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SQL Server 2022 Standard

Relational database engine licensed per core or by server plus CALs.

SQL Server Standard covers the great majority of line-of-business database workloads. It can be licensed two ways, and the choice makes a material difference: per core, with a four-core minimum per instance and no CAL requirement, or server-plus-CAL, where a single server licence is paired with a CAL for every user or device that connects.

Per-core licensing suits externally-facing or high-connection-count workloads. Server-plus-CAL suits internal applications with a countable, stable user base. We price both against your actual connection pattern rather than defaulting to one.

Frequently asked questions

Do we need Enterprise edition?
Enterprise is warranted for online index operations, advanced availability groups, unlimited memory or large-scale partitioning. If none of those appear in your workload, Standard is a substantially cheaper licence for identical functional behaviour.

Related products

Other licensing in Database Servers and from Microsoft.