Is Oracle Database Standard Edition Free?

Question

I'm a beginner level RDBMS student. I need to manage and test SQL commands on one database on my laptop (localhost). I see 'Oracle Database Standard Edition 12c' (2.6 Gb) in the download section. So, is it free or does it need licensing?

Solution

Oracle has a version called Oracle Express which is, in fact, free.

You can download it from here: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/database-technologies/express-edition/overview/index.html

From its webpage:

Oracle Database XE is a great starter database for:

Developers working on Node.js, Python, PHP, Java, .NET, XML, and Open Source applications

DBAs who need a free, starter database for training and deployment