MySQL license rules in 2026. When free MySQL becomes an Oracle subscription.

MySQL Community is free under the GPL, and most companies never owe Oracle anything for it. Buyers who overpay for the paid editions are rarely overusing MySQL. They are counting too many servers, or counting them in the wrong socket band.

Is MySQL free, and when do you need an Oracle license?

MySQL Community Edition is free under the GPL for internal use at any scale, in any company, for any workload. You need a paid Oracle subscription only when one of three things applies: you want the Enterprise only features, you distribute MySQL inside a product, or you want Oracle's indemnified support.

Community carries the full database engine, so the commercial question is about what it leaves out. Test each server against the three triggers below before you accept any count from Oracle. The Community versus Enterprise comparison covers the edge cases feature by feature.

MySQL on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud

No. Amazon RDS for MySQL, Aurora MySQL, Azure Database for MySQL and Google Cloud SQL are licensed through the provider's service charge, and no separate Oracle MySQL subscription applies. Community MySQL that you install yourself on a cloud VM is free on the same GPL terms as it is in your own data center.

Managed cloud is therefore one of the usual ways a MySQL subscription shrinks at review. Our RDS MySQL versus Aurora comparison sets out the tradeoffs. Oracle's own HeatWave service is billed on consumption, which the HeatWave cost model explains.

Distribution, OEM rights and SaaS

When MySQL ships inside something that leaves your company: packaged software, an appliance, a device, an installer your customer runs. The GPL's copyleft terms would then reach your product's code, so ISVs and device makers buy the OEM commercial license. Internal use, however large, is not distribution.

Running your own SaaS application on Community MySQL is also not distribution under the GPL, because the software stays on your servers. Hybrid cases, such as an on premises edition of a SaaS product, need a closer look, and the OEM and ISV distribution guide works through them.

Why we advise against buying subscriptions as GPL insurance

The common advice is to subscribe every MySQL server to be safe from the GPL. We disagree. The GPL permits unlimited internal use, and its copyleft terms only apply when you distribute. Buying subscriptions as copyleft insurance for internal workloads is the most common unforced MySQL purchase we see.

A better course is to have counsel confirm in writing which products you actually distribute. Buy OEM rights for those, subscribe the servers that load Enterprise features or need indemnity, and leave everything else on Community.

What do the paid MySQL editions cost?

Every paid edition is an annual subscription priced per server by socket band, whatever the core count. MySQL Enterprise Edition lists at $5,350 per server per year for a server with 1 to 4 sockets and $10,700 for a server with 5 plus sockets. Standard Edition sits below it and Cluster CGE above, on the same two bands.

The subscription includes Oracle Premier Support for MySQL. Current per edition detail is in our MySQL Enterprise pricing analysis, and the server metric explainer covers how Oracle defines a server.

Socket pricing is kind to buyers on modern dense hardware, where one two socket server can carry dozens of cores for a single 1 to 4 socket price. On virtual infrastructure it cuts the other way, because the quote depends on how a guest's processors are read.

How are sockets counted when MySQL runs on virtual machines?

A VM reports vCPUs, while the subscription is priced on sockets. Oracle's MySQL price list defines a server as the computer on which the programs are installed and gives no separate rule for virtual machines. In the reviews we ran, the correct count was the underlying host's physical sockets, applied per the subscription terms.

Reading threads or vCPUs as hardware sockets was the error, and it doubled the band on servers whose hosts sat comfortably at 1 to 4 sockets.

• The usual case. A guest with eight vCPUs priced into the 5 plus socket band while its physical host had two sockets. The right price was $5,350 a year, and the quote said $10,700.
• The fix. Ask Oracle to write the VM counting rule into the order before you agree any server count, because the price list leaves it open.

Worked example: correcting a 60 server quote

Say a renewal quote covers 60 Enterprise servers. Oracle bills 42 of them at the 1 to 4 socket rate and 18 virtual machines at the 5 plus rate because each shows eight or more vCPUs. All 18 run on two socket hosts, and your inventory finds 14 servers that load an Enterprise feature or need indemnified support.

The two corrections take $342,400 a year off list, about 82 percent, before any discount is discussed. For comparison, a 20 percent discount on the quote as received would have saved $83,460.

How do you check which MySQL servers need a paid license?

Build a per instance inventory from the servers themselves. For each subscribed server, record the Enterprise features it actually loads and the number of sockets on its physical host. That document decides the renewal, so finish it before Oracle sends a quote.

1. Edition. Run SELECT @@version_comment on each instance. Community builds report MySQL Community Server - GPL, and Enterprise builds report MySQL Enterprise Server - Commercial.
2. Plugins. Query INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS, or run SHOW PLUGINS, and look for Enterprise names such as audit_log, thread_pool, MYSQL_FIREWALL and authentication_ldap_sasl. This view includes plugins loaded from the configuration file as well as those registered in the mysql.plugin table.
3. Components. On 8.0 and later, query the mysql.component table too. Some Enterprise features, including data masking and encryption, ship as components.
4. Backups. Check whether backup jobs call the mysqlbackup binary and whether the mysql.backup_history table holds rows. MySQL Enterprise Backup records its runs there.
5. Monitoring. Check whether the server reports to Oracle Enterprise Manager for MySQL or to a legacy MySQL Enterprise Monitor agent. Enterprise Monitor reached end of life on January 1, 2025.
6. Hardware. Take each host's socket count from the hypervisor inventory, such as the host summary in vCenter. The guest operating system only shows vCPUs.

