SharePoint Servers and Licensing

SharePoint technology is packaged as four different server products. Most products are licensed with a server/Client Access License (CAL) model, which requires a server license for each server and a CAL for every client user or device. Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) requires no licenses of its own, but requires Windows Server licenses for every server and client, and might also require SQL Server licenses.

Two products have Internet server licenses for extranet and public Web sites, where it is not practical to buy a CAL for every user or device. These licenses allow an unlimited number of clients to access a single server. However, all content on the server must be available to nonemployees of the organization that owns the server; organizations are not allowed to use the Internet licenses for servers that host employee-only content.

Prices shown here are U.S. Open Business Estimated for Mar. 2007; volume discounts of up to 25% are available.