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SharePoint 2016 Feature Comparison

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SharePoint 2016

There are a lot of features in SharePoint 2016. When I am talking to one of my consulting clients about SharePoint installation, I ask them if they plan on installing SharePoint Server 2016 Standard or Enterprise. Usually there response is, “what is the difference?” If they are not clear about the differences then I explain how the two editions differ. When I am teaching SharePoint Server classes, the same question comes up. I usually prepare a handy cheat sheet of feature comparison for my clients and students. It’s essentially the same information provided by Microsoft on their Web site, or  in an Excel spreadsheet, but I make it more readable for myself and for others. My recommendation is always to install the SharePoint Server Enterprise Edition, unless the client either won’t benefit from all the features in the Enterprise Edition, or it is cost prohibitive. About 95% of the time the client decides to go with the Enterprise Edition because all the really cool features are in the Enterprise version of most server software and that’s why it costs more.

Here are the features available in SharePoint Server 2016 Standard Edition and SharePoint Server 2016 Enterprise Edition. These features are listed in an Excel spreadsheet provided by Microsoft. However, keep in mind that Microsoft may move this file to another location without redirecting it, in which case the link will be broken. That’s one of the reasons why I document this type of valuable information in my articles. Another reason is that when Microsoft will release the next version of SharePoint Server, most Microsoft links referring to the previous versions will be replaced with the links for the new version and again this valuable information will no longer be available to the public on Microsoft’s Web site. Your only hope at that point will be bloggers who might have saved this information for the public. Please note that Microsoft may update the information in this Excel file in the future, and that’s why I always point out that you should visit Microsoft’s Web site for the latest information and not rely on bloggers, like me, because only Microsoft can guarantee you the latest information.

Here are the features available in SharePoint Server 2016 Standard Edition and SharePoint Server 2016 Enterprise Edition. I have broken down these features into sections in this article for your convenience, but I have also made the entire list available for download as a PDF file.

Content Features

Content Features SharePoint Server 2016 Standard SharePoint Server 2016 Enterprise
Accessibility Standards Support Yes Yes
Asset Library Enhancements/Video Support Yes Yes
Auditing Yes Yes
Auditing & Reporting (e.g. doc edits, policy edits, deletes) Yes Yes
Content Organizer Yes Yes
Design Manager Yes Yes
Document Sets Yes Yes
Document Translation in Word Online Yes Yes
eDiscovery Search Yes Yes
eDiscovery Hold No Yes
eDiscovery Export No Yes
Email enabled lists and libraries Yes Yes
External Sharing: External Access No No
External Sharing: Guest Link No No
Folder Sync Yes Yes
IRM using Azure Rights Management Yes Yes
IRM using Windows Server AD RMS Yes Yes
Managed Metadata Service Yes Yes
Metadata-driven Navigation Yes Yes
Multi-blog Disposition Yes Yes
Office Online (edit) Yes Yes
Office Online (view) Yes Yes
Office Web Apps Server integration Yes Yes
PowerPoint Automation Services Yes Yes
Preservation hold library No Yes
Quick Edit Yes Yes
Records management Yes Yes
Recycle Bin (SharePoint admin center) No No
Recycle Bin (site collection) Yes Yes
Related Items Yes Yes
Rich Media Management Yes Yes
Shared Content Types Yes Yes
SharePoint Translation Services Yes Yes
Site mailbox Yes Yes
Surveys Yes Yes
Unique Document IDs Yes Yes
Video Search No Yes
WCM: Analytics Yes Yes
WCM: Catalog Yes Yes
WCM: Search Web Parts No Yes
WCM: Cross-Site Publishing Yes Yes
WCM: Designer Tools Yes Yes
WCM: Faceted navigation Yes Yes
WCM: Image Renditions Yes Yes
WCM: Managed navigation Yes Yes
WCM: Mobile and Device Rendering Yes Yes
WCM: Multiple Domains Yes Yes
WCM: Recommendations Yes Yes
WCM: Search Engine Optimizations (SEO) Yes Yes
Word Automation Services Yes Yes

