Windows Home or Pro: which edition do you really need?
BitLocker, Remote Desktop, Hyper-V: We explain when Windows Pro is truly worth it over Home – and why we deliberately do not carry Home in our product range.
On this page
Short answer: For purely private use – internet, Office, multimedia – Windows 11 Home is sufficient. You need Pro as soon as BitLocker encryption, remote desktop access to your PC, Hyper-V virtualization, or joining a domain come into play. At Firstsoft, Windows 11 Pro costs €85.99, Windows 10 Pro costs €54.99. We do not carry Home – the reason is below.
What Home offers
The Home edition covers all everyday functions: internet, Office use, streaming, gaming. For the vast majority of private users, this is completely sufficient, without any missing features. It is almost always pre-installed on off-the-shelf PCs and notebooks.
What Pro can do additionally
| Function | Home | Pro |
|---|---|---|
| BitLocker Drive Encryption | no | yes |
| Remote Desktop (access to this PC) | no | yes |
| Hyper-V Virtualization | no | yes |
| Domain Join / Entra ID | no | yes |
| Group Policies | no | yes |
| Maximum RAM | 128 GB | 2 TB |
Who should choose Pro?
- Self-employed individuals who need to encrypt sensitive customer data
- Those who want to access their office PC via Remote Desktop
- Those who need virtual machines for testing or development
- Any computer that is to be joined to a company domain
For business use with multiple workstations, a closer look is worthwhile: The article Windows 11 Pro or Home in the enterprise calculates BitLocker, domain join, and group policies in detail.
“I thought Home would be enough – until I wanted to access my office PC from on the go and realized that Remote Desktop is simply missing in Home." A freelancer describes why he quickly upgraded to Pro after a supposed small detail was missing in his daily routine.
Why we don't carry Home
Windows Home is practically exclusively delivered as an OEM version with a new device. Such licenses are permanently tied to the hardware on which they were first activated and cannot be legally resold. However, our product range is designed precisely for this: freely transferable licenses with documented origin.
If you already have Home on your device and need more, simply enter a Pro key in the Windows settings. The upgrade runs without reinstallation; programs and files are retained.
Conclusion
For private use, Home is usually sufficient – and is already on most computers anyway. As soon as encryption, remote access, virtualization, or central management are needed, there's no way around Pro. Check out Windows 11 Pro or compare the editions in the comparison calculator.
