June 24, 2011
Observations on Oracle pricing
A couple of months ago, Oracle asked me to pull some observations on pricing until after the earnings call that just occurred, and I grudgingly acquiesced. In the interim, more information on Oracle pricing has emerged (including in the comment thread to that post). The original notes are:
Oracle disputes some common claims about its cost and pricing. In particular, Oracle software maintenance costs a fixed 22% of your annual license price, so if you get a discount on your licenses, it ripples through to your maintenance. This is true even if you have an all-you-can-eat ULA (Unlimited License Agreement).
- Based on that, Oracle contends that Exadata isn’t all that expensive if you have a suitable ULA. You have to buy the hardware and the storage software, but the database server software is effectively free. (Whether your use of additional licenses affect the price of your ULA when it comes up for renewal might, of course, be a different matter.)
- Nothing in that discussion obviates the point that if you’re just using Oracle Standard Edition, upgrading to Oracle Enterprise Edition, associated chargeable options, and/or Exadata can be seriously expensive.
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Oracle charges you a lot less than that when you threaten to leave.