On this page · 11 sections
- What changed since mid-2025
- Option 1: SQL Server 2025 (on-premises or on a VM)
- Option 2: Azure SQL Managed Instance
- Option 3: PostgreSQL (self-managed or managed)
- Head-to-head comparison
- Decision table
- Worked cost example: one 8-core workload for 12 months
- India, EU and US notes
- Migration notes by path
- How eCorpIT can help
- References
Summary. SQL Server 2017 leaves extended support on 12 October 2027, and as of 7 November 2026 Microsoft's Extended Security Update (ESU) documentation covers only SQL Server 2014 and 2016. That leaves three exits. SQL Server 2025 is the default for estates staying on their own hardware or VMs: every 2017 edition has an in-place upgrade path, databases keep compatibility level 140, and support runs to 6 January 2036. List prices match SQL Server 2022 at $3,945 per 2-core Standard pack, or $73 per core a month through Azure Arc, but it needs Windows Server 2019 or later. Azure SQL Managed Instance suits teams leaving hardware or a data centre: a 99.99% availability SLA, no engine upgrades, and a link that replicates from SQL Server 2017 for a short cutover. An 8-vCore General Purpose instance in Central India lists at about $1,561.65 a month, or $977.84 with Azure Hybrid Benefit. PostgreSQL has no licence fee and version 18 is supported to 14 November 2030, but T-SQL must be converted, so pick it when a rewrite is already funded or licence spend dominates.
About this article. For IT managers, DBAs and architects deciding where SQL Server 2017 databases go before October 2027. We checked dates, prices and features against Microsoft Learn, Microsoft lifecycle, licensing and SLA documents, the Azure Retail Prices API, postgresql.org and AWS documentation on 7 November 2026. Prices are US dollar list prices before tax and change often. This is not licensing or financial advice, and no vendor paid for inclusion. Researched with AI assistance and reviewed by our editorial team.
What changed since mid-2025
This article compares destinations. For the deadline itself (what ends, ESU licensing and a timeline), read our SQL Server 2017 end of support guide. If the host also runs Windows Server 2016, which leaves extended support on 12 January 2027, see our Windows Server 2016 options comparison.
- SQL Server 2025 shipped. It reached general availability on 18 November 2025 with mainstream support to 6 January 2031, and Standard edition now uses up to 32 cores and 256 GB of buffer pool memory per instance at unchanged list prices.
- No ESU safety net is in sight. Free ESUs on Azure VMs ended with SQL Server 2016. New ESU offers released from 1 April 2026 carry the same list price in Azure, on-premises and other clouds, so any future 2017 offer would not be cheaper in Azure.
- Managed Instance gained a SQL Server 2025 update policy, now the default for instances created in the Azure portal or with REST API version 2026-08-01-preview and later.
- PostgreSQL moves this month. PostgreSQL 14 gets its final release on 12 November 2026, and PostgreSQL 19, a release candidate since 15 October 2026, is planned for general availability on 19 November 2026. The current 18.x release is 18.6.
- Tooling shifted. Microsoft retired the Data Migration Assistant on 16 July 2025, and its end of support guidance now points to the migration component in SQL Server Management Studio. On AWS, DMS Schema Conversion supports SQL Server to Aurora PostgreSQL or RDS for PostgreSQL, with generative AI for objects its rules cannot convert.
Option 1: SQL Server 2025 (on-premises or on a VM)
What it is. The current SQL Server release, on your hardware, at a hosting provider or on a cloud VM, on Windows or Linux.
Feature parity with 2017. Effectively complete. Every SQL Server 2017 edition has an in-place upgrade path, and upgraded or restored databases keep compatibility level 140 until you raise it to 170. Two changes need a plan: Web edition is discontinued, and on-premises reporting is consolidated under Power BI Report Server.
Licensing. Microsoft's SQL Server 2025 datasheet lists open no-level prices of $15,123 per 2-core Enterprise pack, $3,945 per 2-core Standard pack, or $989 per Standard server plus $230 per CAL, the same as its SQL Server 2022 price list. Subscriptions cost $5,434 (Enterprise) and $1,418 (Standard) per 2-core pack per year. Pay-as-you-go through Azure Arc costs $274 and $73 per core a month ($0.375 and $0.100 an hour), matching Azure's Arc meters. Enterprise Developer, Standard Developer and Express are free; Express now allows 50 GB databases.
