SQL Server Express

Microsoft SQL Server Express is a version of Microsoft's SQL Server relational database management system that is free to download, distribute and use. It comprises a database specifically targeted for embedded and smaller-scale applications. The product traces its roots to the Microsoft Database Engine (MSDE) product, which was shipped with SQL Server 2000. The "Express" branding has been used since the release of SQL Server 2005.

SQL Server Express provides many of the features of the paid, full versions of Microsoft SQL Server database management system. However it has technical restrictions that make it unsuitable for some large-scale deployments. Differences in the Express product include:

Unlike the predecessor product, MSDE, the Express product does not include a concurrent workload-governor to "limit performance if the database engine receives more work than is typical of a small number of users."

SQL Server Express includes several GUI tools for database management. These include:

The predecessor product MSDE generally lacked basic GUI management tools,

Features available in SQL Server "Standard" and better editions but absent from SQL Server Express include:

Microsoft makes SQL Server Express available as:

In the Free 2005 Express version, for example, a standard approach to installation options was provided, as follows. Generally, the SQL 2005 Express installers are packaged with the following consistent naming convention:

These optional variants have gone through several service packs (SP), and each SP installer can be used without using the older ones first: