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SQL Server Licencing Cost

  • October 7, 2021 at 10:02 am

    #3938388

    OK so in my present company, we have a suite of MS Access databases.  We would like to upgrade them to SQL Server 2019

    Now at present my colleague and I develop on SQL Server Express 2019

    We would like to develop on the full version of SQL Server (Developer or Professional) and migrate the databases, so

    I have 2 questions:

    1) Would myself and my colleague require a licence each to develop on SQL Server and what type and how much would this cost?

    2) Would the users accessing SQL Server databases (via VB front end) in our production....require to have a licence each?

  • October 7, 2021 at 11:39 am

    #3938420

    ALWAYS, go to Microsoft for accurate licensing information. They're just going to know better than some knucklehead on the internet, like me.

    However, this one I think I can answer accurately enough.

    1. Nope. Microsoft has a free development version of SQL Server. Zero licensing cost for you to build stuff. Test stuff. Do pretty much anything except host production data with real users.
    2. You will need a license for the instance. How, and exactly what, you license, you'll need to talk to Microsoft about. But no, each individual user doesn't need a license. That's not how it works.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

  • October 7, 2021 at 1:42 pm

    #3938480

    Just to add what Grant says: Both Express and Developer Edition are free. Express has lesser features and a cap on the database size, but it is licensed for production use. Developer has all the features, but is not licensed for production.

    You need to have an idea of what you will use in production. If that is Express Edition - develop also on Express Edition. If you aim at Enterprise Edition - no problem with Developer Edition. If you aim at running Standard Edition in production, developing on Developer Edition is likely to be the best choice, but you could accidently make yourself dependent on something which is only in Enterprise Edition.

    Both Standard and Enterprise Editions are paid editions - with quite a bit of difference in the price tag.

     

    [font="Times New Roman"]Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, www.sommarskog.se[/font]

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