Oracle Database Free & XE: Download, Install & Limits

Oracle Database Free, 23ai, 26ai and Oracle Express Edition: the names explained

Oracle has renamed its free database more than once, which is why searches for Oracle Express Edition, Oracle XE, Oracle Database 23ai Free and Oracle Database Free all lead to related products. As of October 2026, Oracle's product page is titled Oracle AI Database Free and describes the current release as Oracle AI Database 26ai Free. The installation guides use the same names, while the FAQ page heading still reads Oracle Database Free FAQ. The packages on the Get Started page carry the release number 23.26.3, for example oracle-ai-database-free-26ai-23.26.3.windows.x64.zip.

Oracle Database Express Edition (XE) is the earlier free edition. Oracle's XE download page still offers Oracle Database 21c Express Edition for 64-bit Windows and for Oracle Linux 7 and 8. The 26ai Free installation guide tells you to uninstall any existing XE or Free database before installing 26ai Free, and documents moving data from 21c XE with Data Pump export and import. For a new installation, 26ai Free is Oracle's current free release; choose XE 21c only if a course or application specifically needs it.

Searches for an Oracle 19c download usually concern Oracle's paid editions. Oracle's FAQ describes Enterprise Edition and Standard Edition 2 as the fully supported editions that receive patches and support; they are outside the scope of this free-edition guide.

Oracle Free vs XE: limits and what is included

Oracle's FAQ answers the "can I use it in production" question directly: Free does not restrict where you deploy it, but it is unsupported and does not receive patches, so Oracle recommends fully supported editions or cloud services for production. For learning SQL and PL/SQL, the caps rarely matter. Oracle APEX (Oracle Application Express), SQL Developer, SQLcl and Oracle REST Data Services are not part of the Free distribution; each is a separate download.

Oracle download for Windows: installing Oracle AI Database Free

Before you start. The Windows installation guide lists Windows 10 and Windows 11 (Pro, Enterprise and Education editions) and Windows Server 2016 to 2025, at least 8.5 GB of disk space for the software plus 2 GB or more of temporary space, and at least 2 GB of RAM. The installer rejects Windows Home editions. You must be a direct member of the local Administrators group: membership through another group, or just choosing "run as administrator", is not enough. The ORACLE_HOME and TNS_ADMIN environment variables must not be set at system level.

Then, as documented by Oracle:

1. Download the Windows (64-bit) zip from the Oracle AI Database Free Get Started page and extract it to a temporary folder.
2. Double-click setup.exe. Prerequisites are installed if needed.
3. In Welcome to the InstallShield Wizard for Oracle AI Database 26ai Free, click Next.
4. In License Agreement, select I accept the terms in the license agreement if you agree, and click Next. The installer then runs its prerequisite checks (Windows version and edition, environment variables, Administrators membership, and no existing Free or XE service).
5. In Destination Folder, accept the default (C:\app\<username>\product\26ai) or click Change and type a path whose folders do not exist yet, so the installer can create them with the right permissions. Avoid folder names with spaces.
6. In Oracle AI Database Information, enter and confirm one password; it is used for the SYS, SYSTEM and PDBADMIN accounts.
7. In Summary, click Install. When Oracle AI Database Installed Successfully appears, note the connection strings it shows and click Finish.

The database always uses the SID FREE. Oracle also documents a silent installation that runs setup.exe with the FREEInstall.rsp response file for repeat or bundled installs.

Linux RPM and the container image

Oracle Linux and RHEL. On Oracle Linux the preinstallation package comes from the Oracle repositories; on RHEL you download the matching preinstall RPM from the Get Started page first. Install the database RPM, then run the configuration script, which asks for the administrative password and creates the container database FREE with one pluggable database FREEPDB1, with the listener on port 1521.

dnf -y install oracle-ai-database-preinstall-26ai
dnf -y install oracle-ai-database-free-26ai-23.26.3-1.el9.x86_64.rpm
/etc/init.d/oracle-free-26ai configure

docker pull container-registry.oracle.com/database/free:latest

podman run -d \
  --name oracle-free \
  --publish 1521:1521 \
  --secret=oracle_pwd \
  --volume oracle-free-data:/opt/oracle/oradata \
  container-registry.oracle.com/database/free:latest

Containers on Mac and Windows

Oracle offers Free on Mac through a container image for Arm and Intel Macs. The image comes in Full and Lite variants; Oracle recommends Full for development and a versioned tag, rather than latest, for repeatable environments. The registry's quick start uses Podman with a secret called oracle_pwd; the ORACLE_PWD variable sets the SYS, SYSTEM and PDBADMIN password and is generated randomly if omitted. Wait until the container logs show the readiness message, DATABASE IS READY TO USE, before connecting.

Connect with SQL*Plus and SQL Developer

Oracle AI Database Free is a container database. The service FREE connects to the root container (CDB$ROOT) and FREEPDB1 to the default pluggable database. Oracle's container documentation advises connecting applications to FREEPDB1, testing with PDBADMIN, then creating a dedicated application user rather than using SYS or SYSTEM.

On Windows the installer adds your user to the ORA_DBA group, so from the Oracle Home bin folder sqlplus / as sysdba connects without a password, even if the listener is not running. Over the network, use Easy Connect strings:

sqlplus sys@localhost:1521/FREEPDB1 as sysdba
sqlplus sys@localhost:1521/FREE as sysdba

SELECT 'Hello World!' FROM dual;

CREATE TABLE notes (
    id    NUMBER PRIMARY KEY,
    body  VARCHAR2(200)
);

INSERT INTO notes (id, body) VALUES (1, 'first row');
COMMIT;
SELECT * FROM notes;

Oracle SQL Developer

SQL Developer 26.2 is a free download from oracle.com. The Windows zip includes JDK 17; extract it and run the executable. For a new connection, use host localhost, port 1521, service name FREEPDB1 and a database user such as PDBADMIN or your own application user. Oracle also publishes SQL Developer as an extension for VS Code. If you only need client libraries for an application, the free Oracle Instant Client is the lighter download. For alternatives, see the best Oracle database tools and Toad vs SQL Developer.

Install errors and next steps

CodeWithSQL's error library covers SQL Server errors; for ORA- codes, Oracle's documentation is the reference. Once connected, follow the SQL beginner course and the SQL exercises. Comparing engines? See PostgreSQL vs Oracle and MySQL vs Oracle.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Oracle: Oracle AI Database Free
• Oracle: Oracle AI Database Free, Get Started
• Oracle: Oracle Database Free FAQ
• Oracle: Oracle Database 21c Express Edition downloads
• Oracle AI Database Free Installation Guide for Windows: Requirements
• Oracle AI Database Free Installation Guide for Windows: Licensing Restrictions
• Oracle AI Database Free Installation Guide for Windows: Installing
• Oracle AI Database Free Installation Guide for Windows: Connecting
• Oracle AI Database Free Installation Guide for Windows: Moving from XE
• Oracle AI Database Free Installation Guide for Linux: Installing
• Oracle Database XE 21c Installation Guide for Windows: Licensing Restrictions
• Oracle Container Registry: Oracle AI Database 26ai Free
• Oracle: SQL Developer downloads
• Oracle: Instant Client

Checked 8 October 2026.

How we research guides: our editorial method. We link only to official downloads and never host installers.