What the plugin query will not show you

A clean plugin list does not prove a server is Community. Enterprise Backup and monitoring run outside the server process, so they only appear in job schedulers, agent inventories and backup logs. Check those before you take a server off subscription.

Keep the query output and host records with the inventory, dated. If Oracle later questions the reduction, that file answers it. The list of Enterprise tools that trigger a subscription and our guide to how Oracle checks commercial MySQL use fill in the detail.

How the work differs for a small and a large MySQL footprint

A company with 10 subscribed physical servers can usually finish the inventory in a day or two. At this size the typical finding is one application that needed Enterprise Backup years ago and a subscription that grew around it, so the fix is a shorter server list.

A company with several hundred instances across a VMware cluster has a harder job. The socket reading on virtual hosts drives most of the cost, and servers come and go between renewals. There the server list attached to the order and the written VM counting rule matter more than the unit price.

What have we seen in recent MySQL commercial reviews?

The repeating problem was overcounting: too many servers on subscription, and too many in the higher socket band. We ran roughly 15 to 25 Oracle commercial reviews touching MySQL between 2024 and 2026, and the overcount took three forms.

• Paid servers using nothing paid. On more than half of subscribed servers, the plugin table showed nothing beyond the shipped defaults, with no Enterprise only plugin loaded at all.
• Virtual socket inflation. The vCPU misread described above was the largest single quote inflator we found.
• Subscription sprawl. Coverage bought across all MySQL servers years earlier, for a project that needed Enterprise Backup on 6 servers, then renewed every year since on all 60.

The buyers who renegotiated best brought the per instance inventory to the first meeting, listing each paid server, the Enterprise features it loads and the sockets on its physical host. Servers loading nothing went to Community, miscounted servers dropped a band, and the renewal priced only what remained.

A dated list of what each paid server actually loads settled more MySQL renewals than any argument about the discount.

What does the MySQL 8.0 support change mean for your renewal?

A renewal on MySQL 8.0 now buys much less than it did a year ago. MySQL 8.0 moved to Sustaining Support on April 21, 2026, so Oracle issues no new fixes or security patches for it. You keep access to existing fixes, the online support tools and upgrade rights.

Most MySQL footprints still run 8.0, and Oracle points those users to the 8.4 LTS or 9.7 LTS releases. Treat each renewal as an upgrade decision. List which servers can move to 8.4 LTS or a later release, subscribe only the servers that still need Enterprise features after that plan, and use the date to reopen the whole MySQL line.

What the account team will say, and what to answer

• "Each VM has eight vCPUs, so it is a 5 plus socket server." Show the host inventory with its two socket hosts, and ask Oracle to cite the clause in your subscription terms that turns vCPUs into sockets.
• "Commercial use of MySQL requires a license." Internal use of Community under the GPL is permitted at any scale. Ask which of your products Oracle believes you distribute.
• "Your subscription covers the whole environment, so renew it as it stands." MySQL subscriptions are per server. Send your own server list with the feature each server loads, and ask for a quote on that list.
• "Without a subscription your 8.0 servers get no security patches." Since April 21, 2026, 8.0 gets no new patches with or without one. The remedy is the upgrade, and 8.4 LTS is available as Community too.

Put your own value on the 8.0 servers before Oracle prices them. The same review scopes the neighboring questions: whether a move to MariaDB or PostgreSQL pays back, and how MySQL sits inside your wider Oracle database licensing position.

Which contract terms should you ask for?

• A named server list. Attach every subscribed server, its host and its socket band to the order, so the count cannot drift upward at renewal.
• A written VM counting rule. State that virtual machines are counted by the physical host's sockets per the subscription terms. This removes the vCPU reading from the next quote.
• Reduction rights. Confirm you can drop servers at each anniversary without the remaining servers being repriced.
• A renewal price hold. Fix the per server rate for the next term, so a shorter server list does not come back at a higher unit price.
• Coterminous additions. Servers added mid term should end on the same date and be priced pro rata.

What to do next

1. This month. Run the edition, plugin and component checks on every subscribed server and record what each one loads.
2. Before the quote arrives. Correct the socket count on virtual servers using physical host sockets per the terms, and move servers on hosts with 1 to 4 sockets down to that band.
3. Then. Take servers that load no Enterprise feature off subscription and run them on Community. Keep paid coverage where Enterprise features or indemnified support earn it.
4. With counsel. Answer the OEM question precisely. Distribution triggers the commercial license, and internal use does not, at any scale.
5. At renewal. Write the 8.0 upgrade plan first, then size the subscription to the servers that still need it after the upgrade.
6. If you want a second pair of hands. Our Oracle advisory practice runs the review with you and negotiates on your side of the table.

Frequently asked questions