Are we allowed to use Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Express Edition free of charge in a commercial environment?

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Yes, productive use is allowed. However, the Express Edition is an edition that is limited in its scope of use.

It is to be used productively only with the following restrictions:

  • 1 processor or CPU
  • 4 cores
  • 1 GB maximum memory utilized (per instance of SQL Server Database Engine)
  • 10 GB maximum relational database size

Source: Official Microsoft Website, as of March 2017 (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-editions)

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