SharePoint 2016 & 2019 End of Life:
the July 14 double cutoff — and SQL Server 2016 joins them

July 14, 2026 is one of the densest single days on the Microsoft lifecycle calendar. SharePoint Server 2016, SharePoint Server 2019, and SQL Server 2016 all reach the end of Microsoft extended support today — three products, one date, and for many organizations the same physical farm. If your intranet, document management, or line-of-business collaboration still runs on-premises SharePoint, there is a reasonable chance both the application tier and the database tier under it went out of support simultaneously.

What Exactly Stops on July 14

End of extended support under Microsoft's Fixed Lifecycle Policy is a hard cutoff, not a gradual wind-down. For all three products, as of today:

• No more security updates Microsoft ships no further security patches for SharePoint Server 2016, SharePoint Server 2019, or SQL Server 2016 (outside the paid SQL Server ESU program covered below). Any vulnerability disclosed from July 15 onward remains permanently unpatched on these versions.
• No more non-security fixes Bug fixes, reliability updates, and time-zone/DST updates end. What is broken stays broken.
• No more technical support Microsoft will not take support tickets for these versions — for SQL Server 2016 this applies even if you hold an active support plan, unless you subscribe to ESUs or migrate to Azure.
• Compliance status changes overnight "End of vendor security support" is an automatic finding under most audit frameworks — PCI DSS, SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA. The software did not get worse today, but your audit posture did.

The Dates, Stated Plainly

All three dates are published on Microsoft's official lifecycle pages. Note that SQL Server 2016 must be on Service Pack 3 to have been in support at all this year — SP2 servicing ended in October 2022 — and SP3 is the baseline required for the ESU program.

Why a Double SharePoint EOL Is Unusual

Normally, Microsoft server products retire one generation at a time, giving on-prem shops a ladder: when version N dies, version N+1 still has years of runway. Not this time. SharePoint Server 2016 and 2019 share the same extended support end date, because 2019 was released on the tail end of 2016's lifecycle and both were assigned the same terminal date.

The consequence is that there is no perpetual-license SharePoint version left to hop to. The traditional escape hatch — "upgrade one version and buy three more years" — does not exist. After today, the only supported on-premises SharePoint is SharePoint Server Subscription Edition, which follows Microsoft's Modern Lifecycle Policy: continuously updated, no fixed end date, and licensed as a subscription rather than a one-time purchase. The alternative is leaving on-premises entirely for SharePoint in Microsoft 365.

For on-prem shops this is a structural shift, not a routine upgrade. Microsoft has effectively closed the buy-once-run-for-a-decade model for SharePoint. Whichever path you choose, you are moving to a subscription.

SQL Server 2016 — The Same-Day Database Cutoff

SQL Server 2016 reaching end of support on the identical date is more than a calendar coincidence for SharePoint shops: SQL Server 2016 was a common database tier for SharePoint 2016 and 2019 farms when they were built. If that describes your environment, your farm went end-of-life at two layers at once today — the SharePoint application and the SQL Server databases underneath it.

Unlike SharePoint, SQL Server 2016 gets a paid safety valve: Extended Security Updates (ESUs), available for up to three years — until July 17, 2029. The terms matter and are covered in detail below. But the headline is the asymmetry: you can buy time for the database tier, and you cannot buy time for SharePoint itself. Microsoft has not announced any ESU program for SharePoint Server 2016 or 2019.

SQL Server 2016 also runs far beyond SharePoint — ERP back ends, reporting servers, vendor-packaged applications with hard version dependencies. Every one of those instances stopped receiving free security updates today. Check your exposure on our Microsoft SQL Server lifecycle page.

