SQL Server Pricing
HS
HarkamalSingh
Works at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Cost is a major derivative for any organization. It has a reasonable cost value, and its cloud support is also better than others. Comparatively, Oracle can do the same things or is even better in certain areas, but it is expensive. The cost along with the support are the plus factors for SQL Server.
View full review »PJ
PeterJones
Professional Services Manager at Business Intelligence DA
SQL Server SE is popular in Romania because of the price.
It doesn't do everything but for the price, it's fine.
The price for the Standard Edition is approximately $3,700 USD per core. Once you include technical support, SQL Server is cheaper than PostgreSQL and MySQL.
It is relevant to consider that the query optimizer works differently between the Standard Edition and the Enterprise Edition. The Standard Edition is cheaper but the Enterprise Edition has better performance. This is something that Microsoft had confirmed when we switched from 2008EE to 2014SE.
Another thing to consider is that some applications require a certain edition of the solution. Power BI Mobile, for example, will only run with the Enterprise Edition.
View full review »MJ
seniorda483732
Senior Database Administrator at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
The licensing cost varies widely, depending upon what methodology you employ. It could be very cheap, for example, it could be less than $2,000. Alternatively, it can go up to well over $100,000.
View full review »Buyer's Guide
SQL Server
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about SQL Server. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
We are using licensed software for our environment. We have the Enterprise license, and we have a standard additional license.
As compared to Oracle Database, SQL Server is less expensive. For mid-sized organizations, SQL Server is completely all right, but people say it can't support large organizations with more than 2,000 users.
View full review »HB
reviewer1264416
Domain architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The licenses are really expensive. Their licensing model should be more simplistic.
View full review »IA
Isam Ahmed
System analyst at Ministry of Interior
SQL Server is an expensive solution. Their pricing structure and licensing options are not budget-friendly, so I believe it is an essential factor to consider when choosing the right product.
NC
Nick S.
System Design Manager at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The SQL Server pricing model is based on CPU cores that your database server utilises.
MH
Mohammed Habeeb
System Administrator at ARTIc
The price of the solution is very expensive. If I went with the cloud version of SQL a license would cost me approximately 11,000 Riyals per month.
View full review »AM
Aju Mathai
Database Architect at Huron Consulting
It is expensive, but you get what you pay for.
Since we are a cloud-based company, there is AWS pricing on top of the SQL Server pricing. The Enterprise Edition can typically sell from around $1000 dollars a month, which is not cheap. Then, there is an additional one-time Windows cost, based on the code, which can go anywhere from $30,000 to $40,000 for the license.
View full review »SE
Simon Evans
IT Analysis at Kirkby (Tyres) Ltd
The SQL server is affordable. I rate the pricing a five out of ten.
View full review »MM
Mpho Morake
Group CEO at Mmusi Group
It is annual.
View full review »AK
Anandan Kanagarajan
Sr. Supervisor - Enterprises Application DBA at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
CPU Core-based Licensing & Windows Licensing costs are additional overheads compare to open source databases like MySQL and PostgreSQL.
Managed SQL Server Database Service in Azure is lagging with many features like Linked Server, DB Mail.
SQL Server deployment in the Cloud does not seem to be cost-effective with respect to the Licensing cost and average Life cycle of 5 years (I reiterate, this is in my opinion).
If you take Postgre SQL and MySQL, they provide almost all the same features even though they are both open source databases.
View full review »RN
reviewer1695144
President at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
This client has money, so I never hear any complaints. It seems reasonable to me. I think the biggest problem that Microsoft had back in the early 2000s was that the pricing of SQL was a nightmare. You could call five Microsoft people at Microsoft, and you'd get five different prices. Microsoft has a problem. Well, they have lots of problems. They characterize themselves as perfect.
From 40 years ago, I already knew well in advance of the clients that there is a security hole. I'm looking at Business Central, and somebody who has a global super admin of the tenant can get into the client's accounting system if they have full rights to their 365 email system. That's a big security gap. Their IT company shouldn't be in their financial system. Why would that be? I came up with the idea after talking to five different Microsoft people to just buy another tenant that they don't have access to and they said, "Oh, that works."
