Microsoft’s 2026 Store Awards Leave Many Unimpressed... and Rightly So

Microsoft recently announced the winners of Microsoft Store Awards 2025. What should have been a moment to celebrate instead sparked frustration, as users took to X to complain that Microsoft favored apps heavily integrated with AI.

The AI Assistants category sparked the most debate. Perplexity and ChatGPT tied for the top spot, with both apps praised by Microsoft for deep integration, fast research tools and enterprise-ready privacy controls. While many agreed they were strong contenders, users on X argued that the category ignored newer AI apps that are doing better.

Other winners stirred similar conversations. Moon Invoice grabbed the Business category for its streamlined billing tools, while Manus won the Computer-Using Agent award for its secure, automated workflow system capable of executing complex tasks in a sandbox.

Users, however, felt CUAs are still too experimental to headline an award. Creators celebrated n-Track Studio’s win for its AI tools and unlimited track support, though some music producers said smaller competitors deserved recognition.

Education, gaming and productivity categories rolled out more familiar names. Scratch 3 secured the education win for its approachable coding lessons, Castle Craft claimed gaming thanks to strong performance on a wide range of devices, and Moises Live earned praise for real-time, on-device audio separation. Notion topped productivity with its unified workspace and deep Windows integration.