ApexSQL floating licenses

Applies to

ApexSQL Log and ApexSQL Recover


This article explains the concept behind floating licenses at ApexSQL – who they are for, how they work and some additional details and an example


Floating licenses are intended for users who need to use ApexSQL Log and/or ApexSQL Recover auditing or recovery features, respectively, only occasionally but would like coverage (in the context of recovery it could be thought of as “insurance”) on multiple SQL Server instances.

Target profile

If you are a consultancy offering disaster recovery/planning for your clients, your company has multiple SQL Servers and you want to insure them against data loss or provide floating forensic auditing capability, or you host SQL Servers and want to offer recovery services to your clients then a floating license might be an option to consider.


Floating licenses are different than individual licenses, which are instance-bound (once you license 1 SQL Server instance, you can only move the license under certain conditions, for example, the old server was decommissioned).

Floating licenses allow you to move your license from instance to instance, on an as-needed basis, until you reach the predefined number of unique SQL Server activations. This means that if you purchase a floating license, you can use it on the SQL Server instance “A” one month, then on the instance “B” another month, etc. – as long as you don’t use it simultaneously on multiple instances or exceed the total number of activations.


A typical requirement of ApexSQL disaster recovery features might be 10% of SQL Server instances per year. In a theoretical farm of 100 SQL Server instances, at a 10% incident rate, a single floating license of each ApexSQL Recover, would provide coverage for all instances.
This is more cost effective than purchasing a license for all 100 instances, but it is also more cost effective than purchasing a per instance license for each incident.

Renewing the license (25% of the original cost if renewed early) would allow for continued coverage of the 100 instances each year. Long term this would further reduce the total cost of ownership of this form of SQL Server disaster recovery insurance. See the Data loss insurance calculator to test other scenarios involving different numbers of instances.

See also

For more information on floating licenses in the context of recovery, see the article Data loss insurance

For any questions, or purchasing additional activations, please contact us