View full review »PL
reviewer1056471
Manager Global Identity & Access Management at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
SQL Server is expensive if you use the advanced SQL version. If you use the standard version, it's not expensive, because it's included in Windows, in Microsoft. It's very expensive if you use the advanced version. We're using both. For IBM, we're using the advanced version, but then we use the basic SQL Server for the other platforms.
You just pay for the SQL Server license. There's no additional cost as everything's already included.
View full review »BL
reviewer1389651
Certified Adjunct Faculty, School of Engineering and Computing at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
I, unfortunately, do not handle licensing, so I don't know what the costs are for the product.
View full review »JM
JasminaMarkovic
BI Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
For a brief period, approximately one year before 2018, I had experience working with the open-source version of SQL Server. During that time, I found SQL Server to be the preferred choice, in my opinion.
FR
Francisco Racionero
CEO Owner at ALESON ITC
In a standard package, you need to buy two core packs. If you need four core packs the price is around € 8,000. There are more options in the cloud where fees are around € 60 a month. The cost is scaled and if you're deploying in the cloud you need to buy a machine infrastructure as a service. We only sell the license across the cross solution provider (CSP) program. If you have less than 25 users, you can buy an SQL standard per server license where the cost is around €1,200 approximately.
We pay a yearly license to Microsoft. I can't speak of the exact cost, however.
View full review »MP
Marcelo Pissinati
IT Cybersecurity and Compliance Coordinator at Plaenge
The cost associated with SQL Servers is on the higher side.
View full review »This solution is moderately expensive.
View full review »The price could be less.
View full review »MA
Maurice Aelion
Senior DBA & IT Consultant at MA Consulting
While the price of the solution is comparatively cheaper, people are paying to Microsoft in any event for other things that they're using.
Although the licensing cost could be cheaper, this depends, as there is nobody who only uses the database with Microsoft. Every company has Windows, Office, Active Directory and all the security features of Microsoft. This means that, overall, when one buys these licenses together, he also gets the database. The focus is not on the price of the database, but what is actually being paid to Microsoft.
The licensing price could be better, more user-friendly. Things should be moved from the enterprise to the standard edition.
RN
reviewer1572765
Manager at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees
The enterprise-level license agreement is very complicated. It's complex, not only with SQL server but with a number of products.
View full review »We pay a yearly licensing fee.
View full review »AR
Abdelkader Raway
Works at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
I don't need a license for it as I will be migrating to Office 365.
View full review »AM
reviewer1635153
VP Global Information Technology at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
There is a need to pay for the license for SQL Server. We have an enterprise license, which we consider to be fine.
The product’s price depends on the specific server requirements.
View full review »TL
Tim Lenz
SQL Database Administrator at Aurora Mental Health Center
The pricing is pretty decent. It's less expensive than Oracle.
While the solution started out really reasonable, it's gotten a little bit more pricey, as Microsoft keeps changing how they want to license it.
Whether you're using it in the cloud or on-premise changes the costs involved. A lot of times it might be more cost-effective to do it in the cloud. Microsoft includes a lot of the licensing in the cloud.
This is a very cheap product.
View full review »TN
ThembaNhlapo
System engineer at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
I cannot comment on the price because I find that the organization already has a license when I arrived. I have not had a sneak peek at the price. When you join an organization, they tell you we are using the 2018 version and that someone purchased it. I don't know who purchased it, I'm not privy to that kind of information.
View full review »We are on an annual enterprise license for the solution and the cost of the license could be reduced.
View full review »RU
reviewer1524594
Senior Solutions Architect at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
The solution requires authorization in either the form of perpetual licensing or subscription-based licenses for two years. If a perpetual license version is purchased then customers have it to the end of life, whereas a subscription-based called server with Software Assurance, has to be renewed every two years.
