SQL Server editions

The following table describes the editions of SQL Server.1 Enterprise edition offers unlimited virtualization for customers with Software Assurance. Deployments must comply with the licensing guide. For more information, see SQL Server Licensing Resources and Documents.2 Web edition isn't available in SQL Server 2025 (17.x) and later versions.3 Starting with SQL Server 2025 (17.x), Express edition includes all the functionality that was available in SQL Server Express edition with Advanced Services.

Choose SQL Server features

Use the Feature Selection page of the SQL Server Installation Wizard to select the components to include in an installation of SQL Server. By default, none of the features in the tree are selected.Use the information in the following tables to determine the set of features that best fits your needs.

Server features

Developer and Evaluation editions

For features supported by Developer and Evaluation editions, see features listed for the SQL Server Enterprise edition in the following tables.The Developer edition continues to support only 1 client for SQL Server Distributed Replay, which is deprecated in SQL Server 2022 (16.x).

Scale limits

1 Enterprise edition with Server + Client Access License (CAL) based licensing (not available for new agreements) is limited to a maximum of 20 cores per SQL Server instance. There are no limits under the Core-based Server Licensing model. For more information, see Compute capacity limits by edition of SQL Server.2 Tabular3 MOLAP

Azure connected services

SQL Server 2022 includes features for connecting to Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure SQL Managed Instance, and Microsoft Purview.1 These features are governed by their respective Lifecycle Policies.2 Configure in Azure portal.

High availability

1 For more information on installing SQL Server on Server Core, see Install SQL Server on Server Core.2 Full safety only3 Witness only4 On Enterprise edition, the maximum number of nodes is 16. On Standard edition, there's support for two nodes.5 On Enterprise edition, provides support for up to 8 secondary replicas, including 5 synchronous secondary replicas.6 Standard edition supports basic availability groups. A basic availability group supports two replicas, with one database. For more information about basic availability groups, see Basic Always On availability groups for a single database.7 Database mirroring is a deprecated feature.

Scalability and performance

1 Batch mode on rowstore only supports disk-based heaps and B+ tree indexes. It doesn't support In-Memory OLTP tables, XML columns, or sparse column sets. The degree of parallelism (DOP) for batch mode operations is limited to 2 for SQL Server Standard edition and 1 for SQL Server Web and Express editions.2 Aggregate pushdown, string predicate pushdown, and SIMD optimizations are SQL Server Enterprise edition scalability enhancements. For more detail, see What's new in columnstore indexes.3 This feature isn't included in the LocalDB installation option.4 Stretch Database is a deprecated feature.5 Requires trace flag 15097.

Intelligent query processing

1 Batch mode on rowstore only supports disk-based heaps and B+ tree indexes. It doesn't support In-Memory OLTP tables, XML columns, or sparse column sets. The degree of parallelism (DOP) for batch mode operations is limited to 2 for SQL Server Standard edition and 1 for SQL Server Web and Express editions.

Security

1 Requires SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc.

Manageability

1 With trace flag2 For more information, see Considerations for installing SQL Server using SysPrep.3 On Linux, PowerShell scripts are supported, from Windows computers targeting SQL Server on Linux.

Programmability

1 Basic integration is limited to 2 cores and in-memory data sets.2 Advanced integration can use all available cores for parallel processing of data sets at any size subject to hardware limits.3 Client only.

Spatial and location services

Replication

1 Subscriber only

Management tools

1 SQL Server Web, SQL Server Express, SQL Server Express with Tools, and SQL Server Express with Advanced Services can be profiled using SQL Server Standard and SQL Server Enterprise editions.2 Tuning enabled only on Standard edition features.

Development tools

Integration Services

For info about SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) features supported by the editions of SQL Server, see Integration Services features supported by the editions of SQL Server.

Master Data Services

For information about the Master Data Services and Data Quality Services features supported by the editions of SQL Server, see Master Data Services and Data Quality Services Features Support.

Data warehouse

Analysis Services

For information about the Analysis Services features supported by the editions of SQL Server, see Analysis Services features supported by SQL Server edition.

Reporting Services

For information about the Reporting Services features supported by the editions of SQL Server, see SQL Server Reporting Services features supported by editions.

Business intelligence clients

For information about the Business Intelligence Client features supported by the editions of SQL Server, see Analysis Services features supported by SQL Server edition or SQL Server Reporting Services features supported by editions.

Additional database services

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