Platform requirements. Windows Server 2019 or later, or RHEL 9 or 10 or Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 on Linux; SLES is no longer listed. Hosts running SQL Server 2017 on Windows Server 2016, RHEL 7 or 8, SLES 12 or Ubuntu 18.04 need a new OS first.
HA/DR. Enterprise supports availability groups with up to eight secondary replicas, plus contained and distributed availability groups. Standard gets basic availability groups (two replicas, one database) and two-node failover cluster instances. Software Assurance, as Microsoft publishes it for SQL Server 2022, adds free passive instances for HA and DR, including one in Azure.
AI and vector features. A native vector type in every edition, with embedding generation, chunking and external models. DiskANN vector indexes and local ONNX models still need the PREVIEW_FEATURES database scoped configuration. A native JSON type, regular expression functions and mirroring into Microsoft Fabric are also new.
Lock-in and fit. You stay on Microsoft licensing, but the engine runs on-premises, in any cloud and in Linux containers. Best for estates with hardware life left, ISVs that certify 2025, heavy use of instance-level features, or data that must stay on-site.
Option 2: Azure SQL Managed Instance
What it is. A platform-as-a-service SQL Server instance with cross-database queries, SQL Server Agent and CLR, but no OS to patch.
Feature parity with 2017. High, with gaps that Microsoft documents:
- FILESTREAM and FileTable aren't supported, and backups containing FILESTREAM data won't restore.
CREATE LOGIN ... FROM WINDOWSisn't supported; use Microsoft Entra logins.
BULK INSERTandOPENROWSETread from Azure Blob storage, not file shares.
- SQL Server Agent is always on with read-only settings, and multi-server (MSX/TSX) jobs aren't supported.
- Memory-optimised tables aren't supported on General Purpose.
Storage per instance tops out at 16 TB on classic General Purpose, 32 TB on Next-gen General Purpose and 4 TB or 16 TB on Business Critical, against 524 PB per database for SQL Server. The 2025 and Always-up-to-date policies accept compatibility levels 100 to 170, and the 2022 policy 100 to 160, so 2017 databases arrive at level 140.
Update policy. The SQL Server 2022 and 2025 policies keep the database format restorable to the matching SQL Server version and allow bidirectional failover with it. Always-up-to-date gets new engine features first but is one way: no switching back and no restore to SQL Server. The 2022 policy lasts only until SQL Server 2022 mainstream support ends on 11 January 2028, so pick the 2025 policy if you need an exit.
Pricing. Billed per vCore-hour plus storage. Azure's price list shows General Purpose standard-series (Gen5) compute at $0.167439 per vCore-hour in Central India, plus a General Purpose licence meter of $0.099966 (Business Critical: $0.375). Azure Hybrid Benefit removes the licence meter: each Standard core with Software Assurance covers one General Purpose vCore, and each Enterprise core covers four. Storage costs $0.1311 per GB-month in Central India, and backup storage equal to the database size is free.
Migration effort. Low to moderate. The Managed Instance link replicates one way from SQL Server 2017 on Windows or Linux, given CU31 (14.0.3456.2) and the matching Azure Connect pack (14.0.3490.10), so the cutover is short. It doesn't copy logins, Agent jobs or server-level objects. Azure Migrate sizes the target; backup and restore, Log Replay Service and Arc-based migration are the alternatives to the link.
HA/DR. The SLA is 99.99%, or 99.995% with a zone-redundant deployment. Failover groups add a secondary region, and under the 2022 or 2025 policy the link gives disaster recovery with an on-premises SQL Server of the same version.
AI and vector features. Vector indexes and VECTOR_SEARCH are generally available under Always-up-to-date and in preview under the SQL Server 2025 policy.
Lock-in and fit. Azure only, softened by the 2025 policy's restore path. Best for a hardware or data centre lease ending, small DBA teams, and estates that want to stop upgrading engines.
Option 3: PostgreSQL (self-managed or managed)
What it is. The open source relational database, self-hosted or managed by Azure, AWS, Google Cloud and others. For Azure in India, our HorizonDB vs Flexible Server comparison covers which managed option runs in Indian regions.
