Microsoft details which features Windows 10 Home and Pro users don’t get
If you plan to buy Windows 10 when it comes out, either retail, as a system builder copy or through a PC or tablet, you have the choice between Windows 10 Home and Pro as a consumer.
These are the two main retail versions of Windows 10 and naturally, they differ in some aspects. While Microsoft has not revealed official pricing yet, it is likely that it will match that of Windows 8.1, so that retail copies of Windows 10 Home will be available for $119 and of Windows 10 Pro for $199 in the US.
The question that should come up naturally is whether the $80 extra for the Pro edition are worth it.
Microsoft released a comparison chart for the four major Windows 10 editions, Home, Pro, Enterprise and Education that details the features they include.
While all versions share the same Core Experience according to Microsoft, with Cortana, Windows Hello biometric support, Microsoft Edge and Continuum, it is the business experience where they diverge.
Windows 10 Home users get the fewest features of all editions. It is for instance still the case that Group Policy and Bitlocker are not available in Home editions.
| Feature | Home | Pro | Enterprise | Education |
| Device Encryption | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Domain Join | yes | yes | yes | |
| Group Policy Management | yes | yes | yes | |
| Bitlocker | yes | yes | yes | |
| Enterprise Mode | yes | yes | yes | |
| Assigned Access 8.1 | yes | yes | yes | |
| Remote Desktop | yes | yes | yes | |
| Direct Access | yes | yes | ||
| Windows To Go Creator | yes | yes | ||
| Applocker | yes | yes | ||
| Branchcache | yes | yes | ||
| Start Screen Control | yes | yes | ||
| Side-loading of business apps | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Mobile device management | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Join Azure Active Directory | yes | yes | yes | |
| Business Store | yes | yes | yes | |
| Granular UX Control | yes | yes | ||
| Upgrade Pro > Enterprise | yes | yes | ||
| Upgrade Home > Education | yes | yes | ||
| Microsoft Passport | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Enterprise Data Protection | yes | yes | yes | |
| Current Branch for Business | yes | yes | yes | |
| Long Term Servicing Branch | yes | |||
| Windows Update | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Windows Update for Business | yes | yes | yes | |
| Current Branch for Business | yes | yes | yes | |
| Long Term Servicing Branch | yes |
Pro users get additional features that Home users won't. The feature set mimics that of Windows 8.1 for the most part as features such as Bitlocker, Group Policy Management or Remote Desktop are available in the Pro version of Windows 10.
As far as new features are concerned, it is how Windows gets updated that may be of interest when making the decision. As mentioned earlier, it appears that updates may become mandatory on Windows 10 Home devices while better control options are provided on devices running Windows 10 Pro.
It is still too early to tell if Microsoft will really go down that route and enforce updates without giving users options to block some or control when these get deployed on their systems, but it looks as if that is what is going to happen.
Windows users who are eligible for a free upgrade get either a Home or Pro version depending on the existing license they have. Device that get updated to Windows 10 Home can be upgraded -- for a price -- to Windows 10 Pro if that is desired.
Closing Words
While most users may not have issues running Windows 10 Home on their devices, others may have two main areas of concern.
The first has been part of the Windows family for a long time: Group Policy is not available. This may not be a huge issue depending on how the system is used but for some, it is important to have access to policies on devices running Windows 10.
More problematic than that is how updates are handled in Home versions. If early predictions are correct, control over updates and when they get installed is removed from Windows 10 Home. Considering that the past has shown that updates may sometimes break systems or features, it could be a recipe for disaster.