Will SQL Server Express do in this specific situation

I'm doing research on the best suitable database for an in-house web application for our (non-IT) company. It's a web information system with few database-heavy tasks. Users can add new customer information, create new job proposals, hour registration, etc.

Current situation:

• PHP webapplication


• 30 unique daily users


• Almost no concurrent transactions


• 500 MB database size (over ~3 years)


• MySQL

New Situation

• ASP.NET webapplication


• 50 unique daily users, will grow with about 10 a year


• Maybe max. 10 concurrent transactions (in rare occasions), but mostly no concurrent transactions


• With all the departments using the new information system, I predict about 150~200 transactions a day (hour registration, planning, etc.)

Because the new webapplication is ASP.NET, I am considering MS SQL Server Express. It's free, has a limit of 10 GB database size and can utilize max. 4 GB memory and 1 CPU (4 cores).

My question is: will SQL Server Express be enough for this new situation?

Note: there is a Windows Server.

Answer

Yes this should suffice for your new application, as you will not be needing more then Express edition limits in Storage/RAM/CPU, according to data you put in the question. Your application should not be doing to much load.

You haven't mentioned in your question, why are you worried about using SQL Express, are you deciding between different types of database servers (MS SQL, MySQL, Oracle,...) or you worried that your application will outgrow SQL Express, and that you will need to do a complete MS SQL reinstall to upgrade to Web/Standard edition?

If you are worried that down the road, you will need to move to payed edition of SQL Server, you can do a in place upgrade from Express to Web/Stanard Edition, this is possible, at least I remember it being possible in 2008R2 version, when I did it with and Edition Upgrade option in the setup menu.

Also you can upgrade any earlier Express edition (2005-2012SP1) to 2014 Web or Standard Edition, so it should not even be an issue to upgrade your Express Edition to any future versions of SQL Web/Standard down the road, as I doubt MS would remove that option in future versions.

Supported Version and Edition Upgrades to SQL 2014:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143393.aspx