Migrating on-premises development workloads to the cloud offers many benefits including increased provisioning speed and scalability, improved security, and a potential to reduce cost by only paying for resources when they are being used. While the licensing terms for non-production are rather straightforward on-premises, there are significant differences between the licensing options on Azure versus other cloud environments. Businesses who understand these nuances prior to a migration will be in a better position when they are ready to move to their chosen cloud provider.
SQL Server is often the most expensive aspect of licensing a Microsoft solution. The good news for developers is that SQL Server Developer can be downloaded for free and used for testing and development in the cloud and on-premises. While businesses may or may not use SQL Server Developer on-premises today, SQL Server Developer provides a free SQL Server licensing alternative in any environment, including AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure.
Evolve Cloud Services has helped over 4000 organizations reduce cost while migrating to the cloud. After completing an Evolve Optimization and Licensing Assessment, businesses receive recommendations that reduce cost, improve the technical experience, and maintain license compliance. With respect to testing and development, Evolve can help businesses address the licensing nuances between Azure and other cloud providers and create a cost effective migration strategy for every workload.
Production Versus Non-Production
At a high level, production environments are actively being used for the benefit of business and/or its customers, while non-production environments are primarily used by developers for testing and development.
Microsoft defines “production” in the Visual Studio Licensing Guide as:
“…an environment that is accessed by end-users of an application (such as an internet website) and that is used for more than gathering feedback or acceptance testing of that
application.
Other scenarios that constitute production environments include:
• Environments that connect to a production database
• Environments that support disaster-recovery or backup for a production environment
• Environments that are used for production at least some of the time, such as a server that is rotated into production during peak periods of activity
SQL Server workloads that meet the definition of production require a paid SQL Server license. However, if SQL Server is used for non-production, and does not fit the description of a production environment, it can be licensed as non-production. There are two choices available for non-production SQL Server, and making the best decision depends on where the environment is deployed.
SQL Server Licensing Options For Developers
The two options for licensing SQL Server for non-production are:
- Visual Studio Subscription (aka MSDN)
- On-premises and Azure
- SQL Server Developer Edition
- On-premises and any cloud environment
Visual Studio Subscriptions (often referred to as VSS or MSDN) are familiar to most Microsoft customers due to their traditional use on-premises. VSS is licensed per user, and as stated in Microsoft’s licensing language, “Each licensed user may install and use the software on any number of devices to design, develop, test, and demonstrate their programs”. Licensed users have access to an extensive library of Microsoft software that includes SQL Server among many other products. Microsoft customers are typically granted a specific number of VSS licenses as part of their Microsoft licensing agreement, and additional VSS licenses can be purchased from Microsoft at the pricing indicated here. Unfortunately, Microsoft license terms restrict the use of VSS in non-Azure environments such as AWS and Google Cloud.
SQL Server Developer Edition is a free alternative to using SQL Server obtained through a Visual Studio Subscription. SQL Server Developer is a free download that can be used for testing and development on-premises and in the cloud. As mentioned in the Microsoft SQL Server Developer 2025 license terms, the software can be used on “third party shared devices to, develop, test, and demonstrate your programs”.
SQL Server Developer 2025 is available in two editions: Standard and Enterprise. Prior versions were only available with SQL Enterprise features, which was ideal for developers who planned to use SQL Server Enterprise in production. However, if the plan was to use SQL Server Standard in production, it was challenging to ensure that the developers were not utilizing Enterprise features that would be unavailable when they switched to SQL Standard later. With separate Standard and Enterprise editions available, developers can choose the SQL Server Developer 2025 edition that matches their production requirements. There is a 3X-4X cost difference between SQL Server Enterprise and SQL Server Standard, and identifying opportunities to use Standard can significantly reduce cost. Evolve Cloud Services is skilled at helping businesses determine when SQL Server Standard can replace SQL Server Enterprise.
The Best SQL Server Non- Production Licensing Option Depends on Your Cloud Migration Plan
Visual Studio Subscriptions are the most common licensing model for developers on-premises and on Azure. The VSS user-based licensing model is straightforward and allows developers to install the software edition they plan to use in production. In other words, when using VSS they do not have to install SQL Server Developer to avoid paying for SQL Server during development and testing. A developer licensed with VSS can use the software they download on-premises and on Azure interchangeably.
In contrast, it is recommended that developers using the non-Azure cloud install and use SQL Server Developer. If SQL Server Standard/Enterprise software were to remain installed in these environments, the license must be paid for even when used for non-production. Migrating to SQL Server Developer requires additional technical steps during a cloud migration and there are solutions to simplify this transition. For example, AWS provides guidance on automating the process here. While resources are helpful, businesses who are planning a future migration can simplify the process by starting to use SQL Server Developer today.
Evolve Cloud Services Can Help You Evaluate Your Options and Plan Your Migration
Evolve Cloud Services is a valuable partner to businesses as they develop their cloud migration strategy. The Optimization and Licensing Assessment (OLA) delivers recommendations on various aspects of a cloud migration including instance sizing, licensing options, software assurance renewal, power management, and storage/memory optimization.
The process starts by gathering technical details including server count, instance size, software required, usage patterns, and storage/memory requirements. The Evolve Optimize 24X7 tool then uses this data to calculate the impact of various licensing options, while right-sizing instances and mapping recommendations to specific public cloud offerings. Bring your own licensing (BYOL) is effective in reducing cloud cost, and the BYOL eligibility and quantity of the licenses owned by the business are evaluated during OLA. If additional licenses are needed, Evolve calculates the cost impact of purchasing new licenses from Microsoft versus paying the cloud provider for a license-included service. With this analysis, Evolve can help businesses compare the cost and technical feasibility of the options available on various cloud providers.
For example, a business considering a move to AWS could engage Evolve to evaluate solutions such as Amazon Elastic Cloud (EC2) or Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2 on AWS). Evolve could also help them evaluate the benefits of a managed database solution such as Amazon Relational Database Services (RDS). For those with developer requirements, SQL Server Developer can be used in all these environments. While this has long been possible on EC2 and NC2, Amazon RDS recently announced this capability.
The best long term strategy for many businesses is to modernize and move to a cloud-based database technology. In this scenario, a non-SQL Server solution such as Amazon Aurora can replace SQL Server to reduce cost and eliminate licensing complexity. Evolve can help businesses evaluate the benefits of modernizing their specific workloads through the Modernization Viability Assessment.
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