Yes, you can get a properly activated version of Windows for free.
Windows licenses cost a lot—almost to the point of pain. Paying $139 for Windows 11 Home or $200 for Windows 11 Pro feels exorbitant when Linux is free, especially when that much money is easily a third of a budget PC build. Yet with less developer support for Linux, Windows is an inescapable necessity for most of us.
What’s not a given is paying full retail. Yes, it’s possible to snag a discount on Windows 11. How much you’ll save depends on how much hassle you can tolerate—as well as your circumstances. If you’re lucky, you could technically get it for free. Legitimately for free, since installing Windows without ever activating it doesn’t count as a full, sanctioned copy of the software.
Here’s how, in several different ways. Better yet, these strategies often apply for Windows 10 licenses too, although that operating system will stop receiving updates in 2025.
Simple upgrade: Trade up from Windows 10 to Windows 11
You can only trade up to the same kind of edition, however. So if your license is for Windows 10 Home, you’ll move up to Windows 11 Home. Likewise if you have a Pro license.
Our Windows 11 upgrade checklist breaks down the steps for an easy transition, but in a nutshell:
- Verify that your PC meets Windows 11’s requirements.
- Run either the Windows 11 installation assistant or create Windows 11 installation media for a clean install.
- If performing a clean install of Windows 11, match your edition type (Home or Pro) to what you had in Windows 10.
Also, if you choose a clean install, ensure you have your Windows 10 license key on hand, in case your hardware isn’t automatically recognized and you need to manually activate Windows. Not sure what your key is? Run a program like Magical Jelly Bean Product KeyFinder in Windows 10. (Our step-by-step guide explains how it works.)
Wondering what happened to the free upgrades from Windows 7 or 8/8.1 to Windows 10? Unfortunately, Microsoft finally shut that down in September 2023.
Easiest discount: An OEM license
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- Price: $120 (Windows 11 Home), $160 (Windows 11 Pro)
Our next suggestion is a method that’s available to everyone and has the least amount of hassle: purchasing an OEM license.
License types are different than operating system versions. They dictate what you can do with the software, while OS versions are distinguished by the features available. Multiple Windows license types exist, but the two commonly available to a home user are the retail and OEM varieties.
Buying Windows 11 from Microsoft’s website or from a brick-and-mortar store gets you the retail license. If you visit an online retailer like AmazonRemove non-product link or Newegg, you can find both retail and OEM licenses for sale. You can usually spot an OEM license by its price, which tend to go for $120 for a Windows 11 Home license and $160 for a Windows 11 Pro license—though you can grab them for less during periodic sales.
All the features of the operating system version are the same for both license types. The difference is that with a retail license, you can transfer the license key to a different PC later on.
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You can’t do that with an OEM license. In exchange for a lower price, you get to use the license key on only one PC, period. If you build a system, and then put together a replacement one four years later, you can’t transfer the license to the new machine.
Also, if the hardware used to identify your system fails—namely, the motherboard—Microsoft’s registration servers won’t recognize your license as valid after you replace the dead part. Microsoft has historically been kind about such situations, however. You can usually call to reactivate the license after replacing a fried mobo. But it is an extra hassle.
For further savings through a retailer, you’ll have to wait for a sale or Black Friday, when you can get an OEM license in the neighborhood of $85 (Windows Home) to $120 (Windows Pro).
Otherwise, you can pick up a cheaper license through PCWorld’s very own software store. (Yes, that’s really us, and yes, the licenses are legit.) We’re currently selling Windows 11 Home licenses for $60, and Windows 11 Pro licenses for $80, with Windows 10 options also available. Sometimes we even put them on sale!
Deepest savings: The education discount
Microsoft
- Price: $0 (Windows 11 Education)
Not all student discounts are reserved for the under-24 set. Your local community college might be a source for a free or extremely discounted copy of Windows—and nearly the equivalent of Windows Enterprise, to boot. You’ll just have to put in some legwork (perhaps literally) to get it.
As mentioned above, license types determine what you can do with Windows—and who can use it, as well. Through the Academic Volume Licensing agreements, schools can purchase access to Windows 11 or 10 Education for their students, faculty, and staff. Some make it available only on campus machines. Others will grant a license for use on a home machine.
In that latter camp are a number of community colleges, and they often make the Windows license free. The catch: You have to sign up for at least one course to qualify for campus discounts.
To get access to the software, you should register for your class first. Afterward, find the download information for your campus’s download method. Verification of student status is typically required before the installation file becomes available.
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A one-unit class usually counts though, and depending on your state, it can cost as little as $80 including administrative fees. You’ll often find one-unit classes offered by the physical education or dance departments (swim, ballet, jazz, boot camp workouts, etc.), but you can also find the occasional class on topics like Beginning Drawing, Intro to HTML & CSS, and Video for the Web.
If you were already planning on taking a class in one of these subjects, you’re getting an amazing deal. The Education edition of Windows, which is similar to the Enterprise edition, includes popular Windows Pro features like Bitlocker encryption and the Sandbox feature. You’re essentially getting Windows Pro (and then some) for as much as 60 percent off—and you get to learn something new.
Even if you aren’t interested in the classes, you’re still paying considerably less than what you would for even a Windows Pro OEM license. We don’t encourage truancy, but there’s nothing saying you have to show up for class, so long as you’re comfortable with a failing grade on your record.
Obviously, if your local community college doesn’t have an agreement with Microsoft in place, this strategy won’t work. Also, if the total cost of the class, administrative fees, and license fee adds up to more than the retail cost of a Windows Pro license, and you wouldn’t have otherwise taken the class, that negates this deal, too. In those cases, your main options are the OEM license (outlined above) or buying through a reseller (detailed below).
Note: If you use this method, also keep an eye out for other software deals through your school. For example, your school might offer a free Microsoft 365 account, or a heavily discounted Adobe Creative Cloud account (usually $20 per month, but we’ve seen it for as little as $90 per year).
Low prices with a big caveat: Resellers
- Price: Under $30 (Windows 11 Home and Pro)
Scoring Windows 11 at an 85-percent discount (or more) is possible, and it’s not even difficult. But this approach comes with a salt mine of caution.
Platforms like eBay and Kinguin allow buyers to purchase product keys from third-party sellers. Some sites, like Kinguin, specialize in digital software sales—to buy Windows, you’ll find the listings for Windows 11 or 10 Home (or Windows 11 or 10 Pro), pick a seller from the list, then add their product to your cart and check out.
What makes the license keys so cheap is that they’re gray market at best. In other words, the keys aren’t illegal, but they’re likely extras from a volume licensing agreement and not meant to be sold individually to home users. So they come with risk. Critics of this method rightly point out that you can buy keys that don’t work, or eventually lose their activation status because of their unknown origins. And that has happened to some people. Customer service is often poor for these kinds of sites, too, leaving you high and dry.
Fans of this method say many people never run into issues, and in fact urge you to find the keys as cheap as possible (usually through eBay) to minimize problems. You can also buy with a credit card for some added protection. If you go this route, you should only get Windows Pro keys. The cost difference is often negligible from Home and you get better features like Bitlocker encryption and other Pro features.
But what we actually recommend is to buy through reputable sources of cheaper keys instead. For example, some professional organizations are able to negotiate deals for their members—we suggest starting there. You can also check to see if your favorite media sites have special pricing for readers. PCWorld’s own software store is a good source—it offers Windows Home and Pro keys at sizable discounts (often it’s regularly as low as $60 for Home and $80 for Pro), and the keys are guaranteed to work.
