Regarding pricing or licensing for Windows Server, there are options for CPU or core numbers. There are licensing options for on-premise and other options available in the cloud. I think the pricing is expensive because if you know how to administer or manage Linux, a file server is cheaper to use. However, if you know how to administer Linux, then Windows Server is still the best option for its friendly interface.
Manager, Information & Cloud Systems at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 5
May 15, 2025
The pricing is fair. There isn't much competition apart from Linux, which has support pricing rather than product pricing. Microsoft offers product pricing with licenses per processor and CAL licenses for accessing. The complexity of licensing can be difficult to understand for inexperienced users, but regarding pricing, there is no comparison.
For the on-prem version, you need to go for a perpetual license. An organization can buy licenses in a bundle. If I am planning to run ten operating systems, I will buy a pack of ten licenses, which will be cost-effective for me. If one goes bad, I can get another one by just putting it to use the same license, meaning I can reuse the license if something goes bad on any of the PCs. When it goes to the cloud, I can purchase the monthly licenses from Windows.
Windows Server is highly priced. They offer bundled licenses to be purchased yearly. Also, we need to pay extra for support services while utilizing different sources such as Linux.
Windows Server needs to be more flexible with the minimum requirements with the license and options. We are on an annual subscription to use the solution.
The pricing is high in certain regions as they don't price adjust for certain countries. They also do not negotiate their pricing. The cost is the cost.
AVP at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 10
Jan 25, 2022
We have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft and the price for the license is bundled together. The solution is expensive but for the bank that is using it, the price is fine. We pay for a license every three years.
DGM-IT at a construction company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Dec 15, 2021
Without a license we cannot use Windows Server. The price depends on the people and their budget. We have our enterprise EA agreement with Microsoft and based on that we are doing the licenses.
Senior Software Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Consultant
Dec 1, 2021
It is a fair price. For Microsoft overall, we have a subscription with Office. So there is also a bundle for Windows. The price is good. It is cheaper than Mac OS. In this case, it's better in terms of price.
I was not involved in the acquisition of the solution, so I do not have exact details about the pricing. We do pay for technical support. We have that until December and then we will need to re-subscribe.
Systems and networks engineer at a government with self employed
Real User
Aug 9, 2021
There is a license for Windows Server, but we have got the license from a local supplier, Black Neuron Technology. They also provide tech support locally.
There are no fees involved in the solution. The government directly pays the licensing fees for all public organizations, of which we are included. The organization's name is IDU, which does license development for the country in the computer science department. They give us the SQL Server and Microsoft Office to install in our public hospital.
Team leader technical support at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Jul 19, 2021
They are the same type of licensing for the Windows 10 endpoint solutions. We pay these on an annual basis. It is also dependant on your relationship with Microsoft as a company.
I'm not involved in the licensing aspect of the solution, I can't speak to the company's arrangement with Microsoft. I'm not sure how often we pay licensing fees or how much.
Systems Engineer at a educational organization with 11-50 employees
Real User
Jun 3, 2021
You do need to pay for a license. It's reasonably priced. Of course, if you are strapped for cash, you can set up a Linux type of server basically for free. It depends on what you need.
The pricing, for us, is reasonable. We are an educational institution and therefore we get special rates. Therefore, our pricing isn't too bad. However, an enterprise version of the solution is quite expensive.
Software Engineer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
May 14, 2021
We do have a license from Microsoft. I can't speak to how the subscription works however it's my understanding that it's paid yearly due to the fact that it's a large-scale scheme.
One of the problems with Microsoft is the price of licensing, and volume licensing for educational systems is a great option to bequeath licensing for small businesses.
You do have to pay for licenses to use the solution. It's quite expensive in general. However, that's just for Windows. Linux is not supported right now.
Senior System Engineer at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Real User
Jan 23, 2021
The Windows Server standard edition is affordable. But the cost of the data center edition is high, especially compared to some competitors. Some competitors are offering their operating systems for free.
Executive Personal Assistant at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Jan 8, 2021
Our current license is an enterprise license agreement which gives you a whole lot of possibility, especially when you go through an R&D process. For example, you can provision everything, spread the service use over six months, and then wrap it up. It gives you a lot of flexibility.
