The Oracle RDBMS, options, data cartridges, tools, and applications are bundled in a variety of packages. Originally, the software was licensed only at the server level—that is, once you licensed the server, as many users as could access the server would be entitled to use the Oracle software. Over time, server-level licensing has given way to per-user licensing.

The most popular form of licensing currently in use is the concurrent user license , with which you specify a maximum number of concurrent users who can access the database at a given time. The other common mechanism is the named user license , with which you are limited to a total number of prespecified users who can be allowed to use the system. Typically, the per-user cost for a named license is less than that of a concurrent user license. The final license type is the site license , which is typically only available for large organizations that are licensing multiple hundreds of concurrent users.

Oracle is constantly looking to improve its range of licensing options to remain competitive in the marketplace. Therefore, it is important for you to contact your Oracle sales representative directly to get information about the current licensing policy.