Unleash the Power of AI with SQL 2025 std The Ultimate Database Platform for Modern Applications

SQL Server 2025 represents Microsoft’s most significant advancement in database technology, positioning itself as the premier AI-ready enterprise database platform. This latest version introduces groundbreaking vector data types, enhanced cloud integration capabilities, and substantial performance improvements that make it ideal for modern data-driven applications.

Key Features

The following table highlights the major feature categories and their key capabilities in SQL Server 2025:

These enhancements position SQL Server 2025 as a comprehensive platform for both traditional database workloads and modern AI-powered applications. The vector capabilities, in particular, enable organizations to build sophisticated AI applications directly within their database infrastructure.

What's new in SQL Server 2025 Standard?

The latest version of Microsoft SQL Server 2025 Standard brings comprehensive technical improvements, particularly focused on the integration of artificial intelligence and modern application development. These features significantly expand the possibilities for businesses.

Vector data type and AI functions

SQL Server 2025 Standard introduces a native vector data type specifically optimized for AI applications and similarity searches. Vectors are stored in an efficient binary format but represented as JSON arrays for ease of handling. With support for half-precision (2-byte) floating-point values, up to 3996 dimensions can now be stored in a single vector. This offers significant advantages when processing large-scale AI data.

The new AI features include:

• Integrated vector search for semantic queries
• AI_GENERATE_EMBEDDINGS to create vector embeddings from text
• AI_GENERATE_CHUNKS for text segmentation for RAG applications
• Integration with Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI Service, and other AI platforms

Particularly noteworthy is the support for DiskANN (Disk Approximate Nearest Neighbors) as a vector index, which delivers precise, fast, and resource-efficient result sets.

Native JSON support

While JSON functions have existed since SQL Server 2016, the 2025 version introduces a native JSON data type that stores JSON documents in binary format. This is a significant improvement over the previous storage in varchar/nvarchar columns.

The advantages of the new JSON data type are:

• More efficient reading because the document has already been analyzed
• More efficient writing because the query can update individual values ​​without accessing the entire document
• Optimized storage with improved compression

In addition, the modifymethod enables optimized in-place modifications of JSON data, significantly improving processing speed. These improvements are particularly valuable for applications that work with complex data models.

REST API calls directly from SQL

Another significant innovation is the ability to call REST and GraphQL endpoints directly from the SQL database. Using the system stored procedure, sp_invoke_external_rest_endpoint developers can:

• Have data processed by an Azure Function
• Update Power BI dashboards
• Access local enterprise REST endpoints
• Communicate with Azure OpenAI Services

This feature greatly simplifies integration between relational data and external services and reduces the need for middleware components.

Optimizations for regular expressions

SQL Server 2025 Standard finally introduces native support for regular expressions, answering years of feature requests. The new features provide faster, simpler, and more powerful ways to perform string searches.

The most important new Regex features are:

• REGEXP_LIKE(): Returns a boolean value if a regex pattern is found in a string
• REGEXP_COUNT(): Counts how many times a regex expression occurs in a string
• REGEXP_INSTR(): Returns the start or end position of a matching regular expression
• REGEXP_REPLACE(): Replaces matching string sections with a new string
• REGEXP_SUBSTR(): Finds a string pattern and returns the matching substring
• REGEXP_MATCHES(): Returns detailed information about regex patterns and matches
• REGEXP_SPLIT_TO_TABLE(): Splits text based on a regex pattern

These optimizations provide developers with powerful text processing tools that were previously only available through complex workarounds or external libraries.

Licensing Overview

SQL Server 2025 maintains the familiar licensing structure while providing enhanced value through new features. The choice between licensing models depends primarily on your deployment scenario and user access patterns:

The core-based model provides unlimited user access and is mandatory for internet-facing applications, while Server + CAL can offer significant cost savings for organizations with a defined and limited user base.

Licensing of the Standard Edition 2025

Licensing plays a crucial role in planning a SQL Server 2025 Standard implementation. Microsoft offers two basic licensing models, each with different advantages and disadvantages depending on the type of use and business requirements.

Core-based vs. Server + CAL

SQL Server 2025 Standard Edition can be licensed in two different ways:

The core-based model requires licensing for each physical processor core running SQL Server, with a minimum licensing of four cores per processor. In this model, all cores of a processor must be licensed if SQL Server is running on any of the cores—partial processor licensing is not permitted.

For virtual environments, core licensing requires an active Software Assurance (SA) or CSP subscription. The advantage: Users do not need to be licensed individually, making this model ideal for internet-based applications or scenarios with fluctuating user numbers.

The Server + CAL model, on the other hand, consists of a server license for each SQL Server instance and Client Access Licenses (CALs) for each user or device. This model is available exclusively for the Standard Edition and does not require Software Assurance for virtual environments.

Limitations of the Standard Edition

The SQL Server 2025 Standard Edition has significant limitations compared to the Enterprise Edition:

• Hardware limits : Maximum 24 physical cores or 4 sockets per instance
• Memory : Limited to 128 GB RAM
• Virtualization : With core-based licensing without SA, the licenses may not be used to license individual VMs
• High Availability : Only basic HA features compared to the advanced features of the Enterprise Edition
• Unlimited Virtualization : Not available (unlike Enterprise Edition with SA)

Please also note that Server + CAL licensing with a CAL-based licensing model is limited to a maximum of 20 cores per SQL Server instance. This limit does not apply to the core-based licensing model.

When choosing the Standard Edition, it's important to consider not only current requirements but also future growth. Many organizations find that the Standard Edition offers sufficient functionality for most workloads and reserve the Enterprise Edition only for critical applications that require advanced features.