WINDOWS FOR THE WAY YOU WORK
Jump‑Desk is built for a person who wants a Windows 11 Pro cloud desktop without operating a Microsoft business tenant. Windows 365 is built for organisations—and becomes exceptionally capable when Intune, Microsoft Entra and central IT management are the goal.
Built with trusted technology
For an individual, freelancer, sole trader or part-time Windows user, Jump‑Desk is usually the simpler fit: choose a region, performance tier and Hours, Months or Years billing without first building a Microsoft 365 organisation. For an employer that needs centrally governed identities, policies, applications, compliance and fleet lifecycle, Windows 365 Enterprise is the stronger product.
Windows 365 Business sits between those positions. It removes much of Enterprise’s infrastructure work and does not require Intune, but it remains an organisational service: a customer account, administrator role, work user and assigned Cloud PC licence are part of the model. An individual can operate that one-person organisation, but they are both the IT administrator and the user.
The honest choice is therefore about operating model, not simply whose virtual machine is “better.” Jump‑Desk prioritises direct personal access, explicit location choice and flexible billing. Windows 365 prioritises Microsoft’s organisational identity, management and policy ecosystem.
No Microsoft business tenantJump‑Desk uses the Jump‑IT account and product workflow.
20 explicit regionsChoose the configured Jump‑Desk location before checkout.
Three billing modelsHours, Months and Years are available across the three tiers.
Windows 11 Pro includedAdministrator access is included on current Jump‑Desk tiers.
Different products for different owners
Both deliver a remote Windows desktop. The decisive difference is who owns the administration around that desktop.
Best for an individual
Most credible Jump‑Desk advantage: less organisational machinery between one person and one Windows desktop.
Best for managed organisations
Most credible Windows 365 advantage: a mature, centrally governed Cloud PC lifecycle inside Microsoft’s enterprise ecosystem.
YOUR NEXT STEP
Compare the management, identity and application requirements alongside the desktop price. Jump-Teams offers invitations, permissions and assigned desktops; assess enterprise policy requirements separately.
Configure your Jump-Desk
Side-by-side technical detail
This table compares the current Jump‑Desk product configuration with Windows 365 Business and, where relevant, Windows 365 Enterprise. Microsoft’s features vary by edition; treating Business and Enterprise as one product leads to misleading conclusions.
On smaller screens, swipe sideways to compare every column.
| Decision point | Jump‑Desk | Windows 365 |
|---|---|---|
| Primary audience | Individuals and small teams that want a personal Windows cloud desktop with a direct creation workflow.Advantage: individual simplicity | Organisations. Business targets up to 300 users; Enterprise supports centrally managed deployments without the 300-user cap. |
| Identity model | A Jump‑IT account, Jump‑Desk credentials and a personalised RDP connection file. | An organisational Microsoft tenant, a work user and an assigned Cloud PC licence. A custom domain is not required for Business. |
| Intune requirement | No Intune or MDM dependency. | Business: Intune is optional. Enterprise: Intune is required for Cloud PC management.Advantage: Enterprise governance |
| Provisioning effort | Choose region, billing plan and tier; create; start; connect. | Business: buy and assign a licence to a user. Enterprise: configure prerequisites, provisioning policy, image, join type, network and user/group assignment. |
| Windows licence | Windows 11 Pro licence included in all current tiers. | The Cloud PC entitlement is included in the purchased Windows 365 licence. Enterprise also has prerequisite Windows, Intune and Entra entitlements, often supplied through a qualifying Microsoft 365 suite. |
| Location control | Explicit choice among 20 configured Azure regions before creation.Advantage: direct region choice | Business: location is based on the organisation’s billing address and capacity. Enterprise: admins select geography, region group or specific region through provisioning policy. |
| Billing model | Hours, Months or Years. Hours combines running usage with a separate service fee for retained resources. | Predictable per-user, per-month licence pricing. Purchase commitment, auto-renewal, tax and cancellation terms depend on market and channel. |
