What are the limitations of SQL Server Express?

This topic describes the database size, memory, and processor limitations of SQL Server Express.

SQL Server Express is a free edition of SQL Server. However, like most free apps, it does have some limitations. The most important limitation is the maximum database size of 10 GB. It also places the following scale limitations on hardware resources:

• Memory (RAM): maximum of 1.4 GB

• Processor (CPU): limited to 1 socket or 4 cores

For a complete list of SQL Server Express scale limits, please refer to Editions and supported features of SQL Server 2022.