Insights Features

Insights Features SharePoint Server 2016 Standard SharePoint Server 2016 Enterprise
Business Intelligence Center No Yes
Data Connection Library No Yes
Excel Services No Yes
Excel Web Part for SharePoint No Yes
ODC file support No Yes
PerformancePoint Services No Yes
PerformancePoint Services (PPS) Dashboard Migration No Yes
Power View for Excel in SharePoint No Yes
PowerPivot for Excel in SharePoint No Yes
Scorecards & Dashboards No Yes
Scheduled data refresh No Yes
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) Integrated Mode No Yes
User-defined function assemblies No Yes
Using another workbook’s model as a data source No Yes
Visio Services No Yes

Search Features

Search Features SharePoint Server 2016 Standard SharePoint Server 2016 Enterprise
Advanced Content Processing Yes Yes
Continuous crawls Yes Yes
Custom entity extraction No Yes
Deep links Yes Yes
Event-based relevancy Yes Yes
Expertise Search Yes Yes
Extensible content processing No Yes
Graphical refiners Yes Yes
Hybrid search Yes Yes
Manage search schema Yes Yes
On-premises search index Yes Yes
Phonetic name matching Yes Yes
Query rules—Add promoted results Yes Yes
Query rules—advanced actions No Yes
Query spelling correction Yes Yes
Query suggestions Yes Yes
Query throttling Yes Yes
Quick preview Yes Yes
Ranking models Yes Yes
Refiners Yes Yes
RESTful Query API/Query OM Yes Yes
Result sources Yes Yes
Search connector framework Yes Yes
Search results sorting Yes Yes
Search vertical: “Conversations” Yes Yes
Search vertical: “People” Yes Yes
Search vertical: “Video” No Yes
“This List” searches Yes Yes

Site Features

Site Features SharePoint Server 2016 Standard SharePoint Server 2016 Enterprise
Change the look Yes Yes
Connections to Microsoft Office Clients Yes Yes
Cross Browser Support Yes Yes
Custom Managed Paths Yes Yes
Governance Yes Yes
Large List Scalability and Management Yes Yes
Mobile Connectivity Yes Yes
Multi-Lingual User Interface Yes Yes
My Tasks Yes Yes
OOTB Web Parts Yes Yes
Permissions Management Yes Yes
Project functionality for team sites Yes Yes
Project site template Yes Yes
Project Summary Web part No Yes
Project workspace Yes Yes
SharePoint Lists Yes Yes
SharePoint Ribbon Yes Yes
Site folders Yes Yes
Task list Yes Yes
Team Site: Drag & Drop Yes Yes
Team Site: Notebook Yes Yes
Team Site: Simplified Access Yes Yes
Templates Yes Yes
Themes Yes Yes
Variations Yes Yes
Usage Analytics No Yes
Work Management Service Yes Yes

Social Features

Social Features SharePoint Server 2016 Standard SharePoint Server 2016 Enterprise
Ask Me About Yes Yes
Blogs Yes Yes
Communities Reputation, Badging, and Moderation Yes Yes
Community Yes Yes
Company Feed Yes Yes
Document Conversations with Yammer No No
Follow Yes Yes
Microblogging Yes Yes
Newsfeed Yes Yes
One Click Sharing Yes Yes
People, Sites, Document Recommendations Yes Yes
Personal Site Yes Yes
Photos and Presence Yes Yes
Profile Yes Yes
Ratings Yes Yes
Shared with Me No No
Site Feed Yes Yes
OneDrive for Business Yes Yes
Tag profiles Yes Yes
Tasks integrated with Outlook Yes Yes
Trending Tags Yes Yes
Wikis Yes Yes

SharePoint Add-Ons

Add-Ons SharePoint Server 2016 Standard SharePoint Server 2016 Enterprise
Additional Storage Yes Yes
Azure Provisioned Apps: Access Services No No
Azure Provisioned Apps: Custom Code in Azure LWR No No
Duet Online No No

