Answer 8 questions about your environment to determine whether Processor or Named User Plus (NUP) licensing is more cost-effective for your Oracle Database deployment.
$47.5K
Processor List Price
8
Questions
3 min
To Complete
Question 1 of 8Oracle Database Advisory
Question 1 of 8
💾
Which Oracle Database edition do you primarily use?
Standard Edition 2 has a maximum of 2 sockets. Enterprise Edition has no socket limit but is significantly more expensive.
Standard Edition 2 (SE2)
Max 2 sockets, $17,500/processor list
Enterprise Edition (EE)
$47,500/processor list
Enterprise Edition with Options/Packs
Options add significant per-processor cost
Mix of SE2 and EE across the estate
Question 2 of 8
🖥️
How many physical processor cores host Oracle Database?
Oracle licences are calculated from physical cores × core factor. Intel/AMD = 0.5 core factor.
1–16 cores total
17–64 cores total
65–256 cores total
256+ cores total
Question 3 of 8
👥
How many Named Users access Oracle Database?
NUP licensing requires a minimum of 25 NUP per processor. A "Named User" is any person or device that accesses the database.
Under 100 users
100–500 users
500–2,000 users
2,000+ users or internet-facing applications
High user counts make Processor licensing cheaper
Question 4 of 8
🌐
Do any internet-facing or public-facing applications access Oracle Database?
Internet-facing applications make Named User Plus licensing impractical because every visitor counts as a named user.
No — internal applications only
One or two small web apps
Several web applications with external users
Yes — major e-commerce, portal, or public-facing systems
NUP is effectively impossible to count
Question 5 of 8
⚙️
What is your virtualisation platform?
Virtualisation affects how many physical cores must be licensed.
Physical servers or Oracle VM (hard partitioning)
Solaris Zones, IBM LPAR (capped)
VMware vSphere
Oracle may require licensing all hosts in cluster
VMware with Oracle across multiple large clusters
Question 6 of 8
📦
Which Oracle Database options or packs are in use?
Options and packs are licensed on the same metric as the database. Each option multiplies the cost.
None — base database only
1–2 options (e.g., Partitioning, OLAP)
3–5 options including Diagnostics/Tuning Pack
5+ options or Advanced Security/Compression
Options can exceed the base licence cost
Question 7 of 8
🔄
Do you have Disaster Recovery or standby databases?
DR databases may require licensing depending on how they are used (Active Data Guard vs passive standby).
No DR or standby databases
Passive standby (not opened for reads)
May qualify for 10-day rule
Active Data Guard (open for reads)
Requires full licensing
Multiple DR sites with active failover
Question 8 of 8
📅
When is your next Oracle contract renewal?
Understanding your renewal timeline helps optimise the licensing metric decision.
More than 2 years away
1–2 years away
6–12 months away
Imminent or in active negotiation
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