Licensing and support. The PostgreSQL License is a liberal open source licence similar to BSD or MIT, so the licence cost is zero. Each major version gets five years of support: PostgreSQL 18 until 14 November 2030, PostgreSQL 17 until 8 November 2029. Major upgrades need pg_upgrade or a dump and reload.
Feature parity with 2017. Low at the code level. Tables and data move easily; T-SQL procedures, functions, triggers, Agent jobs, SSIS packages and SSRS reports need conversion or replacement. Two AWS tools help:
- AWS DMS Schema Conversion converts SQL Server schemas and code for Aurora PostgreSQL or RDS for PostgreSQL with a rules engine, uses generative AI where the rules fail, and reports what needs manual work. It converts schema, not data; AWS DMS moves the data.
- Babelfish for Aurora PostgreSQL adds a SQL Server wire-protocol (TDS) endpoint on port 1433, so many applications connect without driver changes, with documented T-SQL differences. AWS runs it as an Aurora feature; the Babelfish for PostgreSQL project itself is open source under the Apache 2.0 and PostgreSQL licences.
Microsoft's schema conversion documentation for Azure Database for PostgreSQL covers Oracle sources, so budget for manual or third-party T-SQL conversion on Azure.
HA/DR. Streaming replication from the write-ahead log, synchronous or asynchronous, with read-only hot standbys, plus per-table logical replication, but no synchronous multimaster. PostgreSQL doesn't detect a failed primary by itself, so failover comes from a managed service or external tooling.
AI and vector features. pgvector 0.8.7 supports exact and approximate search with HNSW and IVFFlat indexes, plus single, half-precision, binary and sparse vectors, on Postgres 13 and later. Our Postgres vector search comparison covers the alternatives.
Lock-in and fit. The lowest of the three, though Aurora-only features add AWS dependence. Best for small or new applications, teams already writing PostgreSQL, and products where per-core SQL Server licensing is a large share of cost.
Head-to-head comparison
The table condenses the sections above.
| SQL Server 2025 | Azure SQL Managed Instance | PostgreSQL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licence | Microsoft per core, Server plus CAL, or pay-as-you-go | Included per vCore-hour, or Azure Hybrid Benefit | PostgreSQL License, $0 |
| Headline price | $3,945 per 2-core Standard pack; $73 per core-month PAYG | $0.267405 per vCore-hour GP licence-included, Central India | Infrastructure or managed-service fee only |
| Support horizon | 6 January 2036 | Versionless service | 5 years per major; v18 to 14 November 2030 |
| 2017 code compatibility | Same engine; level 140 kept | High; documented T-SQL gaps | Conversion required |
| Migration path from 2017 | In-place upgrade or restore | MI link (one way) or restore | Schema conversion plus data migration |
| Platform dependency | Windows Server 2019 or later, RHEL 9 or 10, Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 | None to manage | Any supported OS or service |
| Built-in HA | Availability groups (Enterprise), basic AGs (Standard) | 99.99% SLA, zone redundancy, failover groups | Streaming replication; failover via service or tooling |
| Vector search | Vector type in all editions; DiskANN index in preview | Index GA on Always-up-to-date | pgvector HNSW and IVFFlat |
| Maximum size | 524 PB per database | 16 TB to 32 TB per GP instance | Hardware or service limit |
| Exit path | Any host | Restore to SQL Server 2025 on the matching policy | Any PostgreSQL host |
Decision table
| Pick this | If |
|---|---|
| SQL Server 2025 in place | Hardware and OS meet the 2025 requirements and the ISV certifies 2025 |
| SQL Server 2025 on a new VM | The host runs Windows Server 2016 or 2017-era Linux and needs replacing anyway |
| Azure SQL Managed Instance | Hardware or a lease ends in the next 12 months, you want PaaS, and you don't use FILESTREAM, Windows logins or file-share bulk loads |
| Managed Instance on the SQL Server 2025 policy | You need a tested route back to on-premises for regulators or contracts |
| PostgreSQL | The app has limited T-SQL, a rewrite is planned, or licence spend dominates total cost |
| Babelfish for Aurora PostgreSQL | You are moving to AWS and want PostgreSQL economics with fewer application changes |
| Stay on 2017 | Not recommended; Microsoft has announced no 2017 ESU offer |
Worked cost example: one 8-core workload for 12 months
An illustrative model, not a quote. One Standard-class OLTP database needs 8 cores or vCores and 500 GB, running 8,760 hours a year. Prices come from Microsoft's SQL Server 2025 datasheet and the Azure Retail Prices API (Central India for Managed Instance); the ESU row uses the SQL Server 2016 Standard ESU meter of $0.19 per core-hour (0.19 × 730 = $138.70 a month). Hardware, networking and labour are excluded.
