SQL Server 2022 Licensing: Per Core, Server + CAL and VMs

SQL Server 2022 is licensed two ways. Per Core, for Enterprise or Standard: license every physical core, at least four per processor, or, with Software Assurance or a subscription, the virtual cores of each VM, at least four per VM. Server + CAL, for Standard only: one server license per instance, in a physical or a virtual machine, plus a CAL for every user or device. Microsoft lists Enterprise at $15,123 and Standard at $3,945 per 2-core pack, and Standard Server + CAL at $989 per server plus $230 per CAL, the same prices as SQL Server 2025. Mainstream support ends in January 2028 and extended support in January 2033.

Since SQL Server 2025 shipped, 2022 is the prior version: the Product Terms for SQL Server list SQL Server 2025 as current (available 11/25) and SQL Server 2022 as the prior version (11/22). This guide is for estates still running 2022: editions and limits, the two models, VMs, fail-over, Software Assurance, Azure Arc, Azure Hybrid Benefit, buying 2022 today and when to move. The full 2025 rules are in the SQL Server 2025 licensing guide, prices side by side and what changed in the SQL Server 2022 vs 2025 comparison, every release with its support dates in SQL Server versions and support dates, and the two paid editions feature by feature in SQL Server Standard vs Enterprise.

SQL Server 2022 licensing at a glance

Sources for the table: the SQL Server 2022 licensing guide (PDF), which Microsoft still serves and its Azure Arc documentation still links, the Product Terms, the SQL Server 2022 editions page and the SQL Server 2022 lifecycle page.

SQL Server 2022 list prices

Microsoft’s SQL Server 2022 pricing page lists these open no-level estimated retail prices in US dollars. Every line matches the 2025 pricing sheet.

Per core that is $7,561.50 for Enterprise and $1,972.50 for Standard, so an Enterprise core costs about 3.8 times a Standard core. Microsoft does not publish a price for Software Assurance, and its current SQL Server licensing guidance says SA can only be added to perpetual licenses at the time of purchase. These are list prices: your agreement, CSP partner or reseller sets what you pay.

Two models, still

Per Core. Each server running SQL Server or any of its components is assigned core licenses: for its physical cores, or, with SA or a subscription, for the virtual cores of each VM. No CALs: the 2022 licensing guide says the model allows access for an unlimited number of users or devices, inside or outside the firewall. It is the model for internet and extranet workloads, systems that feed external-facing ones, and any server whose users you cannot count.

Server + CAL. Each OSE running SQL Server or any of its components needs a server license, and each server license allows any number of SQL Server instances in that single OSE, physical or virtual. Every user or device that accesses SQL Server or any of its components needs a CAL; devices nobody operates need device CALs even when they connect indirectly. Multiplexing or pooling “does not reduce the number of CALs required,” and the number of tiers between SQL Server and the user makes no difference. The guide’s exceptions are narrow: someone who receives a report by email or on paper needs no CAL, as long as they do not reach the server themselves.

CALs follow the version. The 2022 guide says CALs “must be for the version of SQL Server being accessed or a later version,” so a 2022 CAL covers 2022 and earlier servers, and a 2025 CAL covers a 2022 server too. One CAL lets that user or device reach any number of licensed SQL Servers.

Enterprise Server/CAL is a remnant. The Product Terms let existing customers renew SA on those server licenses, but no new ones are sold, and Microsoft’s 2022 editions page caps an Enterprise instance under Server + CAL at 20 cores.

Per Core on a physical server

When SQL Server runs in a physical OSE, all physical cores on the server are licensed, with a minimum of four core licenses per physical processor. Not four per server, and not sixteen per server. The 2022 guide is blunt: “A minimum of four core licenses is required for each physical processor on the server.” Software partitioning does not reduce the count, and hyper-threading does not add to it. Microsoft’s core-based licensing models page puts the 8-per-processor and 16-per-server minimums on Windows Server, not on SQL Server.

