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Windows 365 vs AVD: a real cost comparison

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Windows 365 vs AVD: a real cost comparison

Windows 365 vs Azure Virtual Desktop cost, worked for task worker, knowledge worker, and developer patterns — with the assumptions behind the numbers.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/windows-365-vs-avd-cost

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01

The two pricing models

The consequence is that AVD gets cheaper the more users you can pack onto one VM, and gets more expensive the more hours per day those VMs run. Windows 365 is flat regardless of usage: idle Cloud PCs cost the same as al…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/windows-365-vs-avd-cost

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02

Scenario 1: the task worker

Call this a call-centre operator, a warehouse admin, a receptionist. Usage pattern: eight hours a day, five days a week, mostly Microsoft 365 and one line-of-business app. Very light on CPU and memory. Storage requireme…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/windows-365-vs-avd-cost

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03

Scenario 2: the knowledge worker

An analyst, a project manager, a marketer. Ten hours a day but with real spikes — Teams calls with sharing, Excel with big models, a browser with 40 tabs. Storage matters (OneDrive cache, downloads). Some out-of-hours u…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/windows-365-vs-avd-cost

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04

Scenario 3: the developer

A software developer running Visual Studio, Docker Desktop, and a couple of local databases. Sustained CPU load, 16 GB minimum RAM, 512 GB+ storage. Ten to twelve hours a day, occasional weekends.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/windows-365-vs-avd-cost

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05

What the numbers do not show

The three scenarios above are only compute and storage. The management cost is the other axis.

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/windows-365-vs-avd-cost

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06

Which one to pick

Pick Windows 365 when: the workload is a knowledge-worker desktop with individual state, the fleet is under a few hundred users, the goal is operational simplicity, or the user population is highly mobile with unpredict…

Solving Microsoft 365 · www.solvingmicrosoft365.com/guides/windows-365-vs-avd-cost

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