Windows 10 licenses are almost painfully expensive. However, since Windows 7 isn’t supported by Microsoft anymore, switching to 10 may be the only option. It doesn’t mean people are willing to pay the full suggested retail price. If you’re also looking for a cheap Windows 10 key, you’re in the right place.
Buy your Windows 10 key with caution
Before we proceed with any tips on how to get your Windows 10 key for free or cheaply, the first thing we need to state clearly and you need to remember, is that you have to be careful, but also to not expect miracles – like getting Windows 10 Pro for an unlimited amount of time, with every feature unlocked, completely for free, from some unchecked, grey area online source.
If you want to get legit, fully activated, and correctly working, virtually the only method of lowering the price in any significant way to your wallet is qualifying for some sort of a discount or a specific plan. Most people would find that the option saving them the most money is getting a cheap Windows 10 key from one of the online retailers.
For a short term solution – Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation
Let’s start with the option that for most people would be only a temporary solution, as Windows 10 installed in this way works normally only for 90 days. Microsoft offers its users free evaluation copies of Windows Enterprise. They target that offer mainly to any businesses that want to either switch to Windows from a different OS, or just or upgrade an older operating system on their computers.
After getting a Microsoft count and an evaluation license, you will be able to enjoy Windows 10 for three months without any problems. And what happens after that? After the expiration of the evaluation period, your computer will start to automatically shut down every 60 minutes. Completely unbearable if you want to use your PC normally, whether it’s for work, studying, or fun. So as long as you are looking for something just for now, until turning to other solutions, this one will do ok for a moment.
Run Windows 10 for free without activating it
It is completely possible to install Windows 10 for free without activating it, which means the key will never be needed. For many, this would be the last option, after everything else fails and they simply can’t afford or maybe just don’t want to buy Windows 10 for its regular or even cheaper price.
Yes, you get the system for free, but it’ll keep nagging you to activate it, you’ll always see the “Activate Windows” watermark on the desktop, that you also won’t be able to personalize in any way. It definitely isn’t as drastic as the system shutting down every hour. To some, it may not make a difference at all, and to some, it would be a deal-breaker, and that option would only serve as a half-measure, similarly to Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation, while they continue to look for other options, or are simply saving to buy the OS without any tries to make it super cheap or free.
Buy your Windows 10 key cheap but with risk – the OEM option
As we already mentioned at the very beginning of this article, whatever is your motivation and reason for looking for a cheaper option of the Windows 10 key, you need to proceed with caution. This advice should be stressed here even more since OEM keys come with some dose of uncertainty when it comes to the legitness of their source, but because of how cheap they can be, we had to mention them. OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer. Many computers usually include a copy of Windows OS, and you can start using them as soon as buying your PC. It also means that if any problems occurred, you’d have to contact the manufacturer of your device, not Microsoft.
They are keys that were bought by someone with the device, and are now being resold. These can be unused volume keys for example. Technically, they weren’t stolen, they were bought. But reselling them and making profit on it is against the license agreement. And also, there are Windows 10 keys out there being benign sold, that were definitely stolen first. Now, whether you see it as something you’d prefer to stay away from, or it’s not a big deal to you at all, the point is, be careful anyway.
We can argue about the ethics here all day, but the main thing we want you to take away from this is that it can so happen that you buy a legit, unused key, that will allow you to use Windows 10 for way less money than the ones bought from other sources, or, you buy a key that, worst-case scenario, is a used one. It won’t matter then how much money you spent, because you won’t get anything for them anyway. Or, it’ll turn out that after you decide to exchange some parts of the hardware, the OS you bought will stop working, as it was tied with those parts you just exchanged and it’ll recognize the new ones as you trying to install it on a completely new device. So be careful, and choose this method if, and only if you really know what you’re doing.