• One socket, two cores: four core licenses (two 2-packs).
• One socket, four cores: four core licenses (two 2-packs).
• Two sockets, eight cores each: 16 core licenses (eight 2-packs). The 16 is two times eight, not a SQL Server minimum.
• The same server running Windows Server still has the Windows minimum of 16 core licenses per server. That rule is in the Windows Server 2025 licensing guide; keep it off the SQL line.

Without SA or a subscription, the two editions reach differently on a licensed server:

• Enterprise: any number of instances in a number of OSEs, physical or virtual, equal to the core licenses assigned. Sixteen Enterprise core licenses on the host: up to 16 VMs or containers, whatever their virtual cores. Each extra core license assigned to the server adds one more OSE.
• Standard: any number of instances, only in the physical OSE. The guide says licensing individual VMs is the only Per Core option for Standard in a virtualized environment, and that needs SA or a subscription.

Standard’s 24 cores is a product limit, not a purchase minimum. The 2022 editions page caps a Standard instance at the lesser of 4 sockets or 24 cores and a 128 GB buffer pool. A bigger server can still run Standard, but you license every physical core and the instance uses at most 24 of them. SQL Server 2025 lifts the cap to 32 cores and 256 GB.

The 2022 VM rule

The 2022 guide put it in one line: “Beginning with SQL Server 2022, licensing by virtual machine is an option under subscription licenses or licenses with Software Assurance only.” The Product Terms keep that condition on licensing an individual virtual OSE, and SQL Server 2025 did not reverse it. How to count a VM:

1. Count the virtual cores allocated to the virtual OSE.
2. If a virtual core maps to more than one hardware thread, license each hardware thread it maps to; if one hardware thread supports several virtual cores, license each virtual core.
3. Apply the minimum of four core licenses per virtual OSE.
4. Buy in 2-packs. The guide’s own example: VMs of 2, 4 and 6 virtual cores take 4 + 4 + 6 = 14 core licenses, seven 2-packs.

Licenses assigned by VM can move with the VM to another server in the same server farm at any time. Moving to a different server farm is subject to the standard 90-day reassignment limit.

Server + CAL licenses a VM without SA. The Product Terms let you “use one Running Instance of server software in either a Physical OSE or Virtual OSE on a Licensed Server for each License it acquires,” and put the SA condition on the reassignment rights that follow, not on that sentence. The 2022 guide says it outright: the right to use SQL Server in a virtual machine under Server + CAL “does not require subscription licenses or licenses with Software Assurance.” One Standard server license per VM, regardless of its virtual processors, plus CALs. The guide’s example: six Standard VMs of four virtual cores each take six server licenses. With SA or a subscription on the server license and every CAL, the license can move with the VM within the farm as often as needed; without it, a license can be reassigned no sooner than 90 days after the last reassignment, except for permanent hardware failure.

“Standard includes two VMs per licensed host” is a Windows Server rule. It does not apply to SQL Server. VMware clusters, DRS and host affinity are covered in SQL Server on VMware: licensing the host, the VM or the cluster.

Unlimited virtualization is not the default

License every physical core on the host with Enterprise core licenses and keep SA or a subscription on them. Then any number of SQL Server instances may run in any number of OSEs, VMs or containers, on that host. The grant is under the per core model only and it is not in the base license: the 2022 editions page footnotes Enterprise’s unlimited virtualization to Software Assurance, and the 2022 guide adds that “this benefit ends when the subscription licenses or SA coverage expire(s).”

Without SA, the same fully licensed Enterprise host is capped at one OSE per core license assigned. The guide’s example: a four-processor server with four cores each, 16 core licenses, runs SQL Server in up to 16 VMs; for 18 VMs, assign 18 core licenses. Unlimited virtualization does not apply under License Mobility, and Microsoft’s Azure Arc licensing documentation says it is not available on infrastructure from the listed providers, where VMs can only be licensed by virtual cores.

Containers are OSEs

The 2022 guide says containers and virtual machines “are considered the same from a licensing perspective.” A single container is licensed like a VM: core licenses for its virtual cores, minimum four, or one Standard server license under Server + CAL. A container inside a VM is counted on its own allocation, again with the four-core minimum. Docker, containerd or Kubernetes make no difference.