Cloud Service Director at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Dec 18, 2020
I don't deal with the pricing aspect of the solution and therefore can't really comment on how much it costs or if we are charged on a monthly or yearly basis.
Operations Director / Business Critical Solutions Architect at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Dec 1, 2020
In our case, we primarily use Microsoft, so the cost is a lot less. But some of our customers have spent approximately $12,000 a year on the operating system license.
System Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Reseller
Jul 23, 2020
If you buy a standard license, you can only buy two towards your machine. If you need more than that, you need to buy another type of licensing. It changes the cost and makes it much more expensive.
Windows Server offers enterprise-grade solutions with Active Directory, Hyper-V, and Azure integration. Known for its user-friendliness and stability, it is ideal for hosting applications and managing domains, promising scalability and seamless network management across environments.Windows Server is integral for businesses needing reliable infrastructure for server virtualization and enterprise application deployment. It excels in integrating with Microsoft applications, providing robust...
The pricing for the Data Center version of Windows Server is not unreasonably priced. While it is not cheap, the cost is reasonable.
Regarding pricing or licensing for Windows Server, there are options for CPU or core numbers. There are licensing options for on-premise and other options available in the cloud. I think the pricing is expensive because if you know how to administer or manage Linux, a file server is cheaper to use. However, if you know how to administer Linux, then Windows Server is still the best option for its friendly interface.
The pricing is fair. There isn't much competition apart from Linux, which has support pricing rather than product pricing. Microsoft offers product pricing with licenses per processor and CAL licenses for accessing. The complexity of licensing can be difficult to understand for inexperienced users, but regarding pricing, there is no comparison.
Previously, server licenses were purchased. Now, it's core-based licensing, which costs more. This is now Microsoft's licensing approach.
The price of Windows Server is very expensive. On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the most expensive, I rate it ten out of ten.
For the on-prem version, you need to go for a perpetual license. An organization can buy licenses in a bundle. If I am planning to run ten operating systems, I will buy a pack of ten licenses, which will be cost-effective for me. If one goes bad, I can get another one by just putting it to use the same license, meaning I can reuse the license if something goes bad on any of the PCs. When it goes to the cloud, I can purchase the monthly licenses from Windows.
We had an annual license. The product was quite expensive.
It is an expensive product. My company makes payments towards the licensing costs attached to the product.
Windows Server is highly priced. They offer bundled licenses to be purchased yearly. Also, we need to pay extra for support services while utilizing different sources such as Linux.
The tool's licensing costs are yearly.
I would rate the costliness of Windows Server as an eight out of ten. It is quite expensive.
Windows Server has medium pricing.
It is not expensive. We have yearly basis licensing.
We use a perpetual license for Windows Server, which is expensive.
I rate the product's pricing an eight out of ten.
There could be a one-time cost for Windows Server and not every month. It is a huge amount for the companies to pay yearly.
We have purchased Windows Server’s yearly license. I rate its pricing a four out of ten.
The cost is relatively high.
There is a license required to use Windows Server.
Windows Server needs to be more flexible with the minimum requirements with the license and options. We are on an annual subscription to use the solution.
The pricing is high in certain regions as they don't price adjust for certain countries. They also do not negotiate their pricing. The cost is the cost.
We have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft and the price for the license is bundled together. The solution is expensive but for the bank that is using it, the price is fine. We pay for a license every three years.
To use Windows Server, we pay for licensing yearly. The licensing cost should be cheaper—it is expensive and should not cost that much.
I'm not involved much in the payment part, but I believe that we pay a yearly subscription for licensing.
Without a license we cannot use Windows Server. The price depends on the people and their budget. We have our enterprise EA agreement with Microsoft and based on that we are doing the licenses.
It is a fair price. For Microsoft overall, we have a subscription with Office. So there is also a bundle for Windows. The price is good. It is cheaper than Mac OS. In this case, it's better in terms of price.
The price of the solution could improve.
The price of the solution's license is expensive and this an issue which demands Window's immediate attention. Our licensing fee is perpetual.
Windows could always lower the cost.
We pay for a yearly license
Our licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis.
I don't have any insights into the licensing.
The price needs to be reduced. Users find it prohibitive. It is exorbitant for the value one gets with the solution.
There is a licensing fee. It is possible that the Windows Server OS was built with this server.
