As of today, July 14, 2026, SQL Server 2016 has reached end of support.
For the past decade, SQL Server 2016 has helped organizations run mission-critical applications and support the data needs of their business. Whether it was end-to-end encryption with Always Encrypted or performance improvements with In-Memory OLTP, SQL Server 2016 was shaped by evolving data platform needs and what we heard directly from customers like you.
Last year, we shared guidance on how to prepare for this milestone: Protect and modernize SQL Server 2016 workloads with Microsoft. Now, after 10 years of powering innovation, the focus shifts to what comes next.
It basically comes down to “Pay Microsoft a lot more money for one-off security fixes or upgrade to a version that isn’t a decade old.”