What are the differences between the various ArcGIS Server options?

This document makes me want to stab my eyes with a fork. Can someone provide a simple summary of the differences between Enterprise vs. Workgroup, and Basic vs. Standard vs. Advanced? As a bonus, what can I expect to spend on the different options?

Answer

Ok, so short and sweet for you without the marketing fluff...

Series:

1. Workgroup - Small groups, no enterprise tools


2. Enterprise - Corporate scale, large toolkit to manage, more overhead needs to manage

Versions:

1. Basic - Pretty much ArcSDE (multiuser database access), not much for other functionality


2. Standard - Same as basic, but add the services for Maps, processing and remote work


3. Advanced - Full range of Standard, plus the extensions as well as Mobile

So for sure Enterprise Advanced is the best, but you pay a premium for it; you really need to think about what you need to do before you pluck down 32+K for 4 cores.

Additional Information

At the workgroup level you are talking 5-10 users, since the Workgroup edition software is running on a MSSQLExpress engine, so you have size and connection limits to the platform.

For the Enterprise tools perspective, you have access to commandline tools for managing ArcSDE to do things like automate functions outside of ArcPy as well as the ability to do things like creating spatial views, and more easily scripting functions on the machines through scheduled tasks. The command line tools of ArcSDE are a major element of being able to manage the larger platform.