Microsoft SQL Server Client Software
Database programs you can use today, for free, to learn and build Microsoft infrastructures
Audience: IT students, database administrators, developers and decision makers
Contents
Executive Summary and Introduction
Client-Side Software Free with a Developer’s License
· SQL Server Developer Edition
· SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
· Azure Data Studio
· Visual Studio Code
· SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT)
· mssql-cli
Conclusions
Footnotes
· Your help is welcome!
· LinkedIn
· Substack
Executive Summary and Introduction
One of our customers uses a Microsoft ecosystem to do their company’s financial work, and their system has become complex enough to warrant a database, to be used for mass, centralized storage of data and increasingly complex reporting. Since there is a lot of work there to be done, it now behooves us to build a Microsoft infrastructure for development purposes.
At Overlogix, we’ve spent 25 years wrestling Oracle’s enterprise sprawl: massive, multi-terabyte databases, automation, the works. But Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL)? Only once, to migrate a customer’s system off of Sybase (the UNIX-hosted predecessor of SQL Server) to Oracle. We’ve fiddled with MSSQL, off and on, throughout the years, but as Oracle specialists, there hasn’t been a lot of motivation to spend a lot of time on it, until now
That situation has changed, hence this series of articles. Since Microsoft flipped the Developer Edition to free in 2016, one can get enterprise-grade features (non-production) for nothing. No catch, just tools: management GUIs, lightweight editors, command-line warriors, and connectors that tie your apps to SQL Server’s engine. The developer’s version of the engine itself, SQL Server, is one of those tools.
Why does this matter? We perceive a white-collar job shortage (see “The Overlogix Sunday Times #14, USA Edition” for news on the downturn); remaining nimble and flexible about technology means staying both employable and employed. For the IT student, knowing any of the popular relational database systems (Oracle, MSSQL, DB2, PostgreSQL, MySQL / MariaDB) in detail greatly simplifies learning any of the others. Our feeling is that deep database knowledge is a persistent shortage skill set and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
Below, we list the important components of the Microsoft database software ecosystem: SQL Server Developer Edition, SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), Azure Data Studio, SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT), and mssql-cli. Each gets a breakdown: description, licensing, downloads, docs. These are Microsoft tools a student, developer or consultant can run on their laptop, together forming a complete database developer environment.
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Client-Side Software, Free, with a Developer’s License
Microsoft SQL Server’s Developer Edition, free since 2016, provides a full enterprise feature set for non-production use (read: software development). That includes a very sophisticated (and complicated, but powerful) set of client-side software: no-cost tools for managing, coding, querying, and connecting to SQL Server instances. Here’s the rundown, with descriptions, explicit licensing, download links, and docs.
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SQL Server Developer Edition
Description: MSSQL DevEd includes the entire feature set of the Enterprise Edition. This means developers have access to all the advanced features of SQL Server, allowing them to develop and test applications using the full capabilities without the cost of an Enterprise license. This edition cannot be used in a production system, so the only difference between this version of MSSQL and the Enterprise Edition is the license.1
Download: (2 - 8GB, depending on features chosen and configured; read the manual before downloading) https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-downloads
Documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/?view=sql-server-ver16
License: Free for development and testing, expensive for production use.
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SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
Description: SSMS is the grandfather of SQL Server tools; a desktop GUI that’s been around since SQL Server 2005, now at version 20.2 (Feb 2025). It’s your one-stop shop: manage instances, write T-SQL queries, design databases, monitor performance, and tweak configurations.
You can script backups, analyze query plans, or debug stored procedures, all with a click-heavy interface that’s newbie-friendly but deep enough for pros. Windows-only, but it works with Azure SQL and on-premises servers alike. It can be used to mock up client DBs without touching production.
Download: SSMS 20.2 (~500 MB, Windows 10/11/Server).
Documentation: Release Notes (what’s new—e.g., Azure auth fixes); User Guide (how-to’s—e.g., query tuning).
License: Free under SQL Server Developer Edition: full features for development, testing, and demo use. No production workloads (e.g., live customer apps), upgrade to Standard/Enterprise for that, starting at ~$900/core. Microsoft’s EULA caps it at non-commercial, single-user dev environments.
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Azure Data Studio
Description: Azure Data Studio (ADS) is the sleek, cross-platform cousin to SSMS, like VS Code for SQL Server. Launched in 2018, it’s lighter, faster, and built for devs who’d rather code than click. Notebooks blend SQL with markdown (great for documenting queries), visualizations chart performance, and Git integration syncs DB scripts. It’s less about administration, (what SSMS is for) and more about coding workflows. We’ve used it on Linux to prototype a client’s analytics DB, pulling data from SQL Server and PostgreSQL in one shot. It’s extensible, with add-ons like the SQL Tools extension pack, but lacks SSMS’s depth for server management. Perfect for hybrid cloud devs or those allergic to Windows bloat.
Download: Azure Data Studio (Windows, macOS, Linux: ~100 MB).
Documentation: ADS Overview (core features, e.g., notebooks); Extensions.
License: Open-source under MIT License; free for all use, production or not. Bundled with SSMS since 18.7, but standalone too. No Developer Edition tie—run it anywhere, anytime.
Visual Studio Code
Update 12.04.2025: Azure Data Studio is retiring on February 28, 2026. We recommend that you use Visual Studio Code. For more information about migrating to Visual Studio Code, visit What's happening to Azure Data Studio?
Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a lightweight, versatile, and widely adopted code editor designed for developers across various programming languages and platforms. It offers features like IntelliSense, debugging, Git integration, and an extensive marketplace for extensions, making it a powerful tool for modern development workflows.