| Current configurations | Standard 2 vCPU/4 GB/128 GB HDD; Pro 2 vCPU/8 GB/128 GB SSD; Pro+ 4 vCPU/16 GB/128 GB Premium SSD. | Advantage: wider size range |
| Administrator access | Administrator access is included in the current tier configuration. | Business admins can change the user between Standard User and Local Administrator. Enterprise administrators control local-admin rights through user settings. |
| Client access | Compatible RDP clients on Windows, macOS, iOS/iPadOS, Android and Linux. Outbound TCP 3389 must be allowed. No production browser client is currently advertised. | Windows App supports Windows, macOS, iOS/iPadOS, Android/Chrome OS and desktop web browsers; Meta Quest support is also documented.Advantage: browser access |
| Central app and policy deployment | The user installs compatible licensed applications with administrator access. Jump‑Desk is not presented as an enterprise MDM control plane. | Business can optionally enrol in Intune. Enterprise is built around Intune for app deployment, configuration profiles, compliance and device lifecycle.Advantage: Windows 365 |
| Restore and recovery | Keep independent backups of important data. Deleting the Jump‑Desk permanently removes the VM, disks, public IP and backups. | Documented point-in-time restore features are available. Enterprise adds configurable restore points and the ability to share a restore point’s VHD to Azure Storage.Advantage: Windows 365 |
| Network and hosting | Designed as a personal desktop, not a public server. Several inbound ports—including 80, 8080 and 8443—are blocked. | Designed as an organisation-managed Cloud PC rather than public hosting. Enterprise networking can use Microsoft-hosted networking or an Azure network connection. |
| Offboarding | Export files first. Deletion is permanent, and each Jump‑Desk is managed and billed independently. | Removing a Business licence starts a seven-day grace period before deletion; Microsoft’s subscription-cancellation guidance says users lose Cloud PC access and the machine data is deleted. Back up before cancelling. |
| Best overall fit | One person needs a Windows PC without wanting to administer an organisation. | An organisation wants the desktop, identity, policy, security and lifecycle system together. |
Windows 365 Business can run without Intune. Microsoft says it can be fully provisioned, licensed and remotely managed through Windows App or the Microsoft 365 admin centre without an Intune subscription or MDM configuration. Intune becomes optional when a Business customer wants app deployment, compliance policies and conventional endpoint management.
Windows 365 Enterprise is the Intune-led edition. Its documented prerequisites include a working Intune and Microsoft Entra tenant, the appropriate administrator role and the required user entitlements. Enterprise is therefore more complex—but that complexity buys capabilities Jump‑Desk does not claim to provide.
What setup actually involves
For a technical buyer, this is where the products diverge most sharply.
For one person, the extra Windows 365 steps are not necessarily difficult. The issue is whether you want to own an organisation’s identity and licence administration for the sake of one Cloud PC. If you already have that Microsoft environment, the equation changes substantially.
The same destination, a different route
Windows 365 and Jump‑Desk both stream a remote Windows desktop to another device. That can turn an iPad or Mac into the access device for Windows-only software without installing Windows locally.
The experience still depends on internet quality, latency, the remote-client features available on the local platform and whether your network permits the required connection. A keyboard and mouse or trackpad are strongly recommended for desktop workflows on a tablet.
Price is a workload pattern
A fixed monthly licence and a usage-sensitive cloud desktop should not be compared with one headline number. Compare the same CPU, memory and storage, the same country, the same tax basis and the number of hours you will actually use Windows.
On 16 July 2026, Microsoft’s UK Windows 365 Business page listed annual, automatically renewing subscriptions at £24.30 user/month for 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM and 128 GB storage; £31.30 user/month for 2 vCPU, 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage; and £48.70 user/month for 4 vCPU, 16 GB RAM and 128 GB storage, excluding VAT. These are useful like-for-like hardware reference points—not universal prices. Country, currency, promotion, commitment, tax and channel can change the result. Check Microsoft’s current local Windows 365 Business pricing.
