SQL Server 2014 Editions
An overivew of the available editions of SQL Server 2014.
SQL Server 2014 comes in three principal editions and three specialized editions. The edition you choose will depend on your (or your organization's) requirements. If you are looking for a free database management system, you will need to choose one of the Express editions or the Compact edition. You could also download an evaluation copy which allows you to trial SQL Server 2014 for 180 days.
The Editions
Here are the different editions available for SQL Server 2014.
Principal Editions
The three principal editions of SQL Server 2014 are:
- Enterprise Edition
- Considered the premium offering, the Enterprise edition is aimed towards large-scale data centers and data warehouse solutions. Data management and business intelligence platform providing enterprise class scalability, high availability, and security for running mission-critical applications. All capabilities of the Datacenter edition (which was included in previous versions of SQL Server but is now retired) are in the Enterprise edition of SQL Server 2014.
- Standard Edition
- The Standard edition is aimed towards departmental databases and limited business-intelligence applications that are typically seen in smaller organizations or departments.
- Business Intelligence Edition
- Aimed towards organizations that need corporate business intelligence and self-service capabilities but do not require the full online transactional processing (OLTP) performance and scalability found in the Enterprise edition.
Specialized Editions
In addition to the principal editions of SQL Server, the following editions are available:
- Developer Edition (also known as Compact Edition)
- A free, embedded database that software developers can use for building ASP.NET websites and Windows desktop applications.
- Web Edition
- Designed to support internet-facing workloads and enables organizations to rapidly deploy web pages, applications, websites and services.
- Express Edition
- A free edition of SQL Server ideal for learning and building desktop and small server applications. Limited to 10GB storage per database. The Express edition is available in the following versions:
- SQL Server Express with Tools
- Contains the core SQL Server database along with the tools to manage SQL Server instances including SQL Server Express, LocalDB, and SQL Azure.
- SQL Server Management Studio
- Does not contain the SQL Server database, only the tools to manage SQL Server instances, including LocalDB, SQL Express, SQL Azure, etc. Use this if you already have the SQL Server database and only need the management tools.
- SQL Server Express LocalDB (MSI installer)
- Lightweight version of SQL Server Express that has all its programmability features yet it runs in user mode and has a fast, zero-configuration installation. No management tools are included.
- SQL Server Express with Advanced Services
- Includes the database engine, Express Tools, Reporting Services, Full Text Search, management tools, and all the components of SQL Server Express.
- SQL Server Express
- This is the core Express database server. Use this if you need to accept remote connections or administer remotely and do not need the tools or advanced services.
You can also download an evaluation copy of SQL Server 2014 which can be installed for demonstration and evaluation purposes until an expiration period of 180 days. This will enable you to try out the full blown enterprise edition before making a decision to purchase or not.
SQL Server Edition in this Tutorial
The examples in this tutorial were made using SQL Server 2014 Express with Tools.
Download SQL Server
You can download SQL Server from Microsoft's website.
Install SQL Server
Here are instructions for SQL Server 2014 installation.