Windows 10 editions

Editions

All mentioned editions have the ability to use language packs, enabling multiple user interface languages. This functionality was previously only available in Windows 7 Ultimate or Enterprise. Single-language variants of Home and Pro editions are also available.

Home

Windows 10 Home is designed for use in PCs, tablets and 2-in-1 PCs. It includes all consumer-directed features.

Pro

Windows 10 Pro builds on the Home edition and adds features essential for businesses, and functionally equivalent to Windows 8.1 Pro.

Pro Education

Not part of the initial line up of Windows, this edition was introduced in July 2016 for hardware partners on new devices purchased with the discounted K-12 academic license. It features a Set Up School PCs app and does not include Cortana, Windows Store suggestions and basic tips and tricks of Windows 10.

Enterprise

Windows 10 Enterprise provides all the features of Windows 10 Pro, with additional features to assist with IT-based organizations, and is functionally equivalent to Windows 8.1 Enterprise.

Enterprise LTSB

Windows 10 Enterprise Long Term Servicing Branch (LTSB) is similar to Windows 10 Enterprise but does not include Cortana, Windows Store, the Edge browser, Photo Viewer and the UWP version of Calculator (replaced by classic version), and will not receive any feature updates, gives companies more control over the update process. Windows 10 Enterprise N LTSB also lacks the same components absent in other N variants (see below), and it is the most stripped down edition of Windows 10 available.

Education

Windows 10 Education provides all Windows 10 Enterprise features (excluding Cortana), designed for use in schools, colleges, and universities. It is available with Microsoft's Academic Volume Licensing.

Mobile

Windows 10 Mobile is designed for smartphones and small tablets. It includes all basic consumer features, including Continuum capability. It is the de facto successor of Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows RT.

Mobile Enterprise

Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise provides all the features in Windows 10 Mobile, with additional features to assist with IT-based organizations, in a manner similar to Windows 10 Enterprise, but optimized for mobile devices.

As with all versions of Windows since XP, all Windows 10 editions for PC hardware have "N" and "KN" variations in Europe and South Korea that exclude certain bundled multimedia functionality, including media players and related components, in order to comply with antitrust rulings. The "Media Feature Pack" can be downloaded and installed to restore these features. As with Windows 8.1, a reduced-price "Windows 10 with Bing" SKU is available to OEMs; it is subsidized by having Microsoft's Bing search engine set as default, which cannot be changed to a different search engine by OEMs. It is intended primarily for low-cost devices, and is otherwise identical to Windows 10 Home.

IoT editions

Designed specifically for use in small footprint, low-cost devices and IoT scenarios. It is a rebranded version of Microsoft's earlier embedded operating systems, Windows Embedded. Three editions are already announced: IoT Core, IoT Enterprise, and IoT Mobile Enterprise.

Free upgrade

At the time of launch, Microsoft deemed Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 users eligible to upgrade to Windows 10 free of charge, so long as the upgrade takes place within one year of Windows 10's initial release date. Windows RT and the respective Enterprise editions of Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 were excluded from this offer. Since July 29, 2016, Windows 10 is no longer offered as a free upgrade, instead a license must be purchased.

Academic Select volume license customers who purchased prior volume license versions of Windows outright, and did not purchase Software Assurance, are also able to qualify for a free upgrade to Windows 10. However, as shown in this chart, the upgrade path is from Windows 7 Professional and Windows 8.1 Pro to Windows 10 Pro, and not to Windows 10 Education.

Certain features of Windows 10 Education make Windows 10 Professional less desirable in a shared computer classroom or lab setting, due to the inability to lock down the appearance of the Start screen across all users, and other user experience management features listed in the next section of this article.

Windows 10 Cloud

In February 2017 a pre-release version of the previously unknown Windows 10 Cloud was leaked on Twitter, and torrents of the build began to circulate. It is reportedly intended to compete with Chrome OS, a lightweight operating system that is cloud-based and runs natively on Chromebook laptops. Windows 10 Cloud does not run or install most programs straight after installation, and by default only does so with apps from the built-in Windows Store. However, people who have installed the leaked operating system have managed to modify it to make it install other programs not found in the store.

ZDNet argues that Windows 10 Cloud may have little relation to the cloud itself. BetaNews speculates that Windows 10 Cloud is "likely free."

Comparison chart

Microsoft OEM licensing formula takes display size, RAM capacity and storage capacity into account. In mid-2015, devices with 4 GB RAM were expected to be $20 more expensive than devices with 2 GB RAM.