https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/security-compliance-and-identity/azure-code-signing-democratizing-trust-for-developers-and/ba-p/3604669

I've tried reaching out to the them and had no reply.

I'd happily pay Microsoft £99/year like I have to give Apple in order to be able to sign my Windows installers.

Last time I got a code signing certificate it cost me roughly $180 for 3 years valid certificate, and it was just a simple certificate file that I could put into Azure secrets and sign my installers.

It's due for renewal soon and now the process seems exponentially harder (certificates delivered on hardware token?) and roughly $250/year if paying for 3 years, nearly $400 for a single year. What the hell happened in the past 3 years that justifies this change?

For my very low volume side hustle this is seeming like more hassle than it's worth... :(