Your Options, Side by Side

The SQL Server 2016 ESU Terms, in Detail

Microsoft's published terms for SQL Server 2016 Extended Security Updates, from the official ESU documentation:

• Duration — up to three years Year 1 runs July 15, 2026 – July 13, 2027; Year 2 to July 18, 2028; Year 3 ends July 17, 2029. After that, there is no further coverage of any kind.
• Scope — Critical-rated updates only ESUs deliver security updates rated Critical by the Microsoft Security Response Center, if and when issued. No new features, no non-security fixes, no non-critical security updates. Technical support is limited to issues with the released updates themselves.
• Eligibility — Enterprise and Standard on SP3 Only Enterprise and Standard editions qualify; Express, Web, and Developer editions cannot subscribe. You must be running the latest service pack (SP3) for updates to apply.
• How you buy it Two routes: connect instances to Azure Arc and subscribe pay-as-you-go, or purchase annually through volume licensing with active Software Assurance. Billing for SQL Server 2016 ESUs starts at midnight UTC on July 15, 2026; subscribing later incurs a bill-back to the start of the term.
• Azure is not free this time Unlike SQL Server 2014, SQL Server 2016 ESUs are not free on Azure VMs or Azure Stack — running in Azure makes ESUs purchasable, not complimentary.

One more detail worth knowing: after today you cannot log a SQL Server 2016 support ticket at all — even with an active support plan — unless you hold an ESU subscription or migrate the workload to Azure.

Your Action Checklist

• Inventory every SharePoint 2016/2019 farm and SQL Server 2016 instanceInclude the SQL instances under SharePoint farms, reporting servers, and vendor-packaged applications. The database tier is routinely missed in application-level inventories.
• Classify each SharePoint farm: Microsoft 365 or Subscription EditionThe deciding factors are data residency requirements, farm-solution customizations, and integration surface. Farms with heavy custom code are Subscription Edition candidates; standard collaboration workloads usually move to Microsoft 365 more cheaply.
• Decide the SQL Server 2016 path per instance: upgrade, Azure, or ESUUpgrade to a supported SQL Server release where application compatibility allows. Where it does not, price ESU via Azure Arc against the migration cost — and remember Standard/Enterprise-only, SP3 required.
• If you need ESUs, subscribe nowBilling starts July 15, 2026 regardless — late subscription triggers a bill-back to the start of the term, so waiting saves nothing and leaves you unpatched in the interim.
• Restrict exposure on anything staying EOLRemove internet-facing access to unpatched SharePoint, segment the servers, tighten authentication, and increase monitoring. These are compensating controls, not fixes — document them as such.
• Record the finding in your risk register before your auditor doesAll three products are now "end of vendor support" under PCI DSS, SOC 2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA assessments. A documented migration plan with dates is the difference between a managed exception and a failed control.
• Audit customizations before migratingFarm solutions, workflows, and anything built on the SharePoint Add-In model need rework for both Subscription Edition and Microsoft 365 — this is usually the long pole in the migration, so scope it first.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens to SharePoint Server 2016 and 2019 on July 14, 2026?

Microsoft extended support for both versions ends. No further security updates, no non-security fixes, and no technical support. Any vulnerability disclosed after this date remains permanently unpatched on SharePoint 2016 and 2019.

Is there an ESU program for SharePoint Server?

No. Microsoft offers paid Extended Security Updates for Windows Server and SQL Server, but has not announced any ESU program for SharePoint Server 2016 or 2019. The supported paths are SharePoint Server Subscription Edition on-premises or SharePoint in Microsoft 365.

When does SQL Server 2016 support end, and what do ESUs cover?

SQL Server 2016 extended support ends July 14, 2026 — the same day as both SharePoint versions. Paid ESUs deliver Critical-rated security updates for up to three years, until July 17, 2029, for Enterprise and Standard editions on SP3, purchased via Azure Arc pay-as-you-go or volume licensing with Software Assurance.

Can I upgrade SharePoint 2016 directly to Subscription Edition?

No. The documented in-place path from SharePoint Server 2016 goes through SharePoint Server 2019 first. Alternatives are a database-attach migration to Subscription Edition or migrating content directly to Microsoft 365.

Will my servers stop working on July 15?

No — nothing crashes at end of support, and that is the trap. The servers keep running while their unpatched vulnerability count grows with every subsequent Patch Tuesday. The risk compounds silently until it is exploited or flagged in an audit.