Microsoft SQL Server 2025, an AI-ready enterprise database from ground to cloud, is now available.
Microsoft SQL Server 2025
Accelerate your AI application's time to market by harnessing the power of your data and the built-in AI capabilities of SQL Server 2025, the enterprise database with best-in-class security, performance, and availability.
Overview
Reinvent your business with SQL Server 2025
- Enhance intelligence by combining semantic search with full-text search and filtering
- Apply flexible interfaces for AI models, deployed locally or via cloud services
- Streamline workflows with integrated vector embedding
- Accelerate app development with LangChain, Semantic Kernel, and Entity Framework Core integration
- Efficiently process JSON data with native type, index, and functions
- Increase extensibility by connecting data to any REST interface
- Simplify querying of diverse datasets using Regular Expression (RegEx)
- Build real-time, event-driven apps with change event streaming
- Achieve zero-ETL, near-real-time analytics by replicating SQL Server data to Microsoft OneLake with database mirroring in Fabric
- Deploy centralized management, security, and automation using Azure Arc
- Enable disaster recovery and read scale-out to Azure SQL
- Get simplified licensing with Azure Arc pay-as-you-go
- Access mission-critical capabilities to achieve best-in-class performance, security and availability for your Tier 1 data workloads.
- Get rich programming capabilities, security innovations, and fast performance for mid-tier applications. Easily upgrade to the Enterprise edition without changing any code.
- Build, test, and demonstrate applications using all the features of the Enterprise or Standard edition in your non-product development and test environments. Available for freefor use in non-production environments. You can easily switch to production-grade editions with no changes needed.
- Build small, data-driven web and mobile applications up to 50 GB in database size with this entry-level database. Available for free.
- Simple pricing across different editions to meet your business needs
- Flexible pay-as-you-go pricing options enabled via Azure Arc
- SQL Server licensing makes choosing the right edition simpler and more economical.
- Software Assurance (SA) is a Volume Licensing benefit program to help customers get the most out of their Microsoft investments.
Benefits include fail-over rights, unlimited virtualization (for Enterprise Edition), license mobility, and the right to purchase extended security updates.
SA is a supplemental program that can only be added to perpetual licenses at the time of purchase and cannot be acquired later.
- View all SQL Servers deployed on-premises, and in other clouds
- Capture key performance metrics and realize faster time-to-value with monitoring.
- Gain proactive and actionable insights with automated best practices assessment.
- Manage availability groups (AGs) inventory and track real-time health status.
- View Always On failover cluster instances (FCI) and protect with Defender for Cloud.
- Automate backups and point-in-time restore for seamless application of policy.
- Protect your on-premises and multicloud data using Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
- Enhance security with automatic patching and Extended Security Updates (ESU) enabled by Azure Arc.
- Gain central insights and governance across all SQL databases with Microsoft Purview.
- Leverage with cost-efficient, pay-as-you-go pricing.
- Easily onboard new technologies or scale existing ones as your data estate grows.
Benefits
Supercharge your AI applications with SQL Server 2025
Best-in-class security and performance
Get the most secure databases over the last decade,1 with best-in-class performance and availability.with best-in-class performance and availability.
AI built-in
Accelerate AI innovation using the data you already have, all within SQL Server using familiar Transact-SQL (T-SQL) language.
Made for developers
Streamline developer workflow to build modern data applications faster and more efficiently.
Cloud agility through Azure
Enable frictionless analytics and cloud agility through Fabric and Azure Arc.
Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform
Pivot and adapt in a rapidly evolving landscape, add layers of intelligence to applications, uncover predictive insights, and govern data anywhere with an integrated data platform.
INDUSTRY RECOGNITION
The business value of Microsoft SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc
40%
Increase in IT monitoring teams’ efficiency
492%
Three-year return on investment
23%
Faster data availability
SOLUTIONS
Find the right SQL Server version and solutions for your needs
SQL Server 2025 Enterprise
The AI-ready enterprise database with best-in-class security, performance, and availability.
SQL Server 2025 Standard
Get rich programming capabilities, security innovations, and fast performance for mid-tier applications. Easily upgrade to the Enterprise edition without changing any code.
SQL Server 2025 Developer
A full-featured free Enterprise or Standard edition, licensed for use as a development and test database in a non-production environment.
SQL Server 2025 Express
A free edition of SQL Server, ideal for development and production for desktop, web, and small server applications.
Power BI Report Server
Create, manage, and deploy interactive or paginated reports on-premises with the flexibility to move to the cloud.
SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc
Extend Azure services to SQL Server instances hosted outside of Azure.
SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines
A Host enterprise SQL Server apps in the cloud and save.
SUCCESS STORIES
See how companies use the Microsoft data platform to realize their potential
"Change Event Streaming and Mirroring for SQL Server 2025 help MSC to build the bridge to bring our operational data into Microsoft Fabric."
Javier Villegas, IT Director, DBA and BI Services, Mediterranean Shipping Company
Products
SQL Server
Microsoft Fabric
“At Infios, we are very excited about several new features in SQL Server 2025 and the vast amount of opportunities for performance improvements.”
Tim Radney, SaaS Operations Manager, Infios
Products
SQL Server
“SQL Server 2025 represents a major leap forward in database technology, fortifying both security and performance.”
Shailesh Panday, Deputy Manager, IT, Buhler AG
Products
SQL Server
“Pure Storage is excited about bringing AI to the data with native vector support for semantic search and built-in functionality for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).”
Chadd Kenney, VP of Technology, Pure Storage
Products
SQL Server
“The availability of SQL Server 2025 on Ubuntu provides developers and enterprises a robust foundation for building and deploying demanding AI-driven applications.”
Jehudi Castro-Sierra, Public Cloud Alliance Director, Canonical
Products
SQL Server
“Vector search and AI-powered optimization will allow our customers to drive business success through data-driven decision making, improved throughput, and reduced downtime.”
OJ Ngo, Co-Founder and CTO, DH2i
Products
SQL Server
“AMD EPYC and SQL Server have a deep technical partnership, and I am excited to see the performance and scale of SQL Server 2025 running on AMD EPYC solutions.”
David Harmon, Director - Software Development, AMD
Products
SQL Server
“We are excited to see SQL Server 2025 drive further innovation with leading AI, security, and performance features.”
Brian Rogers, Technical Solutions Architect, Intel
Products
SQL Server
GET STARTED
Take the next step with SQL Server
Start using SQL Server 2025
Get to know he AI-ready enterprise database with best-in-class security, performance, and availability.
SQL Server Documentation
Dive into the technical details including installation guidance and stay up to date on the latest release notes.
SQL Server Blog
Keep up on the latest news about SQL Server innovations and enhancements.
BUSINESS SOLUTIONS HUB
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- [1]As of July 2025, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)National Vulnerability Database (vulnerability incident counts 2016–2025: SQL Server 62; MySQL 1193; Oracle 198; IBM 197; PostgreSQL 195; SAP 78).