SharePoint 2010 VS SharePoint 2013: Minimum Requirements

By Microsoft MVP and MCT · Pluralsight Author

Published October 8, 2012 · Updated January 15, 2026 · SharePoint

This post is about the Minimum Requirements for SharePoint 2013. I also contrast them with SharePoint 2010’s  Minimum Requirements.  This will also help you see if your current SharePoint 2010 Infrastructure is ready for an  upgrade to SharePoint 2013.

Here they are:

Hardware Requirements

SharePoint Servers

SharePoint 2013’s Minimum Requirements are the same as SharePoint 2010’s.  Here is a table that shows the Minimum Requirements for both servers.

Table of SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 15 minimum hardware: 64-bit four core processor, 4 GB RAM evaluation or 8 GB production, 80 GB system drive

UPDATE:  Microsoft released a new “version” of minimum requirements for the SharePoint servers and they are much higher than the original. I took my info from the SharePoint 2013 IT Training, however the Technet Article has been updated OCT2.

Here are the new specs. 

Updated SharePoint 2013 minimum RAM by scenario: 8 GB single evaluation server, 24 GB single production server, 12 GB web or application server in a three-tier farm

The only thing that changed is the RAM. Here are the new Minimum Requirements Explained in plain english

SharePoint Foundation 2013 (Development) : 8GB Ram 

SharePoint Server 2013 Single Server Development or Evaluation (Application, SQL(optional), and Front End all on same server)  : 24GB Ram

Web server or application server in a three-tier farm (Means SQL + Application + WFE), each Application Server and Front End need : 12GB Ram.

 Database Servers

Similarly to the SharePoint servers, there is no difference between the Minimum specs required for the SQL server between SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013

SharePoint 2010 vs SharePoint 15 minimum database server hardware: four cores and 8 GB RAM for small, eight cores and 16 GB for medium deployments, 80 GB drive

Software Requirements

SharePoint Servers

Compared to the Hardware part, the Minimum Software Requirements for SharePoint Server 2013 are different from SharePoint Server 2010.  For SharePoint 2013 you need:

Table of minimum Windows Server versions: SharePoint 2010 needs 64-bit Windows Server 2008 SP2, SharePoint 15 needs 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

Microsoft also released the Prerequisites that will be installed by the SharePoint prerequisite installer. This is very interesting if you want to do a complete offline installation.  Here they are:

SharePoint 2013 prerequisite installer list including IIS, WIF 1.0 and 1.1, .NET Framework 4.0, SQL Server 2008 R2 Native Client, Sync Framework 1.0 and PowerShell 3.0

Database Servers

The minimum Software requirements for the Database Servers are also higher: 

SharePoint 2010 vs SharePoint 15 minimum database server hardware table repeated under software requirements: four or eight cores, 8 GB or 16 GB RAM, 80 GB drive

Looking to Upgrade From SharePoint 2010 to SharePoint 2013?

As you see, the hardware specifications between the two are the same so you should have no problems on the Hardware side.  However, Microsoft has really updated the Minimum Software Requirements for SharePoint 2013. So if you were running on the minimum for SharePoint 2010, you might have to consider a Database-Attach method or even creating a brand new Farm with the latest Software. 

Is your current infrastructure ready for an In-place upgrade? or you have to completely update your Software?