The Oracle Core Factor Table Explained, with Worked Examples

Oracle prices most of its database and middleware products per processor. But a “processor” in Oracle’s contracts is not the chip you buy from Intel or AMD. It is a number you calculate, and the Oracle Processor Core Factor Table is how you calculate it. Get it wrong in one direction and you overpay for years. Get it wrong in the other and an audit finds the difference, with back support on top.

This guide explains the rule, lists the factors that matter for the hardware companies buy today, and works through the calculations we check most often.

In short

• Oracle processor licences are the physical cores multiplied by the core factor for the chip, with any fraction rounded up.
• Core factors on Oracle’s table updated 28 January 2026: Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC 0.5, Ampere Altra and AmpereOne 0.25, IBM POWER and IBM Z 1.0, other ARM chips 1.0.
• Example: two 24-core Xeon processors are 48 cores, and 48 x 0.5 = 24 processor licences.
• The core factor does not apply to Standard Edition products, which count occupied sockets, or on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud, where two vCPUs count as one licence when multi-threading is enabled.

The rule, in Oracle’s words

Oracle’s Technology Global Price List defines it. The number of processor licences is the total number of cores multiplied by the factor for that chip in the Core Factor Table. All cores on all multicore chips for each licensed program are added together before multiplying, and any fraction is rounded up to the next whole number.

Three things follow from that sentence. You count physical cores, not threads. You count every core where the program is installed or running, not just the cores it uses. And rounding always goes up.

The factors that matter in 2026

These are from the Oracle Processor Core Factor Table as updated on 28 January 2026.

Most enterprise estates are on Intel or AMD, so most calculations use 0.5. The table matters when you move platforms: the same 16-core server needs 8 licences on Xeon, 16 on POWER10, and 4 on AmpereOne.

Worked examples

A two-socket Xeon server

Two 24-core Intel Xeon processors give 48 cores. 48 × 0.5 = 24 processor licences. For Oracle Database Enterprise Edition at the September 2026 list price of $47,500, that is $1,140,000 in licences and $250,800 a year in support.

An IBM POWER10 partition

An LPAR with 8 dedicated POWER10 cores, set up as a hard partition, needs 8 × 1.0 = 8 processor licences. The factor of 1.0 is why POWER estates are expensive to license per core. It is also why hard partitioning on POWER saves so much.

An Ampere server

An 80-core Ampere Altra server needs 80 × 0.25 = 20 processor licences, the same as a 40-core Xeon server. ARM chips from other makers count at 1.0, so check the exact model before you assume the lower factor.

Rounding up

Oracle’s own example: a server with 6 cores on a chip with a 0.25 factor needs 6 × 0.25 = 1.5, rounded up to 2 processor licences.

Where the core factor does not apply

Standard Edition products

For programs with “Standard Edition” in the name, including Database Standard Edition 2 and WebLogic Server Standard Edition, Oracle counts a processor as an occupied socket. Cores and the core factor play no part.

AWS, Azure and Google Cloud

Oracle’s cloud licensing policy states that the core factor table does not apply in Authorized Cloud Environments. There, two vCPUs count as one processor licence when multi-threading is enabled. On Intel and AMD, that makes the cloud count twice the on-premises count for the same cores. Our guide to licensing Oracle on Azure works through the numbers.

Named User Plus still uses it

Named User Plus licences have minimums per processor, and those processors are counted with the core factor. Database Enterprise Edition needs at least 25 Named User Plus per processor. The 24-licence Xeon server above therefore needs at least 600 Named User Plus, however few people use it.

Virtualisation decides which cores count

The core factor tells you how to convert cores into licences. It does not tell you which cores to count. That depends on how the server is partitioned.

Oracle accepts a short list of hard partitioning technologies, such as IBM LPAR and Oracle Linux KVM with pinned CPUs, where you license only the cores assigned to the partition. For soft partitioning, which includes VMware, Oracle’s Partitioning Policy asks for every core of every host where the virtual machine could run. That policy is not in your contract, and we explain why it does not bind you. But it is the number an audit report starts from.

Mistakes we find in core counts

• Counting vCPUs or threads on premises. On your own hardware, Oracle counts physical cores. Hyper-threading neither adds nor removes licences.
• Licensing the old hardware. A server refresh from 16 to 32 cores per socket doubles the requirement, even if the database is the same size.
• Forgetting standby and test servers. A Data Guard standby or a test server with the software installed is counted like any other server.
• Using the wrong factor for ARM. Only Ampere’s listed chips get 0.25. Other ARM processors count at 1.0.

Questions we are asked about the core factor table

What is the Oracle core factor for Intel Xeon?

0.5. The same applies to AMD EPYC. Multiply the physical cores by 0.5 and round up.

How do I calculate Oracle processor licences?

Count the physical cores where the program is installed or running, multiply by the chip’s factor from the Core Factor Table, and round any fraction up. For Standard Edition products, count occupied sockets instead.

Does the core factor apply on AWS or Azure?

No. In Authorized Cloud Environments, Oracle counts vCPUs: two vCPUs equal one processor licence when multi-threading is enabled, one when it is not.

Does hyper-threading change the number of licences?

Not on your own servers, where Oracle counts physical cores. In the authorized public clouds it does, because the count is based on vCPUs.

A core count is the first number Oracle checks in an audit and the easiest one to get right in advance. If you want yours checked against your contracts, book an hour with our Advisor on Call or talk to us.