The previous post, “About The SQL Server 2022 Editions”, discussed the various editions of SQL Server available for use in development and production.

One of the challenges outlined was if you use the developer edition, which has feature parity with the enterprise edition, it is possible to run into problems of functionality and performance if you use features in the developer edition that are not available in the edition you are deploying to - standard, web or express.

SQL Server 2025, currently in preview, has a novel solution to this:.

These are the available editions of SQL Server 2025:

Edition Description
Express Free, entry level database
Web Low cost edtiion primary for web hosting scenarios
Standard Edition with standard funcitonality to support small enterprise as a database management system and business intelligece platform
Standard Developer This is the same as the standard version, but only licensed for development use
Enterprise Premium edition with all the bells and whistles, including virtualization
Enterprise Developer This is the same as the enterpise version, but only licensed for development use

As you can see, there are two different editions for developers - standard developer and enterprise developer.

This means that out of the gate, you can use the appropriate version targeting the deployment edition and avoid surprises on deployment and use.

You can read more about SQL Server 2025 editions and features here.

TLDR

SQL Server 2025 has two editions for developers - standard developer and enterprise developer to allow developers to safely build and test applications with the exact features that will be available at deployment.

Happy hacking!