Microsoft is transitioning from Azure Data Studio to VS Code for SQL development. Azure Data Studio is being retired, with support ending in February 20262. VS Code, equipped with the MSSQL extension, provides a more streamlined and feature-rich environment for SQL developers, including advanced query execution, schema management, and integration with CI/CD pipelines2. This consolidation aims to simplify tooling and enhance productivity for developers.
Download: https://code.visualstudio.com/
Documentation: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs
License: Microsoft Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is free for developers to use, whether for personal or commercial purposes.
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SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT)
Description: SSDT turns Visual Studio into a database dev powerhouse: design, build, and deploy SQL Server schemas as projects, including tables, views and stored procs, all version-controlled like code. It’s not a standalone app but a VS plugin (2019/2022 supported), with templates for Analysis Services, Integration Services, and Reporting Services too.
It’s less query-focused than SSMS, more about structure and lifecycle. If you are used to Visual Studio, SSDT’s your SQL counterpart.
Download: SSDT for VS 2022 (VS installer module).
Documentation: SSDT Docs (project setup: e.g., schema compare); Tutorial.
License: Free with SQL Server Developer Edition: full dev/test functionality, no production use. Ties to VS Community (free for individuals/small teams) or Pro/Enterprise licenses (~$500-$1200/year). Non-commercial (development) use only under Developer Edition.
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mssql-cli
Description: mssql-cli is the minimalist’s dream, a Python-based command-line interface (CLI) for SQL Server queries. No GUI, nothing fancy, just T-SQL on the command line, with autocomplete and multi-line editing. Similar in function to SQL*Plus in Oracle, psql for PostgreSQL, but built for Microsoft’s ecosystem.
It’s fast, lightweight, and cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux), but lacks admin depth; it’s purely a query tool. It’s ideal for SSH sessions or automation pipelines where GUIs are overkill.
Download: mssql-cli GitHub (pip install mssql-cli).
Documentation: Usage Guide (install: e.g., pip setup; commands: e.g., \dt).
License: Open-source under BSD 3-Clause License, free for any use, production included. No Developer Edition dependency; Microsoft backs it, but it’s community-driven via GitHub.
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Conclusions
SQL Server’s client-side arsenal: MSSQL Developer Edition, SSMS, Azure Data Studio, SSDT, and mssql-cli, delivers a no-cost toolkit that punches above its weight. Free under the Developer Edition license (non-production), they cover the gamut: MSSQL Developer Edition as the database engine, SSMS for admin, ADS for coding, SSDT for projects, mssql-cli for CLI fans, with connectors for app integration.
The licensing is clear: dev/test only, except open-source gems like ADS and mssql-cli, which can be used anywhere. At Overlogix, we’ve built our development system using these.
They’re not flawless; SSMS is Windows-bound, SSDT’s a difficult VS maze, but they’re battle-tested. Quality software is human, not bot-driven; these tools prove it. For SMEs or solo devs, they’re a lifeline in a job market shedding 248,000 white-collar roles. Download them, use them, get business.
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Footnotes
Thank you for reading this article!
More information about Overlogix can be found at Welcome to Overlogix!
We currently publish on both LinkedIn (general interest articles, summaries, TL;DR’s: easier and faster to read) and Substack (in-depth articles, how-to’s, technical studies and new approaches to business).
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Your help is welcome!
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LinkedIn
· Introduction: Welcome to Overlogix!
· The Overlogix Sunday Times Our newsletter, with occasional specials, published roughly every two weeks.
· Master Index All our articles can be found from here in two clicks.
· The Overlogix Table of Context All Overlogix articles in reverse chronological order
· Applied Artificial Intelligence: Index of Articles One of our specialties is Applied AI. This index lists all relevant articles on the topic, in reverse chronological order.
· Applied AI: Stories in the News Our semi-permanent, curated listing of interesting and important news from the world of artificial intelligence, from many different sources.
· Index: Getting a Job Up until recently, getting a job, much less a good job, has been a nightmare for most job seekers. We publish articles on how and why this is so, and what job hunters can do to find the perfect job for them. We also supply credible external resources, so people can consider their alternatives.
· Starting a B2B Business For everyone who can, we heartily recommend starting your own business. The tools are there, and there has never been a better time to do it.
· Building Our Own Robot We’re automating Overlogix from the start, and this series of articles tells exactly how we are doing it.
· Rebuilding the Linux Server: Index of Articles Running AI on your own machine (recommended) requires a modern, up-to-date operating system, and often a lot of additional software infrastructure. This series, dedicated to exactly that sort of system administration, details what we have done to build a powerful server that runs both databases and artificial intelligence, locally.
· The Gospel According to ChatGPT Conversations with various AIs and additional articles on the various challenges associated with actually making profitable use of artificial intelligence.
· TL;DR: Index of Fast Reads Brief, fast reads on various topics in artificial intelligence. If you are a beginner at AI, or a busy human needing fast and factual explanations of complicated technical topics, this is the place to start.
· TL;DR: Overlogix Artificial Intelligence Mini-Wiki Same Fast Reads as previous but arranged in a mini-wiki format some folks may like better.
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Substack
· Welcome to the Overlogix Substack
· Overlogix: Table of Context Index to our Substack articles arranged by topics.
· Criteria for Paid Content Rules for what goes behind our paywall.
· Curated IT and AI Sources Annotated links to sites and YouTube channels we think are valuable.
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There is also the SQL Server Express Edition, apparently free for commercial as well as development use, available for download. We’ll cover that version separately in a future article, since it is a less full-featured version of SQL Server.