Windows Server 2019 Standard vs Essentials

Windows Server 2019 has been announced and has already been made available. However, there are several editions available for the Windows Server 2019. This can be quite confusing, and choosing the right option may not be much easy. If you are confused and looking for the best options for the best features offered by each of the individual editions, we would help you in this venture.

For the sake of this post, we will compare the Standard and Essentials editions of Windows Server 2019 and find which among them would be the best for you.

Table of Contents

Which are the major versions of Windows Server 2019?

The primary Windows Server 2019 editions would include Windows Server 2019 Standard, Windows Server 2019 Essentials, and Windows Server 2019 Datacentre editions.

Windows Server 2019 Essentials

The Essentials edition is specially designed for small businesses. It can be best used if you have not more than 25 users. You can either opt for a remote or a physical, bare-metal server.

While the edition is designed to work with 25 users, you may not be able to work with more than 20 users. You would need a few ‘users, ‘ which would include system applications and processes. The Windows Server Essentials can be considered to be the new age version of the conventional Windows Small Business Server (SBS) products.

Ideally speaking, an Essential System will have access to all the features like MS Exchange, and Active Directory resides on a single physical system. Do note that this sort of setup and configuration may not be in tune with the best practices followed by Microsoft. Microsoft recommends having each of those systems on different, dedicated servers or VMs.

The features offered by the edition include

You are limited by 25 users and 50 devices.
The edition is best suited for small businesses.
You have access to the Azure Site Recovery service.

Some critical features offered by the platform would include

Easy connectivity with Azure services
An easier option for administration
Improved Linux operations.

Windows Server 2019 Standard

The plan is specially created for small and medium-sized businesses. Unlike the Essentials plan explained in the above discussion, the Standard edition is best suited for those looking for more than 20 users or those enterprises which would be looking for more than one server.

Ideally speaking, the standard edition may be a little difficult to understand. If you are looking to license Windows Server 2019 properly, you would need to buy the operating system first and then opt for the requisite number of CALs based on your exact needs.

The edition comes equipped with 16 core license pack included in addition to an additional Client Access Licences (CALs). You would find similar applications and resources like those on the Essentials edition. The only difference you would be able to see on this edition would be that it is suited best for a business with more than 25 users and 50 devices.

How do Windows Server 2019 Essentials and Standard editions differ from one another?

Well, the fundamental difference between the two editions of Windows Server 2019 lies in the fact that they only have different user requirements and thus are suited to work with the businesses as per the discussion above.

The primary difference is just that Windows Server 2019 Essentials can only be used with 25 clients. The standard version, however, does not have any sort of such limitations. The edition depends upon a number of Client’ access licenses or CALs that you have chosen.

The Essentials edition comes with a single license that comes with enough CALs that offer you access to up to 25 users or 50 devices. It is available at a considerably lower price range. You would be able to run almost all applications from within the UI.

Most possibly, we may not find the Essentials edition for the future generations of Windows Server. The Windows Server 2019 Essentials would be the last option, and next year onwards, you would only find Standard or Datacentre editions only.

If you are a small business, you can opt for other solutions like Microsoft 365 or similar other services.

The Comparison Chart

The comparison chart for the best features offered by Windows Server 2019 Essentials and Windows Server 2019 Standard would be helpful enough to understand them in a better manner.

Features	Windows Server 2019 Essentials	Windows Server 2019 Standard
Windows Server Core Functionality	No	Yes, available
Windows Server Containers with Hyper V	None	2
Windows Server containers without Hyper-V isolation	No	Yes
Licensing model	Specialty servers	Core-based license
CALs	No need for CALs	Windows Server CALs

Looking at the features and the functionalities offered by each of those options, it would be wiser enough to go with Windows Server 2019 Standard editions, whether you are a small business or a medium one. While the Essentials edition had its own advantages for a firm that does not need more than 25 users, things have changed considerably. The 2019 Essential edition has just remained a poor shadow of what had once been Windows Server Essentials.

The Concluding Thoughts

Those were a few inputs into the significant differences between Windows Server 2019 Essentials and Windows Server 2019 Standard editions. Do note that this would perhaps be the last version that you would find the Essentials edition on Windows Server. Next year onwards, you would either need to go with the other cloud products or choose the older versions of Windows Server like Windows Server 2016 Essentials.

The capabilities of Windows Server 2019 have been deprecated to a considerable extent when you compare it to the Windows Server 2016 Essentials. Having understood that, we would suggest you opt for the Windows Server 2019 Standard itself no matter whether you require fewer than 25 users or even more than that. Unless budget is not a considerable constraint for you, choose to go with Windows Server 2019 Standard edition, thanks to the additional features and functions that it tends to provide you.

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