Do not infer that Jump‑Desk is always cheaper. An occasional Hours user may pay less than a full monthly licence; a continuously running user may not. Use the live regional Jump‑Desk prices below and Microsoft’s price for your own billing country, then compare the complete checkout totals.
Choose one of 20 explicit Jump‑Desk regions, then compare Standard, Pro and Pro+. Selecting a location changes the destination image and loads that region’s current pricing from Jump‑IT.
Choose a region near your regular workplace, then check the available plans.
Every tier can be created with Hours, Months or Years. Choose the tier for the applications you intend to run, then choose the billing model that matches how often you need a Windows PC.
WINDOWS CLOUD PC
For office applications, browser work and lighter Windows-only tasks.
MORE ROOM TO MULTITASK
A practical starting point for everyday multitasking and many compatible professional applications.
WINDOWS CLOUD PC
For compatible workloads that genuinely benefit from more CPU and memory.
Current regional prices load from Jump-IT. Review the final price and availability in the product before purchase.
Hours uses prepaid funding. Compute is charged while running; the separate service charge continues while the desktop is retained. Months includes up to 300 hours of uptime per month. Check taxes, included usage and the complete terms in Jump-IT.
Individual recommendation: start with the software requirements, not the plan name. Standard suits lighter use, Pro is a sensible starting point for many everyday workflows, and Pro+ is for compatible tasks that genuinely benefit from 4 vCPU and 16 GB RAM.
Open live Jump‑Desk configurationLive prices vary by Azure region and use the currency selected above. Taxes, currency conversion, service charges and checkout conditions may apply; the final configuration and total shown by Jump‑IT at checkout take precedence.Select a location and currency above for current prices.
Operational coupling, data and exit
Windows 365 has greater Microsoft administrative coupling, but “lock-in” needs a precise definition. Neither comparison is honest if it implies the other platform has no dependency or deletion risk.
Where Windows 365 is more coupled
Where the claim must be qualified
Fair conclusion: Windows 365’s operational lock-in is higher for a one-person buyer because the desktop is embedded in an organisation and, for Enterprise, a wider management stack. Jump‑Desk’s model is narrower and simpler, but it is not a portable VM-image service. Keep independent copies of important files whichever service you choose.
Limitations that change the decision
A factual comparison should tell a reader when the advertised product is not the best fit.
Claim check
Windows 365 is an organisational service; Business can be bought without a custom domain or other Microsoft licences; Business does not require Intune; Enterprise does; Business placement follows billing address and capacity; Windows 365 uses per-user monthly billing; and Jump‑Desk currently exposes three tiers, three billing models and 20 configured regions.
This page does not claim that Jump‑Desk is always cheaper, more secure, faster or more reliable. It does not claim that Windows 365 Business requires Intune, that Windows 365 data cannot be exported, or that current Jump‑Desk tiers include a dedicated GPU. Those statements would overreach the available evidence.
Direct answers for technical buyers
Windows 365 is sold as an organisational cloud service, not as a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family add-on. A sole trader or one-person organisation can buy Windows 365 Business, but must still create or use an organisational account, hold the administrator role and assign the Windows 365 licence to a work account. Microsoft positions Business for organisations with up to 300 users.
No. Microsoft states that Windows 365 Business can be provisioned, licensed and remotely managed without an Intune subscription or MDM configuration. Intune is optional for Business when the organisation wants conventional endpoint management. See Microsoft’s Windows 365 Business management documentation.
Yes. Microsoft lists a working Intune and Microsoft Entra tenant, administrative roles and user entitlements for Windows 365 Enterprise. Users need Windows E3, Intune, Microsoft Entra ID P1 and Windows 365 entitlements, whether bought separately or included in a qualifying suite. See Microsoft’s current Enterprise requirements.