I was not involved in the acquisition of the solution, so I do not have exact details about the pricing. We do pay for technical support. We have that until December and then we will need to re-subscribe.
The pricing could be more competitive. We only pay a one-time fee and do not have to continuously pay monthly or yearly.
There is a license for Windows Server, but we have got the license from a local supplier, Black Neuron Technology. They also provide tech support locally.
We have perpetual licenses.
There is a license required for Windows Server and Microsoft the cost is based on the number of ports that you have on the production server.
There are no fees involved in the solution. The government directly pays the licensing fees for all public organizations, of which we are included. The organization's name is IDU, which does license development for the country in the computer science department. They give us the SQL Server and Microsoft Office to install in our public hospital.
The license is perpetual. Once you buy the server, you don't have to continue to renew the license itself.
The pricing could be a bit more competitive. The solution offers a permanent license. You don't have to pay a monthly or yearly subscription.
They are the same type of licensing for the Windows 10 endpoint solutions. We pay these on an annual basis. It is also dependant on your relationship with Microsoft as a company.
We don't pay for the license. That is as part of a contract in which we pay a monthly charge for having the servers in the hosted environment.
The price of the solution is expensive, and there are many price options available, such as monthly or perpetual licenses.
I'm not involved in the licensing aspect of the solution, I can't speak to the company's arrangement with Microsoft. I'm not sure how often we pay licensing fees or how much.
You do need to pay for a license. It's reasonably priced. Of course, if you are strapped for cash, you can set up a Linux type of server basically for free. It depends on what you need.
In general, the pricing can be improved. Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis.
Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis.
There is an annual license required for this solution.
We have enterprise agreements with Microsoft.
There is a license required and it is on an annual basis.
The pricing, for us, is reasonable. We are an educational institution and therefore we get special rates. Therefore, our pricing isn't too bad. However, an enterprise version of the solution is quite expensive.
There is a license required for this solution.
It could be cheaper. Its licensing is on a yearly basis.
We pay for the license every month.
We do have a license from Microsoft. I can't speak to how the subscription works however it's my understanding that it's paid yearly due to the fact that it's a large-scale scheme.
Licensing fees are paid on an annual basis, and the price could be improved.
The solution does require a company to obtain a license. We would like the licenses to be less expensive. Generally, the price is too high.
It could be cheaper.
It is priced very well and we pay an annual license fee. It's not very expensive when compared to Linux.
We had to purchase the solution and also the licenses to go on each computer system.
The price could be better and the licensing model could be easier to understand. Our customers prefer lifetime licenses.
One of the problems with Microsoft is the price of licensing, and volume licensing for educational systems is a great option to bequeath licensing for small businesses.
There is a license needed for this solution.
We purchase licenses. It's expensive, but we have a need for it and have to purchase it.
You do have to pay for licenses to use the solution. It's quite expensive in general. However, that's just for Windows. Linux is not supported right now.
The solution requires licencing.
We're engaged with a reseller who deals with licensing for us.
There is a license for this solution and the price could be cheaper.
We pay the license on a yearly basis. It's a bit expensive if you were to compare it to Linux.
Of course, the solution itself is expensive. However, they are not many alternatives. There's very little choice on the market.
We pay yearly for a license. If you ask any vendor they will tell you that it could be cheaper.
It is important to have the cheapest price for all of the material and licenses.
The Windows Server standard edition is affordable. But the cost of the data center edition is high, especially compared to some competitors. Some competitors are offering their operating systems for free.
Our current license is an enterprise license agreement which gives you a whole lot of possibility, especially when you go through an R&D process. For example, you can provision everything, spread the service use over six months, and then wrap it up. It gives you a lot of flexibility.
I don't deal with the pricing aspect of the solution and therefore can't really comment on how much it costs or if we are charged on a monthly or yearly basis.
In our case, we primarily use Microsoft, so the cost is a lot less. But some of our customers have spent approximately $12,000 a year on the operating system license.
We have a corporate deal with Microsoft and pay licensing fees annually. It is an expensive product.
This is not an expensive product.
There are licensing costs for this solution, although it's not expensive. Microsoft is relatively inexpensive compared to other database platforms.
The licensing fees are expensive.
If you buy a standard license, you can only buy two towards your machine. If you need more than that, you need to buy another type of licensing. It changes the cost and makes it much more expensive.