Microsoft will launch a subscription version of Exchange Server next year. This version, also called Exchange Server Subscription Edition, will be released just before support for Exchange Server 2019 and 2016 ends. Microsoft has not yet said what the subscription will cost.
Microsoft confirms in a blog post that Exchange Server SE will be available to customers 'early in the third quarter of 2025'. Before then, Exchange Server 2019 will receive its fifteenth and final Cumulative Update, or CU. According to the tech giant, the new subscription version will be identical in code to this Exchange Server 2019 CU15. The SE version therefore retains the same system requirements. The only differences initially concern the license agreement, the name and the build and version numbers.
The tech giant keeps the same release schedule for Exchange Server SE. The software maker releases a Cumulative Update twice a year. The first CU for the subscription version is expected in October 2025, according to Microsoft.