The areas that need improvement are with regards to the commercial aspect of the solution, the licensing cost could be reduced in order to help customers to adopt it.
View full review »SM
Sanjeeb Mohanty
Global Head ICT (CITP & MIE) at The Aga Khan Academies
It comes with the bundle package that we have. We have Microsoft Volume Licensing, so we don't have to pay for it separately. It is a part of the package.
View full review »The cost isn't overly expensive. It's very reasonable. Our customers are happy with the price. It's in a good range.
View full review »Its price is fine. You have to buy the license and support.
View full review »This is an expensive product, especially when you need two servers, or for enterprise solutions. We pay approximately $12,000 USD per month for both the server and the license.
View full review »SA
Scott Albritton
Applications Business Intelligence Analyst at a aerospace/defense firm with 10,001+ employees
For the most part, what you see is what you get with Microsoft’s licensing website. I sat through many hours of negotiations with many database and application vendors. Some application vendors try negotiating a better deal based on their licensed volume, but only twice have I seen Microsoft cater to lower licensing and it was because they wanted to make long-term wins with the customer knowing they had the possibility of gaining market share.
That said, Microsoft is still usually cheaper than Oracle who will sometimes look cheaper to start with but add the possibility of higher long term rates. Asking for a discount can never hurt.
View full review »BL
Bjarne Lindquist
Owner at 2 Bit
The solution does come at a cost.
View full review »FZ
reviewer1641576
Principal Database And Cloud Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
It costs a lot.
View full review »DG
reviewer1001628
Information Systems Manager at a aerospace/defense firm with 51-200 employees
It is expensive, especially when you have open-source products that are just about as functional and they're free. They might want to consider re-evaluating their pricing.
We purchased it in retail. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of 9,000. There is just the standard licensing fee. If they migrate this product the way they're trying to do everything else, eventually, it is going to be subscription-based, which is going to suck, but that's the way the industry is going, so it is what it is.
View full review »You can pay an annual or monthly licensing fee in order to use the solution.
View full review »To scale the solution there are additional costs.
View full review »We pay a license fee, it could always be cheaper.
View full review »US
Uchechi Sylvanus
Team Lead, Process Improvement at Fidelity Bank Plc
We pay a monthly subscription fee.
View full review »PT
Paulo Toscano
Database Administration Team Leader at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
I don't know the exact prices because my focus is essentially technical and not on the bills. A few years ago, they changed the billing policy for the Enterprise Edition, and it became less attractive. But I believe they are still cheaper than Oracle. SQL Server isn't cheap, but it's not expensive either.
View full review »I rate the product’s pricing a six out of ten.
There is a license required to use the solution and I am satisfied.
View full review »AS
Amir Saudi
Business Intelligence Manager at a consumer goods company with 10,001+ employees
Licensing fees increase depending on size and performance. If you want higher performance, you should go for a different course.
View full review »SK
Santosh Kurakula
Group DWH and BI Senior Manager at Virgin Mobile Middle East and Africa
There is a license required for the use of SQL Server and we are on an annual subscription.
View full review »OK
OmidKoushki
Solution Architect at KIAN company
There is a license required for this solution. One of the problems is for smaller businesses to purchases a license because it is expensive for a lot of them to afford.
View full review »The usability of the free version is limited. They also have some guidelines on how to use the paid ones. You still have to check your IT requirements after purchasing it. We are using a licensed one right now, which has more functionality than the free version.
View full review »LA
Lional Angelo
Manager Digital Technologies at a real estate/law firm with 51-200 employees
SQL pricing is slightly high compared to where it was before. That said, compared to other products like Oracle, they are still cheap. It's not overly expensive in comparison to others.
The final price you can expect all depends on your requirements. A standard version of SQL is always cheaper than an enterprise. If you're going to go on a cluster, it's particularly expensive. However, when it comes to the value and what is provided, that is also important.
