Use cases
SQL Server for enterprise workloads
Enterprise unlocks unlimited virtualisation, Always On AGs with multiple secondaries, Transparent Data Encryption and online index operations — required for OLTP above 24 cores.
Who it is for
Banking, healthcare, retail back-office, regulated industries.
Why this works
- No core ceiling — scale up to current hardware
- Always On with up to 8 secondary replicas
- TDE at rest + Always Encrypted in motion
- Software Assurance gives Azure Hybrid Benefit
Recommended licences
Alternatives worth considering
- SQL Server 2022 Enterprise — Choose if you must match an existing 2022 cluster.
Things to know before you buy
- Enterprise per-core licensing is in 2-core packs; Windows Server core minimums (16/server) also apply if you run Standard/Datacenter underneath.
Other use cases you might explore
sql-server
SQL Server for startups
Standard Edition with Server+CAL licensing is the cheapest production path for teams of 5–25 developers and 10–100 named users.
office
Office for students — best value in 2026
Word, Excel and PowerPoint cover 95% of coursework. Students don't need Outlook, Teams or Access on day one — buying the right edition saves €80+ vs Microsoft 365.
office
Office for small business (1–10 staff)
Owners under 10 employees usually overpay for Microsoft 365 Business when a perpetual Office Home & Business covers email and meetings without the per-user recurring cost.
office
Office on Apple Silicon Macs
Native ARM64 builds of Office 2021 and 2024 run on M1/M2/M3/M4 with no Rosetta penalty. Here is the right edition for each Mac workflow.
Why these recommendations are safe to follow
We earn nothing extra by recommending a more expensive licence — our margin is identical across editions. Every recommendation has been re-validated against the current Microsoft EULA, the latest Office and Windows update, and our own returns data from the past 12 months.