Are licensing bundles included?
Here is how the licensing bundles are structured across the OCI rental model:
When you rent a Compute instance, the OS licensing is often the first "bundle" you encounter:
Oracle Linux: This is the most popular choice because it is $0 / Included. When you rent an OCI server, the Oracle Linux license, including Premier Support and Ksplice (rebootless patching), is bundled into the hourly hardware price.
Windows Server: You can choose the "License Included" image. OCI handles the licensing fee, which is added as a small per-hour surcharge to your instance.
Ubuntu & CentOS: Like Oracle Linux, these are typically available as standard images with no additional licensing fee.
For databases, OCI simplifies complex licensing by bundling them into "PaaS" (Platform as a Service) packages.
Standard Edition: Includes the basic database engine.
Enterprise Edition: Adds advanced features like Data Guard and Flashback.
High Performance: A massive bundle that includes Partitioning, Advanced Compression, and Advanced Security.
Extreme Performance: The "everything" bundle. It includes Oracle RAC (Active-Active clusters), In-Memory, and Active Data Guard.
Why this matters: In the 2026 rental model, you don't have to buy these features individually. You simply pick a performance tier, and all the relevant licenses are bundled into the hourly price.
If your company already owns "on-premises" licenses, OCI allows you to use them to lower your rental cost.
The Discount: By choosing the BYOL version of a service (like Autonomous Database), you stop paying for the software through OCI and only pay for the "raw" infrastructure.
Savings: This often results in a 70% to 80% reduction in your hourly OCI bill, as you are only "renting" the CPU and RAM, not the software.
| Feature | License Included (Bundled) | BYOL (Unbundled) |
| Upfront Cost | $0 | Requires existing purchase |
| Billing | Simple, all-in-one hourly rate | Hourly rate for hardware only |
| Maintenance | Included in bundle | Managed via existing support contract |
| Best For | Startups, new projects, scaling | Large enterprises with existing assets |
OCI Marketplace acts like an "App Store" for your servers. In 2026, many vendors (like Cisco, Fortinet, or Palo Alto) offer pre-bundled images.
One-Click Deployment: You rent a server that comes pre-installed with the software.
Consolidated Billing: The software license fee and the OCI hardware fee are combined into a single line item on your Oracle invoice.
A major change in 2026 involves the Oracle Cloud VMware Solution (OCVS).
Historical: Previously, VMware licenses were bundled (License Included).
Current Trend: Following industry shifts, OCI has transitioned many VMware offerings to a BYOL-only model. If you are renting a VMware cluster, you now typically bring your own VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) licenses while renting the Bare Metal hardware from Oracle.
If you rent the Autonomous Database, Oracle bundles several tools that usually cost extra on-premises. You get Data Safe (security auditing), APEX (low-code app dev), and Machine Learning notebooks included at no extra cost. It is arguably the best "value bundle" in the 2026 OCI catalog.