Use the licence configurator to
establish your own licence requirements

Microsoft Windows Server is the most widely used server operating system in the world. It can be deployed either on a cloud platform such as Microsoft Azure or on a hardware system. Companies need the appropriate licences to use and to manage Microsoft Windows servers.

Server CAL licence model

What is known as the Server CAL licensing model is common on Microsoft systems. In order to be legally licensed, this model requires access licences (CALs) in addition to the server’s own licence for server operation. The vendor offers the choice between licensing by users (User CALs) or devices (Device CALs).

If you want to calculate your own licence requirements for Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022 or Windows Server 2025, you should know these rules!

Four licensing rules for the Windows Server licence calculator

Rule No. 1: Each physical processor is rated with at least eight cores.
Rule No. 2: Each physical server is rated with at least 16 cores.
Rule No. 3: Taking rules 1 and 2 into account, all physical and active cores in the server must be licensed – only then does a standard server have two, and a data-centre server unlimited, virtualisation rights.
Rule No. 4: To acquire two additional VM rights with the standard edition, all physical active cores need to be re-licensed.

Use the licence calculator below to calculate how many licensed cores you need.

Simply fill out the form – your VENDOSOFT consultant will determine the number of Microsoft server licences you actually need!