Microsoft’s Windows 365 Cloud PC service will range from $20 to $162 per user per month

When Microsoft unveiled its Windows 365 Cloud PC desktop-as-a-service product last month, officials said they would release pricing the same day. the service became generally available on August 2. As promised, the company has released prices, and they range from $20 per user per month for the lowest SKU, to $162 per user per month for the most expensive.

Windows 365 is Microsoft’s latest remote desktop offering, which builds on and complements Azure Virtual Desktop. Windows 365 will allow users to bring their Windows 10 or (once available later this fall) Windows 11 desktop, apps, tools, data and settings to their personal and work devices, including PCs, Macs, iPads, Linux and Android. devices, via a native remote desktop application or a web browser.

On July 15, Microsoft officials (accidentally?) revealed the price of one of the few Windows 365 SKUs at $31 per user per month. Today is the day all prices are made public. Pricing is based on the number of virtual cores, RAM, and storage a customer will be able to access in their “Cloud PC” virtual machine.

Windows 365 is available in two editions: Windows 365 Business and Windows 365 Enterprise. the Windows 365 Enterprise SKU are limited to 300 users per organization. The Business price of $20 per user per month is for a single virtual core, 2 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage – and requires the Windows Hybrid Benefit. (Hybrid Benefits is Microsoft’s Bring-Your-Own licensing model, which allows customers to apply existing (or new) licenses at the cost of a product.) Without the Hybrid Benefit discount, that same SKU is $24 per user per month. At the high end, the Business SKU with eight virtual cores, 32 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage costs $162 per user per month — or $158 per user per month with Windows Hybrid Benefit.

the Enterprise SKU for Windows 365 are the same price. A single virtual core, 2 GB of RAM and 64 GV of storage will cost $20 per user per month. At the high end, the 8 virtual cores, 32 GB RAM, 512 GB storage SKU will cost $158 per user per month.

Windows 365/Cloud PC doesn’t just support Microsoft apps; the service will also allow users to remotely connect to any application that can run on Windows 10 or 11. Software developers will not have to make any changes or modifications to their applications for them to be able to work virtually with Windows 365/Cloud PC, officials mentioned. And because the applications run virtually, users will have access to compute-intensive applications such as video editing software or graphic design programs, regardless of the specs of the device they are using.

To use Windows 365 Business, customers only need to have a Microsoft 365 subscription. To use Windows 365 Enterprise, users will need to meet the following requirements:

• With Windows Pro devices: Windows 10 E3 + EMS E3 or Microsoft 365 F3/E3/E5/BP
• With non-Windows Pro endpoints: Windows VDA E3 + EMS E3 or Microsoft 365 F3/E3/F5/BP
• Azure subscription

Update: I see many people comparing the price of Windows 365 to the cost of buying a new PC with comparable specs and laughing at the cost of Windows 365. In fact, a more appropriate comparison may be Azure Virtual Desktop (where users pay for consumed Azure services) and Windows 365/Cloud PC, such as suggested in this post by Microsoft partner Nerdio. In this comparison, Windows 365 could save some customers money.

But, yeah, those Windows 365 prices are pretty shocking. Two things to remember: Microsoft is likely offering substantial discounts off these estimated retail prices for those who want to buy in volume. And second: virtualized desktops are definitely NOT for everyone, although they do make sense for some specific use cases.

Update #2: A word of warning for IT professionals. As of August 14, Microsoft will offer Windows 365 as a self-service type, which means that users have the option to subscribe without central approval, unless administrators block this using PowerShell scripts and/or other means. Microsoft offers free two-month trials of Windows 365 Basic, Standard, or Premium. After the free trial ends, subscriptions are automatically converted to paid unless users take action to stop it.