Cost is a big factor. Std to Enterprise is a bit scary.
Here is a link to all the differences between the editions of SQL 2012 Features Supported by the Editions of SQL Server 2012 | Microsoft Learn
2016 does have a lot of improvements including and lot of Enterprise features have be moved to standard with SP1. of course I would not recommend upgrading to a version of SQL that did not meet the certification of your vendor.
Here is another post you might find useful:
Good luck with your SQL adventures. Sounds a bit like me, but I started with Platinum SQL 4.2 and SQL Server 6.5, quite a while back.