This means there are a wide array of programming options available even in the Standard edition. ProgrammabilityĪlmost all of the available programmability features of the SQL Server 2016 Enterprise edition are available in the Standard edition with the exception of advanced R integration and R server (standalone). SQL Server 2016 Standard and Enterprise editions provide the exact same development tools which is a strong benefit either way. These features are: parallel indexed operations, automatic use of indexed view by query optimizer, parallel consistency check and SQL Server Utility Control Point. Standard Edition possesses many of the same RDBMS manageability features, though there are some which are not included that are available in the Enterprise edition. The management tools available in the Enterprise edition are exactly the same within the Standard edition. The Standard edition also comes with many of the same replication features as that of the Enterprise edition, the exceptions being: Oracle publishing, peer-to-peer transactional replication, and transactional replication updateable subscription. SQL Server 2016 Standard edition strongly mirrors RDBMS security from that of the Enterprise edition except for transparent database encryption and extensible Key management. RDBMS Performance and ScalabilityĪlmost all of the RDBMS performance and scalability features are available in both Enterprise and Standard editions with the exceptions being: resource governor, partition table parallelism, NUMA aware and large page memory and buffer array allocation, and I/O resource governor. There are a number of features that are not available in the Standard edition, some of the most important being the lack of always-on availability groups, online page and file restore, online indexing, online schema change, fast recovery, mirrored backups, and hot add memory and CPU. RDBMS High AvailabilityĬomparing RDBMS high availability between the two editions, users will find that there is plenty of overlap available when it comes to features. But, it is also an important to realize that both Standard and Enterprise editions have a maximum relational database size of 524 PB. Other components may also be limited in the Standard version so it’s important to check for those limitations. It is most important to remember that Standard edition is limited to the lesser of four sockets for 24 cores when it comes to the database engine, analysis services or reporting services. However, the Standard edition has a variety of memory limitations which must be considered when designing database applications. When it comes to scale limits, SQL Server 2016 Enterprise edition provides either unlimited memory or up to operating system limits. Here are some highlights when to consider among the many options and features of SQL Server 2016 when choosing an edition: Scale Limits Digging further into the details can provide an assessment which enables Microsoft customers to make the best-informed decision for both immediate and long-term needs. Since the SQL Server 2016 database engine is designed for far faster performance, the needs of an organization fall into the specifics designed into each edition. This is where a careful examination of all the features coupled with licensing can save some companies cost, while others may quickly find they need far more database computing power. However, there are those customers who may need to further examine SQL Server 2016 features in order to effectively make choices between the two editions. The Standard edition is a highly effective version for business customers looking for budget relief. This edition is intended to provide smaller organizations with all the necessary tools and features at a lower cost and less need for IT staff. Meanwhile, the Standard edition of SQL Server 2016 offers many of the same features with limitations. The Enterprise edition is well worth the higher licensing cost for large enterprises because of how much it offers. The Enterprise edition provides high end data-center availability, incredible performance, a wide array of business intelligence, unlimited virtualization and user access to data reporting. Let’s take a look at the main differences between the two editions regarding these available options.įirst, it is important to understand the intentions behind the two different editions. However, when considering the two main editions, Standard and Enterprise, organizations must account for a long list of features before choosing between them. When Microsoft released SQL Server 2016 there were a number of changes and improvements to the flagship database.