SQL Server 2025 Kept Per Core. The Floor Is Four.
You opened a 2022 versus 2025 comparison URL. Keep it. SQL Server 2025 is the current commercial version. SQL Server 2022 is still what a lot of estates run. They are not the same page.
The Product Terms for SQL Server (EA/EAS/SCE) list SQL Server 2025, date available 11/25. Prior version is SQL Server 2022 (11/22). Microsoft announced general availability on 18 November 2025. New version rights still sit on Software Assurance or a subscription.
The 2022 metric stays at the SQL Server 2022 licensing guide. The 2025 metric stays at the SQL Server 2025 licensing guide. Lineage stays at the history of Microsoft SQL Server. This URL is the delta: what Microsoft actually changed, and what it did not.
That’s the problem.
A feature matrix is not a license position. An invented 2-core list price is not a position. The 16-core-per-server floor is a Windows Server rule. Import it onto SQL and you over-license a one-socket box. Mix 2022 Standard’s 24-core cap into a 2025 quote and you brief the wrong edition limit.
Do not invent a list price. Your number is the quote, the MLS, or the CSP subscription in front of you.
What did not flip
Microsoft’s SQL Server 2025 licensing guidance is written for 2025. The models are the same ones the SQL Server 2022 Licensing guide (PDF still served by Microsoft, Last-Modified 28 January 2025) taught for 2022.
| Rule | 2022 | 2025 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per Core (Enterprise and Standard) | Yes | Yes | 2025 guidance; Product Terms |
| Server + CAL (Standard, new server licenses) | Yes | Yes. Not with pay-as-you-go. | 2025 guidance |
| Core SKUs sold as 2-packs | Yes | Yes | Product Terms “2-packs of Core Licenses” |
| Physical-core floor | 4 core licenses per physical processor | 4 core licenses per physical processor | 2025 guidance; Product Terms Per Core |
| License a VM under Per Core | SA or subscription only (from 2022) | SA or subscription only | 2025 guidance; Server Virtualization guidance; Product Terms |
| VM floor | 4 core licenses per virtual OSE, plus hardware-thread mapping | Same | 2025 guidance |
| Unlimited virtualization | Enterprise cores covering all physical cores, with SA or subscription | Same | Product Terms; Learn editions footnote |
| Standard Per Core, no SA | Instances only in the physical OSE | Same | 2025 guidance summary table |
| Fail-over with SA or subscription | One passive HA, one passive DR, one passive DR in Azure | Same split | Product Terms; 2025 guidance |
| Components of one license stay together | Yes | Yes | 2025 guidance appendix |
Per Core: assign core licenses to the server or (with SA or subscription) to the virtual OSE. No CALs. Unlimited users and devices.
Server + CAL: one Standard server license for one instance in one physical or virtual OSE. Stack server licenses on a device if you need more OSEs. A User CAL or Device CAL for each user or device that accesses SQL Server or any licensed component, including indirect access. Multiplexing does not cut the CAL count.
Enterprise Server/CAL is a residual on both versions. Product Terms: existing customers may renew SA on those server licenses; new Server licenses under that model are no longer available.
Four cores per processor. Not sixteen per server.
When you license the physical box, you license all physical cores on the server. Software partitioning does not shrink that count unless you are licensing individual VMs (and that VM path needs SA or subscription).
Floor: four core licenses per physical processor. Not four per server. Not sixteen per server. 2025 licensing guidance: “a minimum of four Licenses per Physical Processor.” Core-based licensing models use the same SQL floor, and they put the 8-per-processor / 16-per-server floor on Windows Server, not on SQL.
Worked shapes:
- One socket, four cores: four SQL core licenses (one 2-pack).
- One socket, two cores: still four SQL core licenses.
- Two sockets, eight cores each: 16 SQL core licenses (eight 2-packs). That 16 is 2 times 8. It is not a SQL server minimum.
- A two-socket Windows Server box with the same chips still hits the Windows 16-core-per-server floor. Do not copy that floor onto the SQL line.
Without SA or a subscription:
- Enterprise: any number of instances across physical or virtual OSEs, up to the number of assigned core licenses. Sixteen Enterprise cores on the host: up to 16 OSEs. A container counts as a virtual OSE.
- Standard: any number of instances, only in the physical OSE on that server. You cannot license Standard by VM without SA or a subscription.
With SA or a subscription, Enterprise on a fully licensed physical server gets unlimited OSEs. That grant is not in the base Enterprise license. The Learn 2025 editions page footnotes unlimited virtualization to Software Assurance, same as 2022.
Do not brief “Standard includes two VMs per licensed host.” That sentence is Windows Server Standard. It is not SQL.
The VM rule did not reverse
Beginning with SQL Server 2022, licensing an individual virtual OSE under Per Core is only for subscription licenses or licenses with active Software Assurance. The 2022 guide, the Server Virtualization licensing guidance, and current Product Terms all state it. SQL Server 2025 did not reverse it.
How to count a VM (both versions):
- Count virtual cores allocated to that virtual OSE.
- If a virtual core maps to more than one hardware thread, license each hardware thread it maps to.
- Minimum four core licenses per VM.
- Sold in 2-packs.
Standard customers under Per Core in a virtualized environment license by VM only. They do not get “license the physical host and run N Standard VMs” the way Windows Server Datacenter works. Do not mix Windows Server rights into SQL.
Server + CAL on a VM: one Standard server license per virtual OSE, plus CALs. SA is not required to run Standard in a VM under Server+CAL. SA or subscription is what lets you move that licensed virtual OSE across servers in the same farm as often as you need.
What 2025 actually changed
These are the licensing and edition deltas that move a true-up. They are not a 6 percent list-price story.
| Topic | SQL Server 2022 | SQL Server 2025 | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current in Product Terms | Prior version (11/22) | Current, date available 11/25 | 2022 paper with active SA can step to 2025. Perpetual 2022 without SA stays 2022. |
| Web edition | Available (SPLA / hosting). Learn still documents Web. | Not available. 2022 Web may remain under SPLA. Microsoft: 2022 is the last Web version, supported until January 2033. On-prem path named is Standard. | A 2025 “Web” line on a quote is a fiction. |
| Standard compute (one instance) | Lesser of 4 sockets or 24 cores. Buffer pool 128 GB. | Lesser of 4 sockets or 32 cores. Buffer pool 256 GB. Guidance: 32 licensed cores. | Product limit, not a purchase minimum. Do not treat 24 or 32 as a 16-core buy floor. |
| Resource Governor | Enterprise | Standard and Enterprise (same functionality) | A 2022 reason to buy Enterprise may be gone on 2025 Standard. |
| Power BI Report Server | Enterprise Edition Core with active SA. Right expires when SA expires. | Standard or Enterprise, even without SA. Core licenses assigned, minimum four per OSE. Power BI Pro User SL to publish shared Power BI reports. | Do not teach the 2025 grant as a 2022 grant. |
| On-prem reporting | SSRS ships with 2022. SSRS 2022 supported through 11 January 2033. | No new SSRS. Reporting Services consolidation: PBIRS is the 2025 default. Existing RDL runs on PBIRS. | Catalog host can stay a later Database Engine. The reporting SKU is PBIRS. |
| Developer | One Developer edition, Enterprise features, non-production | Enterprise Developer and Standard Developer, each matching its paid edition, non-production | Staging a Standard estate on Enterprise Developer is a feature lie. |
| Express | 10 GB database. Express with Advanced Services is a separate SKU. | 50 GB. Advanced Services folded into Express. | Still not a production enterprise license. |
| DQS / MDS | Components of 2022 | Discontinued in 2025. Supported on 2022 and earlier. | A 2025 upgrade drops those binaries. |
| Azure Synapse Link | 2022 Azure-connected feature | Discontinued. Microsoft points at Mirroring in Fabric. | Do not brief Synapse Link as a 2025 right. |
| Purview access policies | 2022 Azure-connected feature | Discontinued. Fixed server roles instead. | Identity/governance on 2025 is a different grant. |
What’s new in SQL Server 2025 and the GA Product Changes section are the feature file. Learn 2025 editions versus Learn 2022 editions is the scale file. Product Terms are the grant file. Do not flatten them.
Native vector types, vector functions, and related AI features are listed Yes for Enterprise, Standard, and Express on the 2025 editions page. They are not an Enterprise exclusive. They do not change how you count cores.
Power BI Report Server is the 2025 reporting grant
Product Terms “Use of Power BI Report Server”:
- SQL Server 2025: run PBIRS on the licensed server, on an allowed fail-over OSE, or in Azure, on Standard or Enterprise Edition Core licenses, even without active SA. Cores equal the SQL cores assigned, minimum four per OSE (or four per Azure virtual core mapping).
