Pricing and Upgrade Options for the Upcoming Windows 10

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 02 Jun 2015

The big news is that Microsoft will make Windows 10 publicly available come July 29th, 2015 and that the OS will be offered as a free upgrade.

But the free upgrade offer is time-limited: available in the first year after Windows 10’s launch. Furthermore, the offer is available to customers with a qualifying Windows edition only. What if you don’t want to upgrade within the first year? What if you don’t have a qualifying Windows edition?

In that case, you have two options at your disposal.
Option number 1: purchase a new PC or tablet that comes with Microsoft’s new Windows 10 operating system.
And option number 2: purchase Windows 10.

You didn’t thing Microsoft would stop selling its OS, did you?

Microsoft will offer retail and electronic versions of Windows 10, obviously, and they will cost the same as Windows 8.1.

That’s $119.99 for Windows 10 Home and $199.99 for Windows 10 Pro. And if you have Windows 10 Home and you want to upgrade to Windows 10 Home Pro, the Pro Pack will set you back $99.99.

If you do have a qualifying Windows edition and you do want to upgrade within the first year, here's a closer look at the upgrade options for the upcoming Windows 10.

As you may already know, Microsoft will bring 6 versions of Windows 10 to the market. The following Windows 10 editions will hit the market this summer:
  • Windows 10 Home
  • Windows 10 Mobile
  • Windows 10 Pro
  • Windows 10 Enterprise
  • Windows 10 Education
  • Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise

The free upgrade offer applies to the first three entries from the list.

Here’s an upgrade matrix:
  • Windows 7 Starter -> Windows 10 Home
  • Windows 7 Home Basic -> Windows 10 Home
  • Windows 7 Home Premium -> Windows 10 Home
  • Windows 7 Professional -> Windows 10 Pro
  • Windows 7 Ultimate -> Windows 10 Pro
  • Windows 8.1 -> Windows 10 Home
  • Windows 8.1 with Bing -> Windows 10 Home
  • Windows 8.1 Pro -> Windows 10 Pro
  • Windows Phone 8.1 -> Windows 10 Mobile
Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 Enterprise, and Windows RT/RT 8.1 are excluded from the free upgrade offer.

Microsoft set up this Q&A page to answer any questions you may have about Windows 10.



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