the Windows app + web fallback causes confusion.

Students often succeed because:

• The Clipchamp Windows app is bundled with Windows 11
• If Clipchamp editor entitlement is missing, the app may:
  • silently fall back to a personal/free Clipchamp experience
  • or allow limited sign‑in before blocking editing/export

This behaviour is documented as an entitlement “edge case” where login succeeds but features are gated later.microsoft+1

Faculty fail more often because:

• Faculty accounts are more likely to be:
  • AAD‑restricted
  • blocked from personal services
  • subject to stricter Conditional Access
• When Clipchamp checks the CLIPCHAMP service plan, faculty A1 accounts return Disabled, which causes an immediate sign‑in block instead of a fallback.microsoft

So:

• Students → soft‑fail → app opens
• Faculty → hard‑fail → “not available for your account”

Same license, different enforcement path.

---

3. The Windows app ≠ the web version

Another key factor is that Clipchamp’s Windows app is just a PWA wrapper, but it authenticates slightly differently than the browser version.

Microsoft confirms:

• The desktop app can fail even when the web version works
• Authentication sometimes breaks when:
  • SSO is enforced
  • entitlement provisioning is incomplete
  • the service plan is missing (A1 scenario)clipchamp+1

That’s why you may see:

• ✅ Student sign‑in via the app
• ❌ Faculty sign‑in via the app
• ✅ Same faculty account works at microsoft365.com → Clipchamp (sometimes, read‑only)

---

4. Why Microsoft does this (the design reason)

Microsoft intentionally limits Clipchamp editing to A3/A5 because:

• It replaces Stream editing
• It integrates with OneDrive + SharePoint
• It stores projects in tenant storage
• It includes AI features tied to higher SKUs

This is documented in the Clipchamp service description and Education license tables.microsoft+1

---

5. What actually fixes it (and what doesn’t)

❌ Things that won’t fix it

• Reinstalling the app
• Clearing cache
• Switching browsers
• Reassigning A1 licenses

✅ Things that do fix it

1. Assign Microsoft 365 A3 or A5 to faculty who need Clipchamp
   (Even one A3 license instantly resolves the issue)clipchamp
2. Or:
   • Use Clipchamp personal accounts (not recommended for staff)
3. Or:
   • Disable the Windows app and avoid the confusion entirely for A1 tenants

---

6. TL;DR

• A1 does not include Clipchamp editing — for anyone
• Students sometimes appear to “work” due to fallback/free behaviour
• Faculty are blocked more consistently due to stricter entitlement enforcement
• The Windows app makes the problem look worse than it is
• A3 or A5 is the only correct fix

[DavR]

That's mad that organisations, who are already paying some form of licensing fee, can't use Clipchamp unless they go up to A3 or A5, but personal account users who've paid nothing get it for free.

 

I guess it's some variation on the old "free for personal use" licensing.

[kennysarmy]

I asked our reseller about this and this was their response.

 

I’ve doubled checked with our Microsoft team and it seems that your students maybe the lucky ones to have Clipchamp, as it’s not part of the M365 Apps licence which will explain why the staff don’t have it.

 

This licence is normally only available with a M365 A3 licence for both staff and student.

 

It can be purchased as a standalone licence but there is no education discount for it

 

Thanks

[JazzFlute]

34 minutes ago, kennysarmy said:

I asked our reseller about this and this was their response.

 

I’ve doubled checked with our Microsoft team and it seems that your students maybe the lucky ones to have Clipchamp, as it’s not part of the M365 Apps licence which will explain why the staff don’t have it.

 

This licence is normally only available with a M365 A3 licence for both staff and student.

 

It can be purchased as a standalone licence but there is no education discount for it

 

Thanks

 

I imagine like my test yesterday it will work for some students mainly because of the built in windows Clipchamp app (free) and then it will fallback to not working as it realises the account hasn't got the proper license.  I gave up on Clipchamp months ago and pushed out a CapCut package instead (free version) for our students and staff for video editing which is a bit more industry standard too and simple to use for both KS2 Primary and Secondary

[MYK-IT]

2 hours ago, JazzFlute said:

 

I imagine like my test yesterday it will work for some students mainly because of the built in windows Clipchamp app (free) and then it will fallback to not working as it realises the account hasn't got the proper license.  I gave up on Clipchamp months ago and pushed out a CapCut package instead (free version) for our students and staff for video editing which is a bit more industry standard too and simple to use for both KS2 Primary and Secondary

 

I am assuming a DPIA was undertaken for use of CapCut? E.g. potentially no school DPA?, has AI-functionality, mentions international transfers, unclear IP protection etc.

 

If ClipChamp is not viable (e.g. due to costs etc) although you would have a DPIA approved for Microsoft already with having a M365 Education Tenancy, perhaps Canva for Education may be an alternative?

 

 

Edited April 15 by MYK-IT