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Is using SQL Express in a production environment a reasonable choice?

I looked at Microsoft's comparison chart:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-2019-comparison

I would be using SQL Express with a small to mid-sized web site. I don't believe I would exceed the 4GB database size limit. Is SQL Express typically supported in shared hosting environments? Is there something I'm missing that would make SQL Express an unreasonable choice?

999PingGG
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Gabe Sumner
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  • Note the location of the SQL Server comparison listing has changed to http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/editions.aspx However, since perhaps that's assuming too much, the link to comparing different vendor's solutions is at http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/compare.aspx – James Skemp Jul 24 '10 at 16:00

5 Answers5

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I know many people using SQL Express for production and it works well, the biggest limiting factor is the absence of SQL Agent for automated backups. To automate backups you have to either take a VM image (if on a VPS) or use windows scheduler or some other technology.

The only other major limiting factor is the ram limitation, but for a small site I have not really noticed that being too much of an actual issue.

Mitchel Sellers
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    you are correct about backups, I found this handy backup tool http://sqlbackupandftp.com/ that supports schedule sql backups, it doesn't support incremental backups thoguh – Element Feb 10 '09 at 06:33
  • The 4GB database size limit is one other threshold to be aware of. – Jeff Siver May 05 '10 at 15:00
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    Actually, SQL 2008 R2 Express has a limited of 10GB, not 4GB. – Gus Cavalcanti Jun 24 '11 at 23:35
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    SQL Server 2014 has 10GB limit as well – dotnetdev_2009 Mar 24 '16 at 19:45
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    @RennishJoseph I'm researching about the size limit. Is that total Size of all your database in the server? or is that each... I created multiple databases. I don't want to create too many just in case each database expands drastically. So I need to be aware if it's 10gb each db, or 10gb for the whole Server in total. Thanks. – gemmo Aug 09 '17 at 22:06
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    @gemmo the limit is set per single db, if you have multiple files on a db the limit is applied to the total size of the data files; log file has no limit. – FabioThorin Sep 19 '18 at 08:27
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Many cheap hosting companies uses SQL Express. And I know from personal experience that SQL Express is a viable solution for most things.

"Most things" includes a large project in a production environment.

cllpse
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    Some of my clients are using it on some their production apps. It certainly help Microsoft's market penetration. – craigmoliver Oct 07 '08 at 21:51
  • As do some of my company's clients. For a long time. And we've never experienced any problems. – cllpse Oct 07 '08 at 22:13
  • I have been using it in a production web app for a couple years now with no problems so far – Element Feb 10 '09 at 06:31
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    Are there no licensing issues? Is it legal to use the express edition for production use, with many connecting users? No user CALs necessary? – AviD Feb 23 '09 at 07:43
  • @AviD: Here's a comparisin-chart: http://www.microsoft.com/Sqlserver/2005/en/us/compare-features.aspx – cllpse Sep 09 '09 at 13:40
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One thing to ask might be - if your needs outweigh the capabilities of SQL Server Express, will you be able to afford a commercial version?

I think the one of the ideas of SQL Server Express is that you could host your site on it and once you outgrow it (need more than 4GB, etc.) you will buy a commercial version, especially now that you're locked in to using it. But if your site will outgrow it sooner than the income coming in will be able to buy a commercial version, this could be a problem (and possibly a database design flaw if your site is consuming more data/disk space than it needs to)

Tom Kidd
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SQL Express is a great choice if you don't mind the memory and processor limitations. The database size limitation is not as much of an issue now that in 2008 R2 they up'd the limit to 10gb. I think the other limitations are still the same though.

Tim Meers
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There's a maximum of 5 concurrent connections for SQL Express. If you have more than 5 concurrent connections performance will drop severely. Alos, you have to consider that SQL Agent is not included so if you want to schedule backups or maintenance tasks you have to use windows scheduler. Other that this, it's a perfect solution for small databases.

Albert
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