New Icons for SQL Server & SSMS 2025 Are Here
If you tuned into Microsoft Build 2025, you probably caught the new look—SQL Server and SSMS both have new logos. I bet you didn’t know it, but for a while there was no official logo for SQL Server. Almost everyone just continued to use the old one. I’ve been pining for the day we could use more contemporary icons. This is just in time as SQL Server just turned 35.
The new SQL Server 2025 icon is clean and feels right at home with the other Microsoft modern logos.
My Favorite Feature
From the SQL Server Blog
This release also provides other essential building blocks for AI development and operational retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) patterns powered by AI agents. It includes vector embedding generation and text chunking built into T-SQL, using Disk Approximate Nearest Neighbor (DiskANN) as a vector index for faster, resource-efficient, and accurate results. Additionally, SQL Server 2025 offers seamless integration with popular AI frameworks like LangChain, Semantic Kernel, and Entity Framework Core.
I’ll be covering in SQL Server 2025:
- Data mirroring to Fabric
- Vector embedding and vector functions
- AI model management
- JSON datatype
- RegEx support (I know, I know)
- Change event streaming
- New T-SQL functions
- Managed identity support
SSMS
And yes, SSMS got a glow-up too—the updated icon brings a more consistent, polished feel across the SQL toolsets.
Highlights (from the SQL Server Blog)
As always, you can read the entire list of new functionality and bug fixes in our release notes, but a few highlights include:
- Installation and automatic updates via the Visual Studio Installer
- Git integration available via the Code tools Workload
- Smaller installation footprint and customizable installation via Workloads and Individual Components
- A new, Modern connection dialog experience (Preview)
- New options for customizing your SSMS experience (vertical tabs, tab coloring by project or file type, minimum and maximum tab width, font and background color for results grid cells containing NULL values, and more)
- Always Encrypted Assessment available via the Always Encrypted Wizard
- Migration assistance via the Hybrid and Migration Workload
In SSMS, I’ve already had a chance to work with these and I’ll be sharing some demos:
- Copilot (preview)
- Dark mode 🎉
- NULL formatting
- Git integration
Install Them Now
These are small changes, but it feels more like these products are modern—especially for those of us who live in these tools every day. I’ll be writing more about the new features, including how the apps themselves have been re-architected to support more features and extensions going forward.
SQL Server 2025 (Preview)
SSMS 21 (GA)
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