Windows 11 Pro and Windows 11 Home are the two main editions of Microsoft’s latest operating system for consumer PCs. Although the company also offers variants for the education sector or for professional workstations, it simplifies the number of versions with each release. But what is the best choice for each type of use?

Upgrade to Windows 11 for Windows 10 PCs that exceed the minimum requirements its free and is done on the same edition of Windows 10 that was previously installed. This means that Windows 11 Pro can only be upgraded (for free) to Pro and Home to an equivalent version. However, you may want to upgrade from Home to Pro, have computers without valid licenses that you want to upgrade, or buy new computers without an operating system.

For these cases, Microsoft offers Windows 10 Home or Pro licenses (upgradable to Windows 11) at the official price 139 and 199 dollarswhile upgrading from Home to Pro, which can be done through an option in the Microsoft Store, is even more relatively expensive: $99.

Of course, there are other types of licenses that can be legally used and that they are much cheaperlike great CD which we have offered you in previous weeks and which allow you to purchase a Windows 10 license for just 12 euros and from there upgrade to Windows 11 if you so choose.

Windows version

Microsoft has been offering different editions of Windows for a long time. The reason is quite simple. While one operating system without additional versions is possible, not all users need all the features it may contain, and not all computers support all features. In addition, it is necessary to distinguish the consumer market from the professional and business market, because they do not have the same needs.

A) Yes, it’s ideal to offer multiple versions… without going overboard. Windows XP was sold with two main versions (Home Edition and Professional) and the rest branched out from there. Windows Vista and then Windows 7 complicated the picture by introducing several additional editions: Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Enterprise, Business and Ultimate with different feature sets between them.

Fortunately, Windows 10 and Windows 11 are back to normal, and while there are specific versions for workstations, education and companies, and special editions like SE, Home and Pro are not ruled out, these are the only two editions most consumers should know about.

Windows 11 Pro vs. For

Windows 11 Home is the default version comes pre-installed on most new PCs, while Pro includes a few more features and is usually pre-installed on high-end PCs or PCs designed for business clients. Microsoft offers a specific web page where it compares features between versions.

It must be said that Windows 11 Home has since been sufficient for the vast majority of consumers It is the most complete base version that Microsoft has released recentlywith all the expected features including Windows Hello, Secure Boot, Windows Security, Parental Controls, Device Encryption and much more.

There are even other features that were only offered by default in higher versions in previous versions of Windows, such as Linux Subsystem for Windows and in the future another subsystem that Microsoft is working on, Android, which will also be available in the Home version.

Windows 11 Pro, more complete, but necessary for consumption?

The “Pro” version includes all the features of Home and adds additional features, especially for a professional environment. One of the most notable is BitLocker, a security feature that “encrypts” or “encrypts” data on a computer. Other relevant ones are WIP, which helps protect business applications and data from accidental data leaks, and the rest are related to business administration and management, such as the Hyper-V hypervisor, Windows Sandbox, or full Windows Remote Desktop support.

There are other differences that Microsoft’s website doesn’t mention that may be important to some users, such as Windows 10 Home no longer supports local accounts when installed (as is possible with Windows 10 Home) and requires a Microsoft ID account to be linked to the system, while the Pro version can use local accounts from the same installation. Both can work with both after installation.

There are also some hardware differences. Both have the same minimum hardware requirements (4GB RAM, 64GB storage, dual-core processor, TPM 2.0, Secure Boot or DirectX 12-compatible GPU), but Windows 11 Home only supports up to 64 CPU cores. 128 GB of RAM. It’s also not compatible with dual-CPU systems, although that’s not really something that’s used in the consumer market.

Which should you use?

Windows 11 Home is the version that a regular user can choose. It has all the expected features, applications and games will run just like in the Pro version, it is much cheaper and another important point with regard to resource consumption: it will not load business modules that you certainly do not need.

As for BitLocker, it’s interesting, but there are a dozen alternatives in Home that can be used, and the same can be said for the Hyper-V hypervisor or the remote desktop client: there are third-party applications that can be used. It will all depend on your specific needs and use cases, but the basic edition of Windows 11 (less basic than in previous systems) is sufficient for the vast majority of users.