Licensing for SharePoint 2010

Ok, so I have been asked a lot about licensing for SharePoint 2010, so this is to try and sum up what I have been able to deduce, or enquire about (thanks Matt 🙂

First up – Server Licensing

So server licenses for SharePoint 2010 break into three types (+ FAST search):

• SharePoint Server 2010 – This is the standard server license for intranets and extranet/Internet scenarios where all users map to a known account. This licensing model requires CALs for users/devices to connect.
• SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Standard – This is the lower cost server license for public internet publishing scenarios. No CALs are required, but each server in the farm must have one of these licenses.
• SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise – This is the higher cost server license for public internet publishing scenarios. No CALs are required, but each server in the farm must have one of these licenses. Note: if you also want internal users to access content that is not publicly available in the same farm, you must have both a SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites and a SharePoint Server 2010 license for each server (and CALs).
• FAST Search Server – This is the server license for FAST search, and is only required for FAST search servers. One license is required for each FAST search server that you deploy. In intranet scenarios, FAST search requires enterprise CALs. Note: SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise license includes the rights for FAST search for Internet sites, but is an either/or license – for example, you can only use the license to deploy a SharePoint server or a FAST search server.

 And now – CALs

So in intranet scenarios, or extranet/Internet scenarios where the users are known, controlled identities, you must also purchase CALs to license the user/device connection to SharePoint.

• Standard CALs – These are the basic requirement, and license the following features:
  • Business Connectivity Services (BCS)
  • Document sets
  • Enterprise (SharePoint) search (with Metadata refinement)
  • Enterprise wikis
  • Federated search (Search Server 2010 can deliver this function for SharePoint Foundation 2010)
  • Managed Metadata Service
  • Metadata navigation
  • My sites
  • Organisation browser
  • Records center and content organiser
  • Secure Store Service (previously SSO in MOSS 2007)
  • Social tagging
  • User profile syncronisation
  • Web analytics
• Enterprise CALs – These stack on top of standard CALs (for example, if 500 users need enterprise features, you must purchase 500 standard and 500 enterprise CALs), and license the following features:
  • Access services
  • Excel services
  • InfoPath Forms
  • PowerPivot for SharePoint
  • PerformancePoint
  • Visio services
  • FAST search enhancements (visual best bets, deep refinement, thumbnails, document preview, etc)

Note: You only require enough enterprise CALs for the number of users/devices that will use enterprise features. So, if you have 500 users, but only 100 users need enterprise features, such as InfoPath Forms, then you only need 100 enterprise licenses.

Office Web Apps

In order to use on-premise Office Web Apps, there is no server license (and Office Web Apps can be installed on SharePoint Foundation 2010), but you must be covered by Volume Licensing (VL) for Office 2010, and each user must have an individual license (you cant use 1 full office license for user A, and the equivalent Office Web App license for user B).