Two rights change the count, both tied to SA or a subscription. Enterprise on every physical core of the host allows unlimited containers there, as it allows unlimited VMs. And when you license a virtual OSE by core with Standard or Enterprise, you may run any number of containers inside it; the Product Terms say a container is then not counted as a virtual OSE of its own. Neither is a right to run unlimited containers on a host without SA, and neither applies under License Mobility.

Failover is three replicas, and they must be passive

For each OSE licensed with subscription licenses or licenses covered by active SA, the 2022 guide and the “Fail-over Rights” section of the Product Terms allow, without licensing them:

1. One passive fail-over replica for high availability in a separate OSE.
2. One passive fail-over replica for disaster recovery in a separate OSE.
3. One passive fail-over replica for disaster recovery in a single VM or instance on Azure.

A passive replica is one that is not serving SQL Server data to clients or running active SQL Server workloads. The 2022 guide defines the high availability replica as synchronous with automated failover and the disaster recovery replica as asynchronous with manual failover, and the Product Terms require the disaster recovery replicas to be asynchronous and manual. On any replica you may run database consistency checks, log and full backups and resource monitoring, and you may run the primary and its disaster recovery replicas together for brief disaster recovery tests every 90 days.

• Size: a passive replica cannot require more core licenses than the licensed primary. License the primary for the bigger of the two servers.
• One on-premises DR replica: the guide says a primary covers one disaster recovery secondary outside Azure; any further DR secondary is licensed, and the rights cannot be pooled from other licensed servers.
• Readable is active: an Always On secondary that serves reports, or does any work beyond the maintenance above, is fully licensed.
• No SA, no rights: the Product Terms tie these rights to SA on the server licenses and any CALs, and they do not apply under License Mobility through SA. On licenses without SA every replica is licensed like any other OSE.

Edition still limits the topology. The 2022 editions page gives Standard basic availability groups (two replicas, one database) and two-node failover cluster instances; Enterprise has full Always On availability groups with up to eight secondary replicas, five of them synchronous, and failover cluster instances of up to 16 nodes.

What SA (or a subscription) actually adds on 2022

Sources: the Software Assurance benefits table in the 2022 licensing guide and the benefits table in the Azure Arc licensing documentation; a dash means the source does not list the right for that payment option. The guide says subscription licenses bought under the Microsoft Customer Agreement carry many of the same rights as SA but not License Mobility through SA. The Flexible Virtualization Benefit lets you run SQL Server on an Authorized Outsourcer’s shared or dedicated servers under the same rules as your own; License Mobility covers an Authorized License Mobility Partner’s shared servers, without unlimited virtualization or unlimited containers.

Power BI Report Server is where 2022 and 2025 differ most. For versions before 2025 the Product Terms give the right only to Enterprise core licenses with active SA, and it ends when SA ends; the Azure Arc documentation says the same for SQL Server 2022 and earlier. On 2025 it comes with Standard or Enterprise core licenses, with or without SA, which the 2025 guide covers.

Pay-as-you-go through Azure Arc

SQL Server 2022 is the version that added a third way to pay. The 2022 guide says that, beginning with SQL Server 2022, customers may buy SQL Server on-premises or in third-party clouds through Azure Arc on a consumption basis. You connect the server to Azure Arc, set the license type to pay-as-you-go, and Azure bills by the hour: $0.375 per Enterprise core and $0.100 per Standard core, or $274 and $73 a month. What Microsoft’s Azure Arc licensing and billing documentation says:

• Usage is metered per OSE on the virtual cores of a VM, or the physical cores of a server without VMs, with a minimum of four cores per OSE; the highest edition installed in the OSE sets the meter.
• Hourly charges apply only when SQL Server runs on the machine during any part of the hour and the machine is online.
• It carries the rights of SA or a subscription listed above, including licensing by VM, fail-over replicas and, for Enterprise, unlimited virtualization through a physical core license resource that covers at least 16 physical cores.
• It supports core-based licensing only. A Server + CAL instance connected to Arc is set to “license only”, even with SA.
• If the machine stays disconnected from Azure for more than 30 days, the pay-as-you-go subscription expires and you are no longer authorized to use the software.
• Developer, Evaluation and Express are reported on free meters; Web licensed through a hoster is set to “license only”.