It all depends on what you need. I cannot just blindly say that it's expensive or cheap as it all depends on your requirement. Comparatively, SQL is cheaper than other products like Oracle. Oracle is really expensive compared to SQL.
View full review »The price of SQL Server could be reduced, the license is expensive. We have an annual subscription.
View full review »I am not aware of the cost because our clients take care of them, but I think there are enterprise licenses. If you go for Azure Cloud databases, then you just can pay as you go.
View full review »GS
Gheorghe SANDRU
Managing Partner at Bizz Advisers SRL
The price could always be lower.
View full review »RK
Ranjeet Kumar
Senior General Manager at Worly Plumbing Supply, Inc.
SQL Server is an expensive solution.
On a scale from 1 to 10, when one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a 9 out of 10.
IG
Irwin Gibson
Chief ICT Officer at Barbados Public Workers Cooperative Credit Union Ltd
I would rate the tool's pricing a six out of ten. It is not extremely cheap but also it's not the most expensive product.
View full review »There is a subscription that needs to be purchased to use the solution.
View full review »It is expensive in terms of licensing costs and pricing. If you want to scale SQL Server, it is very expensive.
We probably have to pay extra for technical support. We also have to pay for the license of Windows on which the SQL Server resides, which is an extra cost.
View full review »I can't speak to the pricing. I don't have any information on that.
It's my understanding that we pay for licensing on a yearly basis.
View full review »RV
reviewer1624716
2de Solution Engineer - storage & compute at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
We're paying too much for licensing at this time. They need to work on the pricing. They could be cheaper, however, it's also difficult to run the licenses in the right way.
We pay licensing fees on a yearly basis.
View full review »MS
reviewer1428423
Head of Technical Support at a real estate/law firm with 51-200 employees
There is a license required for servers and for the POS we use the free version. The free version allows you to have tables and a total database size of approximately 10 GB, which is enough for our requirements.
View full review »We do not currently pay a licensing fee in order to use this product.
View full review »DI
Dimitris Iracleous
Lead Technical Instructor at codehub
Our customers do pay license fees for the MS SQL Server but the Rabbit is free, as it is open-source software.
Some who pay for these prefer in-house, on-premises support, while others take a cloud-based approach.
I don't have any details on the licensing in terms of any details or costs. It's not an aspect of the solution I directly deal with.
View full review »MB
reviewer1494501
BI Developer at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
We're looking at alternative solutions because we think Microsoft's licensing costs have been expensive and multidimensional cubes have been overtaken by other technologies such as in-memory databases and products like Snowflake.
We're looking for a solution that allows us to pay by usage rather than pay by the number of users. We don't want to pay for hardware capacity that we rarely use. I'm looking at several products, including Snowflake, that bill by how much we use the product. I'm not sure if Microsoft is on board with that yet. I was also looking at Qlik — they do a commercial model that is paid by the amount of time. I think paying per usage is a rising trend at the moment.
View full review »ST
reviewer1022898
Director at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The cost is high and because it's an expensive product, we are in the process of moving towards open-source solutions.
NY
reviewer2265342
Consultant at a tech company with self employed
We've used it as a development tool, and it's very cheap as a development tool. Besides, someone else has paid for it for my use, so it's a question of whether the cost suits the end user. The solution has a good midrange price for the applications in which we've used it. Oracle's pricing would raise more eyebrows, but SQL Server's pricing has proven satisfactory for our market range.
View full review »HT
Hoang Ta
System Engineer at CMC CSI saigon
JJ
JohannesJoubert
Business Solutions Architect at a real estate/law firm with 501-1,000 employees
With recent releases, the Standard Edition (cheaper) SKU has some of the earlier version Enterprise features. SQL Express has some limitations.
The Azure Platform as a Service option remains relatively expensive, at least in South Africa, compared to on-premises, but it is worth exploring.
View full review »NS
Navee Srichaiyanont
IT manager at IRPC PCL
The licensing is reasonable. It's not too expensive. We are charged on a yearly basis, however, I don't know the exact amount we are charged. I'm not a part of the billing and payments department.
