Edition Description

Windows Server 2016 Essentials edition

Windows Server 2016 Essentials edition is designed for small businesses. It
corresponds to Windows Small Business Server from earlier versions of
Windows Server. This edition allows up to 25 users and 50 devices. It
supports two processor cores and up to 64 gigabytes (GB) of random
access memory (RAM). It does not support many of the features of
Windows Server 2016, including virtualization.

Windows Server 2016Standard edition

Windows Server 2016 Standard edition is designed for physical server
environments with little or no virtualization. It provides many of the roles
and features available for the Windows Server 2016 operating system. This
edition supports up to 64 sockets and up to 4 terabytes (TB) of RAM. It
includes licenses for up to two virtual machines and supports Nano Server
installation.
Note: You can run two virtual machines on one physical host, using
one standard license, as long as the physical host is only used for hosting
and managing the virtual machines. If the physical host is used to run
other services, such as DNS, you can only run one virtual machine. For
more information about Windows licensing, speak with a Microsoft
licensing specialist.

Windows Server 2016 Datacenter edition

Windows Server 2016 Datacenter edition is designed for highly virtualized
infrastructures, including private cloud and hybrid cloud environments.
It provides all of the roles and features available for the Windows
Server 2016 operating system. This edition supports up to 64 sockets, up
to 640 processor cores, and up to 4 TB of RAM. It includes unlimited
Windows Server-based virtual machine licenses for virtual machines that
run on the same hardware. It also includes new features such as Storage
Spaces Direct and Storage Replica, along with new Shielded Virtual
Machines and features for software-defined datacenter scenarios.

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016

Acts as a stand-alone virtualization server for virtual machines, including all the
new features around virtualization in Windows Server 2016. The host operating
system has no licensing cost, but virtual machines must be licensed separately.
This edition supports up to 64 sockets and up to 4 TB of RAM. It supports domain
joining. It does not support Windows Server 2016 roles other than limited file
service features. This edition has no GUI but does have a UI that displays a menu
of configuration tasks.

Windows Storage Server 2016 Workgroup edition

Acts as an entry-level unified storage appliance. This edition allows 50
users, one processor core, and 32 GB of RAM. It supports domain joining.

Windows Storage Server 2016 Standard edition

Supports up to 64 sockets but is licensed on a two-socket, incrementing
basis. This edition supports up to 4 TB of RAM. It includes two virtual
machine licenses. It supports domain joining. It supports some roles,
including Domain Name System (DNS) and Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol (DHCP) server roles, but does not support others, including Active
Directory Domain Services (AD DS), Active Directory Certificate Services
(AD CS), or Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS).