SQL SERVER – Difference Between SQL Server Compact Edition (CE) and SQL Server Express Edition

Link:SQL SERVER – Difference Between SQL Server Compact Edition (CE) and SQL Server Express Edition

I often received question regarding what are difference between SQL Server Compact Edition (CE) and SQL Server Express Edition. In one line – SQL Server CE is for mobile application and embaded systems where as SQL Server Express Edition is limited feature light version of SQL Server Standard.

SQL Server Compact Edition	SQL Server Express Edition
ClickOnce Deployment	ClickOnce Deployment
Installed centrally with an MSI	Installed centrally with an MSI
XML storage	XML storage
Transact-SQL	Transact-SQL
Subscriber for merge replication	Subscriber for merge replication
Simple transactions	Simple transactions
Database size support – 4GB	Database size support – 4GB
Number of concurrent connections – 256	Number of concurrent connections – Unlimited
Privately installed, embedded, with the application
Non-admin installation option
Runs on Windows Mobile platform
Runs in-process with application
Data file storage on a network share
Support for different file extensions
Code free, document safe, file format
Remote Data Access (RDA)
ADO.NET Sync Framework
Subscriber for merge replication
Simple transactions
	Runs as a service
	Procedural T-SQL
	Distributed transactions
	Native XML, XQuery/QPath
	Stored procedures, views, triggers
	Role-based security