IT Professional Features

IT Professional Features SharePoint Server 2016 Standard SharePoint Server 2016 Enterprise
Active Directory Synchronization Yes Yes
Alternate Access Mapping (AAM) Yes Yes
Analytics Platform Yes Yes
Anti-malware protection No No
Claims-Based Authentication Support Yes Yes
Configuration Wizards Yes Yes
Deferred Site Collection upgrade Yes Yes
Distributed Cache Yes Yes
Data loss prevention No Yes
Encryption at rest No No
Host Header Site Collections Yes Yes
Improved Permissions Management Yes Yes
Improved Self-Service Site Creation Yes Yes
Managed Accounts Yes Yes
Minimal Download Strategy (MDS) Yes Yes
OAuth Yes Yes
Patch Management Yes Yes
Quota Templates Yes Yes
Read-Only Database Support Yes Yes
Remote BLOB Storage Yes Yes
Request Management Yes Yes
Request throttling Yes Yes
Resource throttling Yes Yes
Service Application Platform Yes Yes
SharePoint Health Analyzer Yes Yes
SharePoint admin center No No
Shredded Storage Yes Yes
Site Collection Compliance Policies Yes Yes
Site Collection Health Checks Yes Yes
State Service Yes Yes
Streamlined Central Administration Yes Yes
System Status Notifications Yes Yes
Unattached Content Database Recovery Yes Yes
Upgrade evaluation site collections Yes Yes
Usage Reporting and Logging Yes Yes
Windows PowerShell Support Yes Yes

Developer Features

Developer Features SharePoint Server 2016 Standard SharePoint Server 2016 Enterprise
Access Services No Yes
App Catalog (SharePoint) Yes Yes
App Deployment: Cloud-Hosted Apps Yes Yes
App Deployment: SharePoint-Hosted Apps Yes Yes
App Management Services Yes Yes
BCS: Alerts for External Lists Yes Yes
BCS: App Scoped External Content Types (ECTs) Yes Yes
BCS: Business Data Web parts Yes Yes
BCS: External List Yes Yes
BCS: OData connector Yes Yes
BCS: Profile Pages Yes Yes
BCS: Rich Client Integration No Yes
BCS: Secure Store Service Yes Yes
BCS: Tenant-level external data log No Yes
Browser-based customizations Yes Yes
Client Object Model (OM) Yes Yes
Client-side rendering (CSR) Yes Yes
Custom Site Definitions Yes Yes
Custom Site Provisioning No Yes
Developer Site No No
Forms Based Applications Yes Yes
Full-Trust Solutions Yes Yes
InfoPath Forms Services No Yes
JavaScript Object Model Yes Yes
List and Library APIs Yes Yes
Remote Event Receive Yes Yes
REST API Yes Yes
Sandboxed Solutions Yes Yes
SharePoint Design Manager Yes Yes
SharePoint Designer Yes Yes
SharePoint Store Yes Yes
Workflow 2010 (.NET 3.5) Yes Yes
Workflow 2010 (out of the box) Yes Yes
Workflow 2013 Yes Yes
Workload API: ECM APIs Yes Yes
Workload API: Search APIs Yes Yes
Workload API: Social APIs Yes Yes

Additional Resources

Updated: March 29, 2017
The Excel worksheet provided by Microsoft that lists all the features documented in this article has a minor error. The Date Loss Prevention feature is available in SharePoint Server 2016 Enterprise. Also, the WCM: Search Web Parts feature is not available in SharePoint Server 2016 Standard. The Excel worksheet is correct, but I incorrectly listed it as a “Yes” in my original article. Thanks to reader Alistair Hughes for pointing out these errors. I have updated this article and the PDF download file accordingly to fix both errors.


Copyright © 2016 SeattlePro Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved.

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2 Comments

  1. This says No to DLP on both products. DLP is available in Enterprise. Also Search Web Parts are not in Standard.

  2. Thanks for your feedback, Alistair. You are correct, DLP is available in SharePoint Server 2016 Enterprise and Search Web Parts are not available in SharePoint Server 2016 Standard. I have added an update section at the end of the article. I have fixed the errors in the article and the downloadable PDF file. I appreciate your feedback.

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