Azure Hybrid Benefit

Azure Hybrid Benefit lets core licenses with SA or a subscription pay a reduced base rate for SQL Server in Azure SQL Database and SQL Managed Instance vCore options, SQL Server on Azure VMs (Azure Dedicated Host included) and SQL Server Integration Services. It is not one-for-one across editions. The 2022 guide gives:

The guide adds 180 days of dual use, on-premises and in Azure, to allow for the migration. The binding ratios are in the Product Terms; moving workloads and the ratios per service are covered in Azure Hybrid Benefit for SQL Server: the rules that decide the saving.

Editions and their limits

Source: Editions and supported features of SQL Server 2022. Express with Advanced Services is a separate free edition on 2022 with the same Express limits. Developer has every Enterprise feature and is licensed for development, test and demonstration only; the guide adds that test data must be removed before the software goes to production, and that an environment supporting disaster recovery or backup for production is itself production. Evaluation runs Enterprise features for 180 days. Feature by feature, the paid editions are compared in SQL Server Standard vs Enterprise.

Components stay together

The 2022 guide lists the Database Engine, Master Data Services, Analysis Services, Integration Services, Reporting Services and Data Quality Services as licensed components of one SQL Server license, and says they cannot be separated: any OSE running any of them needs a license. If the Database Engine runs in one OSE and Reporting Services in another, both are fully licensed. Management tools, client connectivity tools, SDKs and documentation can run on any number of devices for use with a licensed instance. Microsoft’s Azure Arc documentation puts the same rule the other way round: an associated service needs its own license only when it is installed without the Database Engine on that machine. SQL Server 2025 drops DQS and MDS, so a server that depends on them has a reason to stay on 2022.

Buying SQL Server 2022 today

Under volume licensing, new licenses are SQL Server 2025 licenses: the Product Terms list 2025 as the current version and 2022 as the prior one. That does not stop you running 2022. The Product Terms for all software let you run a prior version or lower edition “in place of the version licensed,” and say “the use rights for the licensed version still apply.” The 2022 guide’s table of deployment options works the same way: Enterprise core licenses can run Enterprise or Standard core software of that version or earlier, and Standard server licenses can run Standard server software of that version or earlier.

• It works one way. The same Product Terms add that licenses for prior versions and lower editions do not satisfy the licensing requirements for a product: a 2022 license does not cover a 2025 deployment. Count the entitlement as 2025 licenses deployed as 2022.
• The binaries set the limits. A 2025 Standard license running 2022 software still gets 2022’s 24-core and 128 GB caps, because those are limits of the 2022 product.
• CALs. SQL Server 2025 CALs cover 2022 servers, because a CAL reaches its own version or earlier. A user of a 2025 server needs 2025 CALs.
• Software Assurance. Decide at purchase: the guidance says SA can only be added to perpetual licenses at that point, and SA or a subscription is what licenses a VM by core and gives you the fail-over replicas.
• Pay-as-you-go. An Arc-connected 2022 server can be billed by the hour at the rates above with no license purchase at all.

When to move to SQL Server 2025

List prices are the same, so the decision comes down to rights, features and support dates.

• Free with SA, a subscription or pay-as-you-go. New version rights are part of them. Perpetual 2022 licenses without SA stay 2022 licenses; moving means buying 2025 licenses.
• Move sooner if Standard servers hit 24 cores or 128 GB, if Resource Governor is the only reason a server runs Enterprise, or if you want Power BI Report Server on Standard or without SA.
• Wait if a server depends on Data Quality Services, Master Data Services, Azure Synapse Link or Purview access policies, all discontinued in 2025, or runs Web edition from a hoster, which has no 2025 version.
• Mind the dates. SQL Server 2022 leaves mainstream support in January 2028 and extended support in January 2033; SQL Server 2025 runs to January 2031 and January 2036.

