Introduction
Microsoft announced the release of the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) version of SQL Server 2016 on June 1, 2016. The good news is that you can download SQL Server 2016 Developer Edition for Free. Different editions of SQL Server 2016 which are available are Enterprise, Standard, Web, Developer and Express Edition.
- SQL Enhancements in SQL Server
- Always Encrypted
- Query Store
- Row Level Security
- Temporal Table
- Dynamic Data Masking
- Stretch Databases
- PolyBase
- R Built-in T-SQL
- JSON Support
- TempDB Configuration Changes
How to Download SQL Server 2016 Developer Edition for Free
You can download SQL Server 2016 Developer Edition for Free if you become the member of Visual Studio Dev Essentials.

Related Articles
- How to Start SQL Server with Minimal Configuration
- How to Start SQL Server in Single User Mode
- What are Virtual Log Files in SQL Server Transaction Log File?
- Different Startup Options for SQL Server Database Engine Service
- How to Start SQL Server without TempDB Database
Click the Download button to get your copy of SQL Server 2016 Developer Edition for Free.

Download and Restore SQL Server 2016 WideWorldImporters Sample Database
How to Download SQL Server 2016 from MSDN Subscription
If you have a valid MSDN subscription then you can download any version of SQL Server 2016 from Subscribers Download Section of MSDN as shown in the snippet below.

Conclusion
This is indeed a great move from Microsoft to allow Developers to Download and explore SQL Server 2014 and SQL Server 2016 along with other Microsoft Developer Products to members of Visual Studio Dev Essentials.