View full review »Do the research and get the correct licensing model for your given purpose. A lot of people gravitate toward the Open Source databases because they don't have an upfront cost.
I find that what you don't pay upfront is what you have to invest in development and maintenance time on implementation. On far too many occasions, I have spent weeks writing code for features that SQL Server already has built in.
Either pay for the licensing cost or pay multiple times that for the labor involved in creating features, from scratch, that are native to products like SQL Server and Oracle.
View full review »EO
Edgar Orare
Senior Systems Engineer at Dimension Data
You need to pay for the license. It most probably has per-core licensing.
View full review »Some of the licensing are very expensive, such as the Enterprise license.
The Express version is free. There are a lot of licensing options.
View full review »SQL Server has the best licensing price.
View full review »For licensing, we pay yearly. The licensing is very expensive, and it should be cheaper.
View full review »AL
reviewer1652016
Senior Service Architect at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
We didn't pay anything for it as it was provided for our client by the provider. I cannot say about the enterprise licenses or anything. When we began the work and we needed it for our own machines, I prefer the solutions which are available, of course, as open-source or are free. And Microsoft had this express version of their database which we can utilize as well. In that sense, it is okay, however, of course, in general, I don't know.
View full review »MF
Mohamed_Farouk
Information Technology Manager at OrchidaSoft
Some of our clients purchase the license and others do not; they use Express SQL Server.
View full review »BM
Biswajit Mohanty
Senior Manager - RPA & Transition at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
We have an organizational license.
View full review »The solution is very affordable. It can be used free of charge.
There are payment packages for SQL based on dollars for any level of additions. They offer enterprise, express, and production additions that are available as well as community additions and student additions, which are completely free.
View full review »MN
Michael Ndwiga
IT Officer at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
Although it comes with a cost, using the most recent version is highly advisable, since it would guarantee a measure of bug fixes and provide some stability. The pricing is expensive, though, this being the sole issue.
We chose not to make use of support, as this would have incurred a licensing fee.
JM
reviewer1715886
SQL Server Senior Architect at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
There is a license to use this solution. However, the model is not easy to understand. There is a guide you have to read about all the information on how it works. If you read this documentation, you can understand how it works. We are paying for our SQL Servers by CPU cores with an enterprise license.
View full review »MO
reviewer1613988
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
The enterprise version of the solution is very expensive and most companies would likely find that they wouldn't be able to afford it.
View full review »YT
reviewer1478394
Information Security Manager at a financial services firm with 501-1,000 employees
I believe the licensing to be on an annual basis. In 2019 we purchased a three year license.
FA
Florent ADODO
IT Assistant at Hotel 2 Fevrier
The licensing involves a one-time fee.
View full review »HP
hugodpereira
Computer engineering student at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
You do need to pay for a license in order to use the product.
View full review »KG
reviewer1488372
Associate Manager at a consultancy with 501-1,000 employees
There are no annual licensing fees, you pay when you use the product.
HV
Helder Valente
Infrastructure and Networks at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
We purchased our license and the pricing is fine for us.
View full review »SP
SashisekharPanda
General Manager/MVP at Yotta Infrastructure Solutions LLP
SQL Server is a cost-effective solution for a small database.
View full review »НЕ
Недашковский Евгений
Senior SQL DBA at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
This is a downside of enterprise Microsoft products. Currently, almost all of my machines are in Azure and I think it is the best way of licensing now (VM+software).
View full review »BG
Gh0ce
Systems Analyst/DBA at Vecima Networks
Pricing and licensing is based on a per core and/or per-processor license. Try to keep these low, but keep it above four. (Four is the minimum number of cores.) If you are working mostly with OLTP, make sure your single thread CPU speeds are high.
View full review »SA
Albeez
IT Director at DAR AL ARKAN
When comparing the Standard Edition to the Enterprise, it is expensive but the performance and features meet with the ROI and TCO. Thus, overall, it minimizes the redundant servers, multiple backup copies, the risk of non-availability of the latest copy at the disaster recovery.
