Windows 11 is an excellent desktop operating system, and although it's expensive, most people don't end up paying for it — at least not directly. If you buy one of the best laptops or pre-built desktop PCs, they'll come with a licensed copy of Windows pre-installed. Additionally, Microsoft made the upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11 a free one, so it won't cost you anything if you already have a supported system. In fact, up until about a year ago, a long-standing loophole allowed users to upgrade from Windows 7 and 8 to Windows 10 or 11 completely free.

However, if and when you do need to grab a new Windows license, you'll have the choice between Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Pro. They're both quite expensive, with the Home edition costing $140 and the Pro edition costing $200. There's an incentive to make the right choice initially, because upgrading from Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro will cost you $100 after the fact. Curious whether you need the upgrade to Pro? While most users will be covered by Home, these are six reasons why Pro will be handily worth the upgrade for some users.

6 Microsoft Remote Desktop

You can't remote into a PC running Windows 11 Home with Microsoft Remote Desktop

A fairly arbitrary limitation of Windows 11 Home is that it doesn't support Microsoft Remote Desktop, which allows you to easily access your PC remotely. More specifically, the computer that you want to remote into needs to be running Windows 11 Pro. If you want to use your PC to remote into another system, only the host computer needs Windows 11 Pro. This is an unfortunate restriction that comes with Windows 11 Home; however, it's pretty low on this list. That's because there are plenty of other free software tools that provide the same functionality, like Teamviewer or Chrome Remote Desktop.

5 Dual CPU support

Windows 11 Pro supports two CPUs, each with up to 128 cores

Chances are, the average user will never be limited by the hardware restrictions that come with Windows 11 Home. That version of the operating system only supports motherboards with one CPU socket, and by extension, only supports one processor. Additionally, Windows 11 Home only allows processors with up to 64 CPU cores. Meanwhile, upgrading to Windows 11 Pro lets you use two CPUs with up to 128 cores each. That'll come in handy for professionals who do really intensive work, like high-level graphic design or animation.

4 Higher memory support

Need more than 128GB of RAM? Well, you'll need Windows 11 Pro, too

Similarly, there are memory limitations that come with Windows 11 Home. It only supports 128GB of RAM, which admittedly will be more than enough for most users. However, memory is getting cheaper, and something like a 256GB memory kit isn't as outlandish in 2024 as it was in the past. In fact, my ancient 2013 Mac Pro can accept 128GB of memory, which goes to show how the RAM landscape has changed. If you need more than 128GB of memory for your workflow, you'll need to buy Windows 11 Pro. That version takes up to 2TB of memory, and I know that sounds crazy, but it'll be useful for people who depend on a lot of virtual machines.

3 Windows Sandbox

A simple way to run apps in a protected, virtualized sandbox

Speaking of virtual machines, Windows 11 Pro adds support for the Windows Sandbox. It's a basic piece of virtualization software that automatically creates a short-term instance of Windows 11 whenever you open it. The Windows Sandbox isn't a great option for long-term VM usage, because your data is deleted when you shut it down. Still, the utility is obvious. As the name suggests, Windows Sandbox will give you a secure "sandboxed" environment to run applications or potentially-malicious software while protecting your complete system.

2 Hyper-V

It's like Windows Sandbox on steroids — you can create and manage multiple VMs

When the Windows Sandbox isn't powerful enough to meet your needs, there's Hyper-V. It's another virtualization tool that isn't officially supported in Windows 11 Home, although there are some ways to manually enable it. To get full Hyper-V support, you need to buy Windows 11 Pro. Hyper-V enables you to run virtual machines just like Windows Sandbox, but it supports multiple VMs at once and more operating systems. For example, you can virtualize different Windows versions, macOS, ChromeOS, and Linux. This makes Hyper-V considerably more versatile than the Sandbox, and it's essential for pros who need a lot of VMs for various operating systems.

1 BitLocker

Enterprise-grade encryption tools that let you lock down systems remotely

One of the main reasons to upgrade to Windows 11 Pro is security. It's hard to put a price on security, especially when your personal or corporate data is concerned. Windows 11 Pro adds support for BitLocker, a powerful encryption tool that makes it possible to remotely lock down systems. Although Windows 11 Home supports basic encryption, the Pro version builds on that, allowing users to encrypt or decrypt specific drives while using more options. There are other security benefits to Windows 11 Pro, too, like support for Windows Information Protection and Microsoft Defender Application Guard.

Who is Windows 11 Pro for?

If you haven't picked up on the trend, Windows 11 Pro is clearly for power users, IT professionals, and business customers. It's highly possible, if not plausible, that the average Windows 11 user could run the Home edition for years and never run into the operating system's limitations. However, pros that rely on tools like remote desktop, Hyper-V, and the enhanced CPU and RAM support will find that Windows 11 Home falls short quickly. If you've never heard of Hyper-V or BitLocker, you don't need Windows 11 Pro. But if those tools are essential to your workflow or enterprise management, Windows 11 Pro will be decisively worth the upgrade.