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Available SQL Server 2019 editions

Licensing SQL Server 2019 on-premises
Available SQL Server 2019 editions

Express Standard Enterprise Developer

Free, entry-level database Full featured database Mission-critical Free to use with all the
for small web and mobile with Big Data Clusters for performance and features of Enterprise
apps. mid-tier applications and intelligence for tier 1 edition, specifically for
data marts. databases. dev/test in non-
production environments.

SQL Server 2019 licensing models

Server/CAL licensing
Core licensing Purchase a SQL Server license for each server, and then
purchase Client Access Licenses (CALs) for either users or
Rules for calculating required licenses:
devices:
• Count the number of cores in the server
A Device CAL is
• Buy that number of Core licenses, as long assigned to the device A User CAL is
as a minimum of 4 licenses are acquired and allows multiple assigned to the user
and allows that user to
per processor users to use use multiple devices
that device
• No CALs are required
for internal or external
users For both types of CAL, the users or devices are licensed to access ANY SQL
• Core licenses are Server on the network. The SQL CALs can also be used against any SQL
acquired in 2-packs Server regardless of platform or edition.
Note that even if a user accesses SQL indirectly through another server
Licensing SQL Server editions (for example when using a Line of Business application), a CAL is still
• Standard edition may be licensed with required. This is often known as multiplexing.
either of the licensing models
• Enterprise edition is licensed with Core External users may be licensed with User or Device CALs or via
licenses Core licenses.

Downgrade and down-edition rights On-premises failover licensing scenarios

Customers can choose to deploy an earlier version and, For each on-premises server licensed with SQL Server 2019
sometimes, an alternative edition: and covered by active SA, organizations can use the
Customers Can choose to deploy: following passive replicas in anticipation of a failover event:
licensed for:
Software edition Software version
SQL Server
Standard 2019 or earlier
2019 Standard
SQL Server Standard 2019 or earlier
2019 Enterprise Enterprise 2019 or earlier
Business Intelligence 2014 or earlier
Automated failover Manual failover
Note that additional down-edition rights are available for some
further editions of SQL Server 2008 R2 which are now out of Note that the passive servers must have the same or fewer
support. cores than the active server.
Licensing SQL Server 2019 on-premises – continued

Licensing SQL 2019 for virtualization and containers

Server/CAL editions Core editions SQL 2019 Enterprise Core Unlimited virtualization
virtualization rights

SQL Standard Server SQL Standard or SQL Enterprise Core SQL Enterprise Core
licenses Enterprise Core licenses licenses licenses with SA

Assign a SQL Server 2019 License the virtual cores used Licensing all the physical License all the physical cores
Server license to each virtual by the virtual machines, with a cores gives rights to run SQL with Enterprise Edition Core
machine or container running minimum of 4 Core licenses Server in one virtual machine licenses with Software
SQL Server 2019 per virtual machine or or container per Core license Assurance
container

License Mobility
License Mobility across Server Farms
All SQL Server 2019 licenses purchased with Software Assurance have allows licenses to be moved between servers
License Mobility across Server Farms rights. within a server farm as often as required,
supporting a virtualized environment where
virtual machines frequently move between
physical servers.

Licensing SQL components

SQL Server includes services such as
In the diagram above, two Server licenses with Software Assurance have Microsoft® SQL Server® Reporting Services
been purchased and the virtual machines may move freely around the and Microsoft® SQL Server® Analysis Services
server farm and the licenses can be considered to be dynamically which are key to the Microsoft Business
reassigned to the relevant physical server. Intelligence solution.
When SQL Server runs with all of its
components in one server, only one license is
Additional SQL 2019 SA benefits required.
Step-up licenses However, if the database is running in one
• Step-up licenses may be purchased for Standard Core licenses with SA server, Analysis Services on a second, and
to move to Enterprise Core licenses Reporting Services on a third, then three
licenses are required.
Power BI Report Server
• Enterprise Core licenses with SA include the rights to run Power BI
Report Server on a licensed server to generate data visualizations
Machine Learning Server for Hadoop
• Each Enterprise Core license with SA allows the running of Machine
Learning Server for Hadoop on up to five servers for advanced analytics

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