Buy Pre-owned SQL Server 2025 Enterprise (2 Core) Licences

SQL Server 2025 Enterprise is the latest release of Microsoft's relational database management software, built for mission critical workloads that demand in-memory performance, security and high availability, with Enterprise Edition's add-on services included. This page covers the Pre-owned Perpetual Volume licence, supplied as a single 2-core pack: a licence you own outright, valid for an unlimited period, 64-bit, installed from ISO media, and for Corporate use only.

Every pre-owned licence we sell is sourced from Microsoft perpetual volume licensing 'Open', 'Select', 'Enterprise' or MPSA programmes. We do not supply FPP or OEM product, and what you purchase is the licence itself, not a bare product key: each licence undergoes stringent checks to ensure it is fully compliant with EU and UK legislation, and is supplied with a complete documented audit trail proving legal ownership, leading back to the original Microsoft customer, in case of a vendor or SAM audit.

Microsoft released SQL Server 2025 into volume licensing in November 2025, making this the newest version to reach the secondary market. As a registered Microsoft Partner and authorised Microsoft Reseller, Discount-Licensing can also supply new licences where pre-owned stock is unavailable, so one quotation request covers your complete software licence needs. Previous version downgrade rights are included, so the same licence can deploy SQL Server 2022 or earlier if your estate is not ready for 2025.

SQL Server 2025 Enterprise licensing, explained

SQL Server 2025 Enterprise is licensed under Microsoft's Per Core model, and per-core licences are sold in packs of two. This product is one 2-core pack; most purchases combine several packs to cover a server. The rules that determine how many packs you need:

• Physical servers: all physical cores in the server must be licensed, subject to a minimum of four core licences per physical processor. In practice that means at least two 2-core packs per processor, even on low-core-count hardware.
• No CALs: under the Per Core model no Client Access Licences are required, so an unlimited number of users and devices may access the server. Enterprise edition is available under the Per Core model only; Server+CAL licensing exists only for Standard edition.
• Virtual machines: Pre-owned software does not include Software Assurance. The number of OSEs is limited to the number of core licences assigned to the server; tell us how you intend to virtualise when you request a quotation.
• Downgrade rights: the SQL Server 2025 licence terms permit an instance of any earlier version. Previous version downgrade rights are included with this licence, so it can equally deploy SQL Server 2022 Enterprise where needed.

Worth knowing about the 2025 release: Microsoft released SQL Server 2025 to volume licensing on 18 November 2025 and to other channels from January 2026.

Why buy pre-owned SQL Server from Discount-Licensing

We did not arrive at the secondary market recently. Discount-Licensing was incorporated in July 2004, after researching the legalities of a European secondary licence market with Microsoft's cooperation through 2003 and 2004, and launched the secondary market in Microsoft Volume licences in November 2005. We have traded in pre-owned Microsoft Volume software licences ever since.

• Two trading entities, UK and EU: Discount-Licensing Ltd in the UK (Company No: 05183378), and Discount-Licensing S.L. in Spain (NIF No: B06819676), incorporated at the end of 2020 to maintain fully legal post-Brexit supply throughout the EU.
• ISO 9001:2015 certified in both the EU and the UK, providing software products and service that meet the applicable regulatory and statutory requirements as well as the customer's requirements.
• Professional Indemnity insurance protects every transaction.
• The Secondary Software Licence Centre (SSLC), our unique client web portal, provides your invoices, media downloads, product activation keys and full proof-of-ownership documentation for every transaction. Your account is created automatically when you place an order.
• We are a registered Microsoft Partner and authorised Microsoft Reseller, listed on the Microsoft AppSource partner directory, so we can supply new licences where pre-owned stock is unavailable and offer a complete solution for your software licence needs.
• Customers include Microlise, Camira Fabrics Ltd and Worldmark, whose testimonials appear on this site; further customer references are available upon request.

The site and our service are available in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, with UK and EU telephone support.

The legal basis: Directive 2009/24/EC and the ECJ UsedSoft ruling

The resale of pre-owned software licences in Europe is not a grey area. It is provided for by Article 4(2) of the European Software Directive 2009/24/EC, under which the first sale in the Community of a copy of a program, by the right holder or with his consent, exhausts the distribution right within the Community of that copy. On 3 July 2012 the European Court of Justice confirmed in UsedSoft v Oracle (Case C-128/11) that this principle of exhaustion also applies to intangible, digitally delivered software, including software sold within Volume Licence Agreements by vendors such as Microsoft. The ruling also established that a Licence Agreement can legally be split down to individual licence (product SKU) level, but no further; a 2-core pack such as this one is an individual product SKU.

We warrant that all software licences purchased by Discount-Licensing have been first put into use within the European Union or United Kingdom, and we will provide proof of ownership for every purchase and sale in accordance with the European Software Directive 2009/24/EC. For every transaction, a legitimate supplier must be able to demonstrate four things, and we do:

• The software was first put to use in the UK or Europe (the original Country of Usage).
• The original Microsoft customer's unique Licence Agreement (LA) and product SKU numbers, identifying who first purchased the software and what was purchased.
• Confirmation that the software has been divested and uninstalled from the original Microsoft customer's servers.
• Ownership documentation leading back to the original Microsoft customer.

This is what separates a compliant licence transfer from grey-market key selling. Be wary of suppliers who rely on notary attestations to obscure the source of their licences, resell Microsoft Partner Pack or MSDN keys, issue self-designed software certificates, or provide invoices without unique Microsoft licence agreement numbers. These are the unlawful business models our Legal page warns against.

Pre-owned licences may also legally be purchased to rectify non-compliance, whether before or after a SAM audit, and every licence we supply carries the complete documented audit trail needed to prove legal ownership to a vendor or SAM auditor.

Request a SQL Server 2025 Enterprise (2 Core) quotation

Use Add to Quote to add the number of 2-core packs you need, and we will respond to your request within 24 hours with a quotation. Prefer to talk it through? Call us on +44 (0)1283 511524 (UK) or +34 934 923499 (EU). Licences for Corporate use only.