| Option | Arithmetic | 12-month cost | What is not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| SQL Server 2025 Standard, perpetual | 4 × $3,945 | $15,780 one-off | Software Assurance, host |
| SQL Server 2025 Standard, subscription | 4 × $1,418 | $5,672 | Host |
| SQL Server 2025 Standard, Arc pay-as-you-go | 8 × $73 × 12 | $7,008 | Host |
| Managed Instance GP, licence included | 8 × $0.267405 × 8,760 + 500 × $0.1311 × 12 | $19,526.34 | Backup storage beyond the free allowance |
| Managed Instance GP, Azure Hybrid Benefit | 8 × $0.167439 × 8,760 + 500 × $0.1311 × 12 | $12,520.73 | 8 Standard core licences with SA |
| PostgreSQL | $0 licence | $0 licence | Host or managed service; one-off code conversion |
| Stay on 2017, hypothetical ESU at the 2016 rate | 8 × $138.70 × 12 | $13,315.20 | Only if Microsoft offers 2017 ESUs |
How to read it:
- The licence costs about the same everywhere. The Managed Instance licence meter (8 × $0.099966 × 8,760 = about $7,006 a year) is within a few dollars of Arc pay-as-you-go Standard ($7,008). The other $11,734 in the licence-included row is compute (8 × $0.167439 × 8,760), which includes HA, patching and backups.
- Managed Instance against an upgrade is a platform decision. Compare $11,734 of compute plus $786.60 of storage with your own VM or host, second replica, Windows Server, patching and backup tooling. A one-year reservation lists compute at $953 per vCore in Central India, against $1,466.77 pay as you go.
- PostgreSQL's saving is real but delayed. Avoiding $5,672 to $7,008 a year of Standard licensing repays a conversion only if the T-SQL footprint is small.
- An ESU bridge, if one ever exists, costs nearly as much as new licences. One year for 8 cores at the 2016 rate ($13,315.20) is about 84% of perpetual SQL Server 2025 Standard ($15,780).
India, EU and US notes
India. Managed Instance rates differ by region: General Purpose compute lists at $0.184183 per vCore-hour in South India against $0.167439 in Central India. SQL Server 2025 on-premises and self-managed PostgreSQL keep personal data on your own infrastructure. For a cloud move, keep personal data in Indian regions where your sector regulator expects it, and see our DPDP engineering playbook.
EU. Lock-in differs sharply between the options. If Managed Instance or a managed PostgreSQL service is the target, read our note on the EU Data Act cloud switching rules, and prefer the SQL Server 2025 update policy if you need a documented exit.
US. In Azure Government, SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc runs only in US Gov Virginia, on Windows, with a subset of features, and the Managed Instance General Purpose licence meter is $0.124957 per vCore-hour. Confirm Arc-based migration and billing there before you design around them.
Migration notes by path
- SQL Server 2025. Run the SSMS migration component's assessment, rebuild hosts that fail the OS requirements, upgrade or restore at level 140, then raise to 170 with Query Tuning Assistant.
- Managed Instance. Assess with Azure Migrate, fix FILESTREAM, Windows logins, file-share bulk loads and memory-optimised tables, patch the source to CU31 with the Azure Connect pack, replicate with the link, and script logins and Agent jobs.
- PostgreSQL. Inventory T-SQL objects, run a conversion assessment, price the manual work, and pilot one application end to end before committing the estate.
- Every path. Set a target date for each instance before 12 October 2027, and don't plan on ESUs that Microsoft hasn't announced.
How eCorpIT can help
eCorpIT is a Gurugram-based technology organisation, founded in 2021, assessed at CMMI Level 5 and MSME certified, with senior-led engineering teams working across AWS, Microsoft and Google platforms. Our cloud migration services team assesses SQL Server 2017 estates instance by instance, models SQL Server 2025, Managed Instance and PostgreSQL costs against your licence position, and runs the chosen migration with rehearsed cutovers. Talk to us at /contact-us/.
Last updated: 7 November 2026.