View full review »We are on a monthly subscription and the price could improve. However, the price has worked out well in some deployments. The problem is you never know what kind of services have been installed and you have to be in touch with many people, such as which servers are active or which are not. I did face a couple of issues in terms of subscriptions and the pricing model. They have improved over time.
View full review »EM
reviewer1703928
Enterprise Solutions Architect at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
It requires the purchase of a license. Our company's products all have licenses.
View full review »ID
Irad Dukad
IT Manager at ducart
The licensing is on an annual basis.
View full review »AM
reviewer1359642
Sr. DBA/Developer at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
I'm not the person that deals with billing and payments, so I don't know what the cost of the solution is, or if it is monthly or yearly billing.
View full review »My advice is quite straightforward. If you know the number of users who really and truly need access to the Server then it is a no-brainer. If you do not know, then get the basic package and minimum licenses and start from there. Needless to say, users can develop/use data structures outside and then deploy onto the Server.
View full review »PC
Prajith Chowthee
Independent Consultant at Unaikui
You receive other products, like free usage, depending on the number of product shares.
IH
reviewer1159494
Advisory Software Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Synapse is a bit costly. If I compare it with different databases, I think it's a reasonable price. If I'm talking about licensing of the Oracle, it seems that normal organizations have it and some smaller organizations can also afford it, which is a good thing.
View full review »KJ
reviewer1233759
Deputy Manager at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis.
View full review »PR
reviewer1569966
Technical Specialist at a media company with 10,001+ employees
In terms of pricing, I just downloaded it and started using it. I don't have a lot of information on licensing. I can't speak to the costs.
SJ
reviewer1407519
Chief Technology Officer & Vice President, Delivery at a recruiting/HR firm with 1-10 employees
It is expensive.
View full review »There is a charge for this product if you are using it in production. For development, there is no cost. The pricing from Microsoft is quite expensive compared to Oracle.
View full review »MM
reviewer1522923
Head of IT, CTO at a insurance company with 51-200 employees
It's cheaper than Oracle.
I am fine with the pricing, but pricing is an area that can always be improved.
We are Microsoft D-level partners. Pricing is not an issue for us, because of the outreach of our mother company.
View full review »MS
Mike Sax
Vice President, Product Engineering at Logitix
The enterprise version of the solution needs to be priced more competitively.
We have a couple of models. We lease through Azure monthly, which is for the Standard version. We have had to purchase the Enterprise version to the tune of a few hundred thousand dollars, which is just ridiculous.
On top of that, there aren't really any other knock-on costs.
View full review »MA
MartinAnderson
Owner at BNS
The price could be cheaper.
View full review »RL
Rmegio Lawag
Technical Department Manager at Direcbusiness Technologies, Inc.
We didn't have any licensing costs for SQL Server.
View full review »For Turkey, the licensing costs are too high. Previously, independent software vendors like us would buy the license from Microsoft and resell to our customers.
For vendors it was half the retail price, but that's no longer possible. Sometimes enterprise companies buying in bulk can get licenses at a better price, but we don't have that and it's impractical for us to sell this solution.
VA
reviewer1162596
Data Analyst at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
The price of SQL Server is great. In my company, SQL Server is part of the Microsoft Suite, we don't have to pay for any additional license costs, it's quite cost-effective for us.
View full review »Pricing for this product is very reasonable.
View full review »FN
Florent NOPOUDEM
Senior Database Administrator at ITGStore
I am only a technician and responsible for the installation, so I cannot comment on the licensing, although there are others in my company who are better qualified to do so.
SR
reviewer1653840
Director -Data Architecture and Engineering
If you are looking for a small setup and do not want an open-source solution or invest too much money in your database then SQL Server is a very good choice.
View full review »MC
reviewer1642500
Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
There is no licensing cost for SQL Server.
View full review »MP
Mohammed-Pasha
CEO at SkyNet
Pricing is a bit on the higher side. It could be reduced.
View full review »Unfortunately, SQL Server licensing is a very complex topic. I advise people to consult with a licensing expert.
View full review »PN
Paul Nockolds
Data Analyst at a media company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Not my area.
View full review »I don’t concentrate on this issue, but rather the necessary features and the version required.
View full review »TU
TonderayiUsada
Managing Director at D3
The price of SQL Server could be better in the African market. The licensing model needs to be improved, it is confusing.
View full review »IC
reviewer1646865
ICT Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The solution can get expensive. You do need to pay a licensing fee in order to use it. I can't speak to the exact costs. There are different subscription types and the subscription a company needs depends on the deployment they have in mind.
View full review »OB
Ossama Benaziz
Operations Director at ALTERSIS Performance
Customers do have to pay to use the solution. They tend to pay on a yearly basis.
View full review »DB
reviewer1473555
Sr Tech Business Analyst, Group Data Projects & Ventures at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
While there are costs involved in using the product, I'm not a part of the billing or payments team. I can't speak to how much the solution costs or how much our organization pays. I do not know if it's monthly or yearly and how long our contract is for, if we have one.
View full review »No issues with pricing and licensing for SS 2016 Dev Ed, as it is free of charge, as mentioned above, the thorny issue with pricing and licensing is with customers. We do our best to design DW solutions that can cover reqs from our customers within the capabilities of SS 2016 Standard Ed.
View full review »It’s okay as compared to the features that it has.
View full review »We have no issues with pricing and licensing for SQL Server 2016 Developer Edition, as it is free of charge. The thorny issue is with pricing and licensing with customers.
We do our best to design data warehouse solutions that can cover requirements from our customers within the capabilities of SQL Server 2016 Standard Edition.
View full review »SB
Sipho Ngubonde
Admin at IEC (Electoral Commission of South Africa)
Subscriptions are available on a yearly basis.
View full review »MK
Mazen Kassem
Senior Digital Services Engineer at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Any kind of information related to costs or licensing is beyond my scope. I don't deal with that aspect of the solution. I do not know if licensing is paid monthly or yearly.
View full review »SW
Stephan Warreyn
GF at Innopact GmbH
The solution is expensive. The pricing is different and not really standardized. If you're using it on Azure you pay on your workloads. If you have a separate dedicated instance, you pay for the course. It's different, according to the situation, however, in either case, it's expensive.
View full review »KV
Karel Van Der Walt
Data Architect at ACPAS Loan Management Software
You do need to pay for licensing in order to use the solution. It is a little bit expensive, however, it's not the most expensive option on the market. It's cheaper than the competition, however, as I mentioned, it's still pretty pricey.
View full review »KG
reviewer1413750
Lead Data Architect at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Pricing is reasonable for small organizations, but the scaling increases the price.
For larger organizations that would be using enterprise solutions, it contains some hidden costs.
View full review »PS
reviewer1030020
Programmer Analyst at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
It's good.
View full review »磊刘
Lei Liu
DBA,data architectuire at LG CNS Co.
Migration local database into cloud
View full review »It has the easiest licensing.
View full review »HG
reviewer1595568
Technical Content Writer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
We pay a yearly subscription fee.
View full review »MO
Manjunatha OK
Marketo Consultant at Webtech software servies
There is a license required for this solution and we pay monthly. The price is reasonable compared to other solutions.
View full review »AK
reviewer977976
System Architect, SCRUM Product Owner at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
The price of the solution is fine.
View full review »SF
Stefano Festa
CEO at netison
We are a reseller of Microsoft. We also signed the SPLA agreement, which stands for Services Provider License Agreement. So we are able to use Microsoft products in our data center in order to provide cloud services to our customers.
View full review »I am not a direct purchaser, so I don’t know.
View full review »DK
reviewer1314546
Senior Systems Engineer at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees
Its licensing is yearly. There are no additional costs. There is only the subscription license.
View full review »SY
cto267069
CTO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The licensing is a bit expensive. We'd like them to be more flexible in terms of costs.
