Meta Makes Horizon Managed Services Free — What It Means for XR Deployments
Meta has updated Meta Horizon Managed Services (HMS) so that the platform will be available at no cost beginning February 20, 2026. From that date, new HMS licenses will no longer be sold and instead will be available at $0 to organizations via the Meta for Work portal. Meta will continue support and basic maintenance of HMS through January 4, 2030.
Meta Horizon Managed Services is Meta’s first-party platform for enrolling, provisioning, and managing Meta Quest devices across organizations. It is the required enrollment layer for headsets running Meta’s managed firmware and integrates directly with third-party device-management platforms.
What’s Changing
HMS licenses will be free beginning February 20, 2026. Meta will stop selling paid HMS subscriptions on that date.
Support continues through 2030. Meta has committed to maintaining HMS — including bug fixes and support — through January 4, 2030.
HMS remains the enrollment gateway. All Meta Quest fleet enrollment must still occur through HMS before devices can be managed at scale.
This change simplifies budgeting for XR programs: the enrollment layer is now free, removing one cost previously required to manage large fleets of Meta headsets.
Why Device Management Still Matters
While HMS handles enrollment and basic device provisioning, enterprise-grade management capabilities — including app distribution, advanced configuration, compliance policies, reporting, and integrations with enterprise systems — are delivered by dedicated Mobile Device Management platforms.
Best-in-Class MDM Platforms We Partner With
At Knoxlabs, we work deeply with two industry-leading XR-focused management platforms:
ManageXR – A unified device management solution that supports Meta Quest and other XR hardware with advanced workflows, app distribution, policy controls, and analytics.
ArborXR – A scalable, powerful MDM for XR fleets spanning Meta Quest, HTC, Pico, and other devices, with enterprise-ready deployment tools and integrations.
These platforms leverage HMS for enrollment and then provide the operational tooling teams need to run XR programs reliably at scale.
What This Means for Customers
Organizations can now scale Meta Quest deployments without paying for HMS licenses.
Enrollment remains centralized and supported through 2030 at minimum.
Advanced lifecycle management — especially for mixed fleets and distributed deployments — is best delivered through purpose-built MDMs like ManageXR and ArborXR.
Knoxlabs remains ready to architect, deploy, and support XR solutions that combine the right devices, management tools, integrations, and services.
We’re here to help you move forward with confidence. As HMS shifts into free availability and continues supporting device enrollment, our focus stays on delivering scalable, reliable, and enterprise-grade XR programs.
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