Build 2025: SQL Server 2025 Launches in Public Preview

Microsoft has rolled out SQL Server 2025 in public preview for commercial customers, introducing a powerful upgrade tailored for modern data needs. This latest version brings built-in AI capabilities, enhanced developer productivity, and seamless integration with Microsoft Azure and Fabric—all within the core database engine.

“We understand that developers need the right tools and interfaces for modern, data-intensive
applications. SQL Server 2025 delivers a rich set of feature enhancements that significantly streamline development process, reduce code complexity, and improve developer productivity. Along with built-in AI capabilities, this release makes SQL Server 2025 the most significant release for SQL developers since the introduction of SQL Server on Linux a decade ago,” explained Priya Sathy, Partner Director of Product Management, SQL.

What’s new in SQL Server 2025

According to Microsoft, SQL Server 2025 offers new features and tools to help businesses bring new applications to the market more quickly. It leverages advanced semantic search, full text search and filtering to enhance search intelligence capabilities, allowing users to run generative AI models using their own data.

SQL Server 2025 makes it easier to handle data with a built-in REST API, native JSON support, Change Event Streaming for real-time data updates, and GitHub Copilot. Moreover, it provides support for Microsoft Entra ID-managed identities via Azure Arc to improve credential management and block potential security vulnerabilities in enterprise environments.

Microsoft also mentioned that SQL Server 2025 offers improved performance and reliability with better query optimization, optimized locking, and failover handling. This new solution helps users achieve “zero-ETL, real-time analytics” by replicating SQL Server data to OneLake using Fabric database mirroring.

SQL Server Management Studio 21 and other updates

Microsoft has announced the general availability of SQL Server Management Studio 21. This new database management tool is built on Visual Studio 2022 and supports 64-bit systems. It comes with an enhanced user interface and Query Editor, which offers better readability and improved tab management. The Always Encrypted assessment feature in SQL Server 2025 also helps users identify which database columns are suitable for encryption.

Lastly, Microsoft has launched Copilot in SQL Server Management Studio 21 in preview, which helps users with writing, editing, and fixing T-SQL queries with natural language commands. It also assists with database implementation, administration, configuration, and maintenance.