We pay a yearly licensing fee.
View full review »PS
reviewer1643577
Project Manager at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
For smaller companies, they find this solution expensive.
View full review »YA
reviewer1519596
Chief of Information Technology at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
The price of the solution could be reduced, it is expensive.
View full review »RS
reviewer1309482
Business Analytics Manager at a transportation company with 201-500 employees
The solution doesn't cost as much as Oracle. Oracle is more expensive. That's always been the complaint with Oracle. They're very good, however, they're the most expensive out there and that's how they're losing business right now. Their big jump in the cloud happened way too late in the game, and everybody just jumped on the cloud due to high costs. If you were to compare pricing, SQL Server is much cheaper.
View full review »The price has been going higher and higher. The market is quite price sensitive.
View full review »It is not very expensive and is suitable for an international company, like what I am working with. Free licenses are suitable for small companies, too.
View full review »The price is pretty high, buy it's worth getting the license.
View full review »EK
reviewer1601793
Sr Lead Data & Information Architect at a pharma/biotech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
We pay per second of usage, but there are different offerings of the license.
View full review »DS
reviewer1430925
Technical Director at a security firm with 51-200 employees
We did a one-time payment. Its price, in general, can be reduced.
EN
reviewer1564890
Head of Data Analytics at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
This is a very affordable solution, which is why it's used so widely in the market. I think one of the strongest points of SQL Server is the reasonable cost.
View full review »RS
Rahul Kumar Singh
Software Developer at OATI
The setup cost is high, but it will return every penny.
View full review »DM
DenisMunger
Chief of Engineering at a comms service provider with 11-50 employees
A licence might be worth the price to simplify management and speed up searches.
View full review »JI
reviewer1707912
System Analyst and Team Lead at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
SQL Server is under a license from Microsoft.
View full review »OY
reviewer1503438
Specialist Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
I cannot answer that question concerning pricing and licensing because I'm just a technical staff member. However, we are just a customer of Microsoft and some of our clients say SQL Server is very high in price.
View full review »In my point of view, the MS SQL is the most inexpensive database commercial solution. If do you need to build a consistent ERP for example, with a medium to hard capability, and don't have much budget to spend it, this is your solution.
View full review »FK
Faruk Kutlu
Managing Partner at Veribir Ltd
For our purpose, we are not required to have a license for what we are using it for.
View full review »There is a license required for this solution.
View full review »CM
reviewer1489908
Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The solution could be priced more competitively. We'd, of course, like it to be lower. Microsoft can sometimes be expensive.
Each customer needs their own license.
View full review »IF
reviewer1593270
CEO at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The solution is on a pay-per-use pricing model.
View full review »according you need
View full review »Go for SQL and compare it with pricing and stability with other Microsoft products.
View full review »It's average to purchase.
View full review »WL
reviewer1484775
Senior Programmer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
The solution certainly comes at a cost, however, for me, it's an acceptable cost. I find it acceptable due to the fact that it would be free if I use MySQL on-premise, however, then it would be hard to hire people to maintain it. It's a give and take. That said, the license cost is very very high. I'm afraid if I use it on a larger scale it will cost a lot.
View full review »The Enterprise license includes features that enrich the product experience as well as performance and scalability options. Choose this over the standard license where possible.
View full review »SP
reviewer1614828
Chief Information Officer at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
The price of the solution could be cheaper.
View full review »MG
reviewer1546989
CEO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
It is something we have been using for a lot of years. If we're paying, it should be reasonable.
View full review »Plan ahead, and make sure do not pay for something you are not going to fully use.
View full review »
Impossible to say. We have about hundred SQL servers.
View full review »
SA
reviewer1680246
Chief Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
There is an annual license and it is priced reasonably.
View full review »Chose your database based on traffic type and desired functionality not on initial cost.
View full review »CL
reviewer1410678
Data Analyst at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Buyer's Guide
SQL Server
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about SQL Server. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.