- Versions prior to 2025: Enterprise Edition Core with active SA only. The right expires when SA expires.
The Reporting Services consolidation FAQ matches that split. SSRS 2022 keeps security updates through 11 January 2033. There is no SSRS 2025. A 2022 Standard box without SA does not pick up 2025 PBIRS rights because a blog post shipped.
A Power BI Pro User SL is required to publish shared Power BI reports using Power BI Report Server. That sentence is in Product Terms. It did not go away.
Failover is still three passive replicas
Unchanged across 2022 and 2025. Product Terms “SQL Server – Fail-over Rights”, matching current licensing guidance:
For each licensed OSE with SA or a subscription you may run:
- One passive fail-over replica for high availability in a separate OSE.
- One passive fail-over replica for disaster recovery in a separate OSE.
- One passive fail-over replica for disaster recovery on Microsoft Azure.
Passive means the replica is not serving SQL Server data to clients or running active SQL Server workloads. The license count that would be required for the replica must not exceed the primary. These rights require SA on the licensed server and on CALs if any. They do not apply when you deploy under License Mobility through SA.
Licenses without SA or non-subscription licenses do not include those DR/HA replica rights, including fail-over clusters. Do not teach a free Always On secondary on perpetual cores with lapsed SA.
What SA (or a subscription) still decides
The bit that decides a 2022-to-2025 conversation is whether SA or a subscription sits on the paper, not whether the binaries say 2025.
| Benefit | 2022 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| New version rights | 2022 paper with SA can step to 2025 | Current version in Product Terms |
| Option to license by virtual machine | Yes (from 2022) | Yes |
| Unlimited virtualization | Enterprise, per core, all physical cores, SA or subscription | Same |
| Unlimited containers | Std or Enterprise, per core, when licensing by virtual OSE | Same |
| Fail-over HA / DR / DR in Azure | Three passive replicas | Same |
| Azure Hybrid Benefit | SA or subscription. Coverage ratios are in Product Terms. | Same rule. Do not invent 65 percent. |
| Flexible Virtualization Benefit | Authorized Outsourcers, shared or dedicated, not Listed Providers | Same |
| License Mobility through SA | Authorized License Mobility Partner shared servers. SA only. No unlimited virt or unlimited containers under License Mobility. Not PDW. | 2025 guidance: “Available with Software Assurance only” |
| Power BI Report Server | Enterprise Core with active SA | Standard or Enterprise, even without SA |
Flexible Virtualization Benefit still requires SA or subscription, and you still license SQL by virtual machine (four-core floor) on the outsourcer. Listed Provider clouds are a different file.
Azure Hybrid Benefit coverage is edition- and service-specific. The 2025 guidance appendix is explicit: 16 Enterprise cores are not 16 Standard cores on Azure. Read the Product Terms table. Do not paste a percent saving.
Components, containers, and what a 2025 upgrade drops
Database Engine, Analysis Services, Integration Services, Reporting Services: one SQL Server license. If DB runs in one OSE and RS in another, both OSEs need a full license. Current guidance repeats it.
Product Terms “Use of SQL Server with Container Technology”: a container is an OSE. Four-core minimum. SA or subscription to license by virtual OSE. Unlimited containers (Std or Enterprise, per core, licensing by virtual OSE) is an SA/subscription grant inside that licensed virtual OSE. It is not unlimited containers on a bare host with no SA.
DQS and MDS are 2022 components. They are discontinued in 2025. Do not count them as 2025 use rights. Synapse Link is the same story. If those binaries are why the estate is on SQL, the upgrade is a product decision before it is a core count.
What to have this week
Do this before the next true-up, EA amendment, or CSP quote. Produce a SQL pack, not a pasted feature table and not an invented price list.
- Every instance, edition, version, OSE type. Physical, VM, or container. 2022 versus 2025 called out. Developer, Express, and leftover Web called out, not mixed into production.
- Cores the way Microsoft counts them. Physical cores by processor with the four-core floor, or vCores per VM with the four-core floor and thread mapping. One owner of the number. Infrastructure Mapper is the topology file. Do not import the Windows 16-core-per-server floor.
- Whether SA or a subscription sits on those licenses. That single bit decides VM licensing, unlimited virt, failover replicas, Azure Hybrid Benefit, a 2025 upgrade right, and (on 2022 paper) Power BI Report Server.
