SQL 2025 – Standard Developer Edition

So, there is a new version of developer edition. I am not sure who asked for it but it seems like a feature unlikely to be really used by many. Yes, I am making a prediction on a feature of SQL 2025 that isn’t officially launched yet.

To be fair there are differences in versions of SQL Server primarily in High Availability when it comes to SQL Server. We have had these limitations for many years now, and most DBAs are well aware of the difference between Standard edition and Enterprise edition and how to configure / workaround them.

In order to fully understand the main reason why this would have been really useful we need to understand when it would have been really useful.

Let’s compare SQL 2022 Standard vs Enterprise in a high level

For a more detailed list please  see here https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/sql-server/editions-and-components-of-sql-server-2022?view=sql-server-ver16

To drive home the point, I am pasting screenshots of the comparison between SQL 2022 and SQL 2014 below. You can see the difference in features between standard edition of SQL 2014 was much more than it is for SQL 2022. The introduction of a developer edition for SQL Standard feels like a missed opportunity. With all that said there was a time when a dedicated standard edition developer edition would have been helpful and while that may no longer be the case I have yet to meet a DBA who said “Less features please”.

SQL 2022	SQL 2014

If you do download it and then feel like to more confusing trying to keep track of which installation of developer edition was installed on the machine , please do let me know. I am curious to see if this feature actually was useful or just became one more feature that confused users.