What changed, with the prices and worked examples side by side, is in the SQL Server 2022 vs 2025 comparison.

Worked examples at list price

All figures use the US list prices above and leave out Windows Server, Software Assurance and any discount. Each virtual core is assumed to map to one hardware thread.

1. A two-socket, 16-core server: Per Core or Server + CAL?

Two processors with eight cores each, SQL Server Standard on the host, no VMs. Per Core: all 16 physical cores, eight 2-packs, 8 × $3,945 = $31,560, any number of users. Server + CAL: $989 plus $230 for each user or device. At 132 CALs that is $31,349, still cheaper; at 133 it is $31,579, dearer. So up to 132 users and devices, counting multiplexed and indirect ones, Server + CAL is the cheaper model on this server, and each further Standard server for the same people adds only $989. Enterprise on the same server is 8 × $15,123 = $120,984, per core only.

2. Six VMs: by VM with SA, or Enterprise on the host?

The same 16-core host runs six VMs with SQL Server, four virtual cores each: 24 virtual cores, twelve 2-packs if licensed by VM.

For six Standard VMs, licensing each VM is the cheapest per core route, and it needs SA or a subscription. Enterprise on the host costs less than Enterprise per VM, and even without SA its 16 core licenses cover up to 16 VMs, so the six fit. Standard per VM overtakes Enterprise on the host once the Standard VMs on it pass 60 virtual cores: 62 cores cost $43,958 a year against $43,472. Server + CAL is the one way to run Standard in those VMs on perpetual licenses without SA: with 100 users, 6 × $989 + 100 × $230 = $28,934 for all six.

3. One small VM

A VM with two virtual cores runs SQL Server Standard. The four-core minimum applies: two 2-packs, $7,890 plus SA, or 2 × $1,418 = $2,836 a year as a subscription, or 4 × $73 = $292 a month pay-as-you-go if it runs all month. On perpetual Standard core licenses without SA there is no per core route into the VM; a $989 server license plus CALs is the option that remains.

4. A primary with three replicas

A 12-core Enterprise primary, as in the guide’s own figures, with a synchronous high availability secondary, an asynchronous disaster recovery secondary in a second site and a disaster recovery replica in an Azure VM, all passive. With SA or a subscription on the primary, you license the primary only: six 2-packs, $90,738 perpetual plus SA or $32,604 a year. Add a second on-premises DR secondary and it needs its own six packs. Make the HA secondary readable for reports and it needs its own six packs too. Without SA, every replica is licensed like any other OSE.

What to have this week

Before the next true-up, Enterprise Agreement amendment or CSP quote, put together a SQL Server position, not an install list:

1. Every instance, edition, version and OSE type. Physical, VM or container; 2022 against 2025 and older; Developer, Express and Web kept apart from production.
2. Cores the way Microsoft counts them. Physical cores with the four-per-processor minimum, or virtual cores per VM with the four-core minimum and the thread mapping. Not the Windows 16-core minimum.
3. Whether SA, a subscription or pay-as-you-go covers each license. That one fact decides VM licensing by core, unlimited virtualization, fail-over replicas, Azure Hybrid Benefit and the right to run 2025.
4. CAL counts for any Standard Server + CAL licenses, users and devices, multiplexing included, on a CAL version at least as new as the server.
5. Which replicas are really passive. A readable secondary that answers queries is licensed, and so is a second on-premises DR copy.
6. What you own against what you run, by edition and version, with 2025 licenses deployed as 2022 counted as 2025.

LICENSEWARE’s Microsoft Deployment Manager builds that requirement from SQL Server and Windows Server deployment data, counting cores the way Microsoft does.

Questions

How much does SQL Server 2022 cost?

At Microsoft’s list prices, Enterprise is $15,123 and Standard $3,945 per 2-core pack, with at least four cores per processor. Standard is also sold as $989 per server plus $230 per CAL. Subscriptions are $5,434 and $1,418 per 2-core pack a year, and pay-as-you-go through Azure Arc is $274 or $73 per core a month. Developer and Express are free. SQL Server 2025 lists the same prices.