- CALs if any Standard Server+CAL paper exists. Users, devices, multiplexing.
- What you own versus what you deployed. Microsoft Entitlements Manager is the MLS / entitlement side. Microsoft Deployment Manager is the SQL, Windows Server, and M365 requirement.
Can a non-specialist brief the CIO in fifteen minutes from the pack you have today? If the answer is “we need sixteen SQL cores per server” or “Standard includes two VMs” or “2025 is nine percent more per 2-pack”, you do not have a SQL position.
Picture your procurement director, sixty days out. Finance has this comparison URL bookmarked. The quote walking in may already say 2025. Neither document is the estate. The number is cores after the four-per-processor floor, edition actually installed, version actually running, and whether SA is on the paper.
The decision layer, not another SQL inventory
You already have MAP, SCCM, or a CMDB full of SQL services. The gap is not another discovery export. The gap is turning that estate into a metric: 2022 versus 2025, edition, OSE type, cores Microsoft will count, SA yes or no, CAL population if Server+CAL. LICENSEWARE sits on the inventory and ITSM tools you already run. It is not a rip-and-replace SAM suite. It is a decision layer: what matters, why it matters now, what should happen next. MDM is the deployment file. MEM is the entitlement file. LCM is the renewal file.
If you are heading into a SQL true-up or a 2022-to-2025 conversation and your current tools still need three weeks to separate VMs that need SA from hosts that do not, book an Audit Readiness Review. You can also start on the free plan and run the analysis on your own data.
Do not let the vendor frame this as “just buy 2025 Enterprise cores, unlimited virt is included, here is the list price.” Do not let your own side frame it as a 16-core-per-server Windows rule, or as 2025 Power BI Report Server rights on a 2022 Standard box without SA. The right question is: which version, which edition, how many cores after the four-per-processor floor, is this a VM that needs SA, and what does the paper actually grant. That is a data question, not a sales question.
The vendor will walk in with a number. The only question is whether you have yours first: current, defensible, and tied to the contract in front of you.
Sources
- SQL Server 2025 licensing guidance (models, 4-core floor, VM licensing needs SA/subscription, PBIRS, Web not in 2025, AHB appendix): https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/guidance/SQL
- Product Terms, SQL Server, EA/EAS/SCE (2025 availability 11/25; prior version 2022 11/22; Per Core; fail-over; PBIRS; unlimited virt/containers): https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/terms/productoffering/SQLServer/EAEAS
- SQL Server licensing resources (editions × models table, 2-core packs): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/product-licensing/sql-server
- SQL Server 2022 Licensing guide PDF (Microsoft, still served; Last-Modified 28 Jan 2025): https://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/d/93d32de6-f268-45ed-ba25-2f9a6756b6af/SQL_Server_2022_Licensing_guide.pdf
- Editions and supported features of SQL Server 2025 (32-core Standard, 256 GB, Resource Governor, AI table, unlimited virt footnote): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/editions-and-components-of-sql-server-2025
- Editions and supported features of SQL Server 2022 (24-core Standard, 128 GB, Web edition, unlimited virt footnote): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/editions-and-components-of-sql-server-2022
- What’s new in SQL Server 2025 (Standard 32/256, Web discontinued, Developer split, DQS/MDS/Synapse Link/Purview, Express 50 GB): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/what-s-new-in-sql-server-2025
- SQL Server 2025 generally available (Product Changes: Web last in 2022, support until January 2033, PBIRS, Standard Developer): https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/sqlserver/sql-server-2025-is-now-generally-available/4470570
- Reporting Services consolidation FAQ (SSRS 2022 through 11 Jan 2033; PBIRS is the 2025 path; 2022 PBIRS still Ent+SA): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/reporting-services/reporting-services-consolidation-faq
- Compute capacity limits (Standard 32 cores in 2025, 24 in 2022 and earlier): https://aka.ms/sqlcapacitylimits
- Core-based licensing models (SQL 4-per-processor vs Windows 8/16; VM licensing needs SA from 2022): https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/guidance/Core-based-licensing-models
- Server virtualization licensing guidance (SQL 2022 VM rule carried forward): https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/guidance/Server_Virtualization
- Flexible Virtualization Benefit (Authorized Outsourcers, SQL still licensed by VM): https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/guidance/Flexible-Virtualization-Benefit
