Question: what is the difference between free windows 10 and paid?
Answer: 3 Answers. Windows is always supposed to be paid; it's just not always visible to the user. If you buy a new PC from Dell in 2018, it includes Windows and the cost is included in the price. For several years starting in 2015, if you had an old PC with purchased Windows 7 or 8, then the upgrade to Windows 10 was free.