The selected Subscriber does not satisfy the minimum version compatibility level of the selected publication.

As you may know SQL Replication can replicate data between different versions of SQL. It can replicated data from SQL 2012 to SQL 2016 etc. It can also replicate data from higher version to a lower version of SQL. However if you are trying to setup replication to a subscriber that is on higher version than your publisher you may get following error:

“The selected Subscriber does not satisfy the minimum version compatibility level”

Now the problem occurs only when you are adding a new subscriber using GUI and it is related only to version of SSMS you are using during setup.

Lets assume you are configuring subscriber that is on 2016 but your publisher and distributor is on 2012. You most likely connected to a Publisher and trying to add new subscription stream.

You have two solution for this:

1. Use T-sql. When setting up by using T-SQL, the version of subscriber is not being checked as you are not even trying to connect to a subscriber. Only Distribution agent will connect to it later after the setup.
2. As T-SQL setup could be bit difficult you have a second solution, which is to use tools that are on the same version as subscriber (in our example it should be SSMS 2016). You can do it either from Subscriber or other server. NOTE: The tools/SSMS should be located on workstation/server that have access to Publisher/Distributor and Subscriber. you need to have access to all 3 components of replication.

If you have other solution for this issue let me know in comments:)