Jump‑Desk has the shorter individual path: select a region, billing model and tier, create the desktop, start it and connect. Windows 365 Business is much simpler than Enterprise, but it still uses an organisational tenant, administrator account, user and assigned licence. If you already administer Microsoft 365, that overhead may be negligible.
Jump‑Desk lets the customer explicitly choose one of 20 configured Azure regions. Windows 365 Business places the Cloud PC according to the organisation’s billing address and available capacity; the resulting location may not be in the same country. Windows 365 Enterprise gives administrators regional control through provisioning policies.
Jump‑Desk is usually the more natural fit when one person needs Windows only occasionally because it offers an Hours plan as well as Months and Years. Windows 365 uses a per-user, per-month licensing model. The lower-cost option depends on region, configuration, actual running hours, taxes and the final live checkout totals.
Windows 365 Enterprise. It integrates with Intune, Microsoft Entra ID, provisioning policies, Conditional Access, application deployment, compliance policies and centralized lifecycle controls. Jump‑Desk is deliberately a simpler personal cloud desktop, not an enterprise endpoint-management system.
Yes. Windows 365 is available through Windows App on macOS and iOS/iPadOS. Jump‑Desk connects through a compatible remote desktop client and a personalised RDP file. Jump‑Desk currently requires native-client connectivity and outbound TCP 3389; it does not advertise a production browser client.
Windows 365 has the stronger documented restore system, including Cloud PC restore points and additional Enterprise controls. Jump‑Desk users should maintain a separate backup of important files; deleting a Jump‑Desk permanently removes its machine resources and data.
Windows 365 has greater administrative coupling to a Microsoft business tenant, assigned user licences and, for Enterprise, Intune and Microsoft Entra configuration. That is operational lock-in rather than proof that files are trapped. Both services require the user to export important data before deleting the desktop or ending the subscription.
The Jump‑IT Team reviewed the current Jump‑Desk tier configuration, region map, regional pricing, connection instructions, network rules, billing logic and service terms in Jump‑IT on 16 July 2026. Microsoft claims were checked against current first-party Microsoft pages. Links below are provided so technical buyers can verify edition-specific details.
Windows, Windows 365, Microsoft Intune, Microsoft Entra and Windows App are trademarks of Microsoft. Jump‑IT is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft. Product features and prices can change; vendor documentation and live checkout terms take precedence.
SEE THE PRODUCT IN ACTION
These recordings show the current Jump-IT interface with demonstration data. Use the controls to pause, replay or view a recording full screen.
Name your desktop, choose a region and plan, and review the configuration before checkout.
Find the display settings, adapt the connection to your screen, and download the connection file.
CURRENT WORKFLOWS · SEPTEMBER 2026
Jump-Teams gives an owner one place to organise colleagues and their Windows cloud PCs. Invite people through their own accounts, choose the appropriate role, assign desktops and delegate only the administration a person needs. Team membership does not by itself create a Windows login, and permission to administer a desktop does not automatically give access to payment details.
For regular work, compare Months and its uptime allowance. For occasional roles or a short project, compare eligible prepaid Hours desktops, including the retained-desktop service charge. Team wallet funding and eligible member-approved personal funding have separate controls. The useful comparison is the complete cost of a working role, including software, connectivity and support.
Read the business guide to invitations, roles, funding and desktop assignments.
Explore Jump-Teams →Follow a practical onboarding checklist, from a first pilot to reviewing access when a role changes.
Read the team onboarding guide →Eligible Hours desktops use prepaid funding. Compute charges apply while running, and the separate service charge continues while the desktop is retained. Stopping the desktop preserves its files and ends running compute charges; deleting it permanently removes the desktop. Review the wallet, current rates and funding permissions in Jump-IT before creating one.
For regular work, Months includes up to 300 hours of uptime per desktop each month. Review the current Years option when a longer commitment suits the requirement. Each desktop has its own plan, region and performance tier.
Compare current plans →Choose a region, billing model and performance tier, then create a Windows 11 Pro Jump‑Desk for the device you already own.