SQL Server 2016 End of Life

SQL Server 2016 end of life was July 14, 2026

SQL Server 2016 reached end of life on July 14, 2026. Microsoft's lifecycle page shows it started support on June 1, 2016, left mainstream support on July 13, 2021, and ended extended support on July 14, 2026 ¹. SharePoint Server 2016 and SharePoint Server 2019 ended the same day ⁴, and many of those farms run on SQL Server 2016, so check both.

Microsoft defines the term plainly: "End of support (also sometimes known as end of life) means that a product reached the end of its support lifecycle. Microsoft no longer provides servicing and support for the product" ².

If your SQL Server 2016 instance sits on Windows Server 2016, the operating system under it reaches the same point on January 12, 2027 ⁵. Plan the two together; our Windows Server 2016 end of life guide covers that date. Every other Microsoft deadline is in our Microsoft end of support dates table.

Extended Security Updates for SQL Server 2016

Microsoft sells Extended Security Updates (ESUs) for SQL Server 2016, and the terms changed from earlier versions. What Microsoft says:

• Length: "The subscription protects your servers for up to three years after the support lifecycle ends" ³. Coverage continues until canceled, and you can cancel at any time ³.
• How you buy: instances connected to Azure Arc, or running as SQL Server on an Azure virtual machine, can subscribe in the Azure portal ³. If an instance cannot connect to Azure Arc, Microsoft says you may be able to buy through volume licensing via your Microsoft account team ³.
• Billing: "Azure bills on an hourly basis" ³.
• No free ride in Azure: "Starting with SQL Server 2016 (13.x), migrating your workload to SQL Server on Azure VMs no longer provides free access to ESUs" ³. SQL Server 2014 customers still get free ESUs on Azure virtual machines ³.
• What you get: Microsoft releases SQL Server ESUs only when a vulnerability is rated Critical by its Security Response Center, so "there's no regular release cadence" ³.

Microsoft did not list a SQL Server 2016 ESU price on the pages we checked in October 2026. Its general guidance is that ESUs "can be costly, as ESUs are approximately 75% of the on-premises license cost annually" ². That is a year of most of a license price for security fixes only, which is why ESUs make sense as a bridge rather than a plan.

Upgrading SQL Server 2016 to a supported version

Upgrading SQL Server 2016 means moving to a version that is still supported, and the version you choose sets your next deadline. Microsoft's lifecycle pages give these end dates:

SQL Server 2017 buys only about a year from October 2026, so it is rarely the right target. SQL Server 2022 is supported for more than six more years.

There are two ways to get there. An in-place upgrade installs the new version over the old one on the same server. Microsoft notes "an inherent risk of running into problems during an in-place upgrade process" ², which is why many upgrades build a new server, copy the databases across and switch over once testing passes. The second method also lets you move off Windows Server 2016 at the same time.

Before either, ask the vendor of every application that uses the database which SQL Server versions they support. Accounting, practice management and ERP systems often certify specific versions, and that list sets your options.

What SQL Server licenses cost

Microsoft's published SQL Server 2022 prices, which it describes as estimated retail prices for open no-level licensing ⁶:

• Standard, per core: $3,945 per 2-core pack ⁶.
• Standard, server plus CAL: $989 per server plus $230 per client access license ⁶.
• Enterprise: $15,123 per 2-core pack ⁶.
• Express and Developer: free downloads.

For servers connected through Azure Arc, Microsoft also offers pay-as-you-go SQL Server 2022 licensing at $73 per core per month for Standard and $274 for Enterprise ⁶.

Small offices running one application database often fit the server plus CAL model, since it is priced by people rather than processor cores. What pushes the license cost up or down. Edition matters most, since Enterprise costs nearly four times Standard per 2-core pack by our arithmetic ⁶. Under per-core licensing the bill grows with the cores in the server; under server plus CAL it grows with the number of users ⁶. Check the core count of your server and the number of users before choosing. Labor for the upgrade is usually priced as a project; our IT project management guide explains how those quotes are built, and our managed IT price index lists published hourly rates.

Moving SQL Server 2016 to Azure

Moving to Azure replaces the upgrade with a migration. Microsoft lists three destinations for an end-of-support SQL Server: Azure SQL Managed Instance, Azure SQL Database, or SQL Server on an Azure virtual machine ².

• Azure SQL Managed Instance and Azure SQL Database are managed services, so Microsoft handles patching and version upgrades. The tradeoff is compatibility: older applications sometimes depend on features that need testing first.
• SQL Server on an Azure virtual machine is closest to what you run today. Remember that a SQL Server 2016 instance moved to an Azure virtual machine as is still needs paid ESUs, because the free Azure ESU offer stopped with SQL Server 2014 ³.

Our cloud migration guide covers how these moves are scoped. If the server also stores files and email, a wider IT infrastructure review may show that the server itself can be retired.

Running SQL Server 2016 after end of life

SQL Server 2016 keeps working after end of life, and many small offices run it unnoticed inside an application they bought years ago. The risk is the data it holds: customer records, patient files, financial history. A database server with known, unpatched flaws is an easy entry point, and a cybersecurity risk assessment will flag it.

Insurers ask too. Marsh lists replacing or protecting end-of-life systems among its twelve key cyber controls and notes that insurers now require certain controls as a minimum ¹⁰, and our cyber insurance requirements guide covers the rest. If an upgrade is months away, put the server behind a firewall rule that allows only the application servers that need it, take it off the open internet, back it up and test a restore. Our backup and disaster recovery guide explains what a tested restore involves.