Microsoft Windows Server Plans Pricing
Windows Server 2025 is sold as a perpetual license under a core-based licensing model, with two primary editions — Standard ($1,176 MSRP) and Datacenter ($6,771 MSRP) — both quoted for 16-core packs. Standard supports 2 virtual machines per license; Datacenter supports unlimited VMs and is intended for highly virtualized environments. Both editions require Client Access Licenses (CALs) per user or device. A pay-as-you-go model via Azure Arc bills $33.58 per CPU core per month or $0.046 per hour. Windows Server platform APIs (PowerShell remoting, WinRM, WMI, IIS, AD) are local / intra-fabric and are not metered as hosted HTTP APIs.
Microsoft Windows Server Plans Pricing is the machine-readable pricing-plan profile for Microsoft Windows Server on the APIs.io network, conforming to the API Commons Plans specification.
It defines 5 plans, covering subscription and pay-as-you-go tiers, with named plans including Windows Server 2025 Standard, Windows Server 2025 Datacenter, Windows Server CAL, Windows Server Pay-As-You-Go (Azure Arc), Windows Server Essentials (legacy).
Tagged areas include Operating System, Server, Windows, Microsoft, and Datacenter.
Plans
Core-based perpetual license. Suggested MSRP $1,176 for a 16-core pack. Supports 2 VMs per license. Sized for physical or minimally virtualized workloads.
- 16 cores covered per pack
- 2 virtual machines per license
- Requires Windows Server CALs
Core-based perpetual license. Suggested MSRP $6,771 for a 16-core pack. Unlimited VMs per license. Built for highly virtualized datacenters / cloud.
- 16 cores covered per pack
- Unlimited virtual machines per license
- Software-defined storage / networking features
- Requires Windows Server CALs
Client Access License required per user or per device for any user or device accessing a Windows Server. Per-CAL pricing varies by channel; not published on the public pricing page.
- Required for both Standard and Datacenter
- Per-user or per-device flavor
Hourly pay-as-you-go licensing model exposed through Azure Arc; suitable for bursty capacity or short-term needs.
- Azure Arc connection required
- Scale up/down with workload
Small-business edition; not separately listed on the current Windows Server 2025 pricing page.
- Up to 25 users / 50 devices (historic)
- No CALs required (historic)
Sources
Work with this as data
Every plan here is available over the APIs.io API and to AI agents over MCP.