How many core licenses does a SQL Server 2022 server need?

Every physical core, with at least four per physical processor, bought in 2-packs. A one-socket, two-core server takes four; a two-socket server with eight cores each takes 16. The 16-core minimum per server is a Windows Server rule, not a SQL Server one.

Can I run SQL Server 2022 Standard in a VM without Software Assurance?

Not under Per Core: licensing a VM by core needs SA, a subscription or pay-as-you-go. Under Server + CAL, yes: one Standard server license per VM plus CALs, and the 2022 guide says that right does not require SA. SA adds moving the license with the VM within a server farm as often as needed.

Does SQL Server 2022 Enterprise include unlimited virtualization?

Only with SA, a subscription or pay-as-you-go, and only when every physical core of the host is licensed with Enterprise. Without SA, a fully licensed host runs SQL Server in as many OSEs as it has core licenses assigned.

Is a SQL Server 2022 secondary replica free?

A passive one is, with SA or a subscription on the primary: one for high availability, one for disaster recovery and one for disaster recovery in Azure. A readable secondary that serves queries, a second on-premises DR copy, or any replica of a primary without SA needs its own licenses.

Can I still buy SQL Server 2022?

Under volume licensing you buy SQL Server 2025 licenses and run 2022 under the Product Terms’ prior version rights, with the 2025 licenses’ use rights. Pay-as-you-go through Azure Arc bills a 2022 server by the hour without a license purchase.

When does SQL Server 2022 support end?

Mainstream support ends in January 2028 and extended support in January 2033, under Microsoft’s Fixed Lifecycle Policy. SQL Server 2025 is supported to January 2031 and January 2036.

Is SQL Server 2022 Developer edition free?

Yes. Developer has every Enterprise feature and is free for development, testing and demonstration, not for production; an environment that serves disaster recovery or backup for production counts as production. Express is free too, capped at 10 GB per database, 4 cores and 1,410 MB of buffer pool.

Is there a SQL Server 2022 licensing guide PDF?

Yes. Microsoft still serves the SQL Server 2022 licensing guide, dated November 2022, and its Azure Arc documentation links to it. The binding terms are in the Product Terms. For 2025 Microsoft publishes the guide as a web page, SQL Server licensing guidance.

Sources

• SQL Server 2022 licensing guide, November 2022 (editions, capacity limits, SA benefits, Per Core and four per processor, Server + CAL and CAL versions, components, VM licensing, Server + CAL in a VM without SA, maximum virtualization, containers, fail-over and HA/DR definitions, Azure Hybrid Benefit ratios, License Mobility, Developer and Evaluation, multiplexing, down-version and down-edition table, Enterprise Server/CAL): Microsoft (PDF)
• Product Terms, SQL Server, EA/EAS (versions, Server Licenses per instance, Per Core, individual virtual OSE, unlimited virtualization and containers, fail-over rights, Power BI Report Server, CAL versions, Enterprise Server/CAL): Product Terms for SQL Server
• Product Terms, universal license terms (prior versions and lower editions, 90-day reassignment): Product Terms for all software
• SQL Server 2022 pricing (list prices, subscriptions, pay-as-you-go, Web through hosters): Microsoft
• SQL Server licensing guidance (SA only at time of purchase, 2022 Web under SPLA): microsoft.com/licensing/guidance/SQL
• Core-based licensing models (SQL Server four per processor and per VM, hyper-threading; Windows Server 8 and 16): Core-based licensing models
• Editions and supported features of SQL Server 2022 (scale limits, availability groups, failover cluster nodes, Resource Governor, unlimited virtualization footnote, Enterprise Server + CAL 20-core cap): Microsoft Learn
• SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc, licensing and billing (pay-as-you-go metering, benefits, Power BI Report Server for 2022, unlimited virtualization license, listed providers, Server + CAL, associated services): Microsoft Learn
• Lifecycle (release and support dates): SQL Server 2022, SQL Server 2025