Count before you quote.
Make the assumptions visible.

Quantities are arithmetic.
Rights depend on your terms.

Use this as a budgeting worksheet, then verify the product version, acquisition program and agreement before ordering.

Per-core calculation

Physical licensing counts all physical cores, with a minimum of four licenses per physical processor. Do not substitute logical processors or apply an edition compute cap to reduce the licensed hardware count. The physical option models SQL in the physical OSE, not a virtualization-rights entitlement.

Individual VM licensing counts allocated virtual cores with a minimum of four per VM. It assumes each v-core maps to one hardware thread; more mappings can require more licenses. Qualifying subscription or active SA is required for this option.

For budgeting, the tool rounds each identical deployment unit upward to whole 2-core packs, then multiplies by units. Odd quantities can therefore overestimate pack purchases compared with an agreement-specific allocation across units.

Server + CAL

This model is offered here for Standard. Enter a verified server-license quantity and distinct users or devices that require access licenses. A CAL can cover access to multiple appropriately licensed SQL servers; this tool does not multiply CALs by server count. Indirect access through applications or pooling does not remove CAL requirements. CAL versions must cover the accessed server version.

Cases outside this estimate

Existing entitlements, upgrades, passive failover rights, license mobility, outsourcing, unlimited virtualization, containers, Azure Hybrid Benefit, SPLA and public-cloud license-included pricing are not modeled. No passive replica is automatically excluded. Include separately licensed workloads as separate estimates; do not infer free failover rights from an AG configuration.