Free handbook
From Legacy VDI and AVD to Windows 365
Assess which VDI and AVD user groups fit Windows 365, build a defensible TCO case, prepare legacy applications, and migrate without losing day-two ownership.
Get the free handbookSolutions / Azure Virtual Desktop
Azure Virtual Desktop management for MSPs and IT teams.
Run Azure Virtual Desktop like you can see it.
A powered-on session host bills whether anyone is signed in or not. EtherInsights puts every host pool, its session hosts and its sessions on one screen, runs native scaling plans for every tenant you manage, and turns the live estate into a Windows 365 business case when you are ready to compare.
14-day free trial on your own tenantRead-only by default
- 4 counts
- Host pools, session hosts, sessions and pools with a scaling plan, on one screen
- Every tenant
- Native AVD scaling plans and gallery images for each customer, from one screen, with writes switched on per tenant
- Real power-on history
- What your scaling plan saved, estimated at pay-as-you-go prices and labelled as an estimate
Keeping AVD, or weighing Windows 365? Start from the estate you run.
Most AVD estates are deciding one of two things. EtherInsights answers both from the same live data, so the decision is made on evidence, not a spreadsheet.
Keeping AVD
Run it tighter, for every tenant you manage.
- Every session in view. Every host pool, session host and signed-in user, then message, disconnect or log off in one click.
- Native scaling plans. Microsoft’s own AVD schedules for pooled and personal pools, created and assigned from one screen.
- What the schedule saved. Estimated from real power-on history, at pay-as-you-go prices.
Weighing Windows 365
Price the move from your live estate.
- A business case from real data. Live pools, hosts and sessions become the baseline in the Windows 365 TCO advisor.
- One batch at a time. Personal AVD desktops move to Windows 365 Enterprise on a schedule, each batch recorded.
- Honest scope. Pooled multi-session hosts are not a migration source. Those users stay on AVD or get a new Cloud PC.
Session hosts bill whether anyone signs in or not.
Scaling plans, images and sessions sit in the Azure portal one subscription at a time, so nobody can show what the schedule saved.
What is happening
Hosts run when nobody is on them.
A pooled host left powered on out of hours bills for compute until a schedule or a person turns it off.
Why it gets missed
Every tenant is a separate portal trip.
Host pools, sessions and scaling plans are checked customer by customer, so problems surface as tickets.
What good looks like
Every host pool, run from one screen.
Sessions, native scaling plans and gallery images for every tenant you manage, an estimate of what the schedule saved, and a Windows 365 business case from the live estate.
Run the estate you have. Price the one you are weighing.
For the team that runs the desktops: one screen shows every host pool, how many session hosts are available now, how many sessions are open, and which pools have a scaling plan.
Every host pool, at a glance
See each host pool with its session hosts, sessions in use and scaling plan, then open its session hosts from the same screen.
Native scaling plans, every tenant
Create and assign Microsoft’s own AVD scaling plans for pooled and personal host pools, with drain mode and a permission check before anything saves.
Images captured and versioned
Capture session host images to Azure Compute Gallery and keep every version, for each customer tenant from one screen.
What the schedule saved, estimated
From real VM power-on history at pay-as-you-go prices. A planning figure, labelled as one, not a promise.
A Windows 365 business case from the live estate
Live pools, hosts and sessions feed the Windows 365 TCO advisor, so the comparison starts from what you run, not a spreadsheet.
Windows 365 vs Azure Virtual Desktop, side by side
Both run on Microsoft's Cloud PC and virtual desktop stack, but the operating model is different. Use this table for a first-pass read before an assessment; EtherInsights maps your current AVD or VDI baseline against the Windows 365 model in detail.
| Decision factor | Windows 365 | Azure Virtual Desktop |
|---|---|---|
| Persistence | A dedicated, 1:1 Cloud PC per user | Pooled or shared session hosts, with 1:1 personal desktops also possible |
| Admin surface | Microsoft Intune and the Microsoft 365 admin center | Azure portal for host pools and session hosts, plus Intune for device management |
| FSLogix profiles | Not required for most personal Cloud PC assignments | Commonly required to manage user profiles across pooled or shared desktops |
| Pricing model | Fixed per-user Cloud PC licence, sized by vCPU, RAM, and storage | Consumption-based Azure compute and storage, scales with session-host usage |
| UK data residency | Provisioning policy sets the Azure region a Cloud PC is created in | Host pool region choice gives the same Azure region control |
Start here
See every host pool on your own tenant this week.
See this working on your own tenant.
Four things you can check on your own tenant.
Seats nobody uses. Changes nobody noticed. AI nobody approved. EtherInsights finds all three across your Microsoft estate, gives each one an owner, and keeps the proof. From £0.79 a user a month.
Seats, changes and AI, one price.
Seats nobody uses, changes nobody noticed and AI nobody approved, found in one platform. The waste becomes one annual figure your finance lead can read, with a date to beat: your renewal.
£0.79 per licensed user per month, whole platform
Try it on your own tenant today.
Your tenant, your number, 14 days. Connect read-only and see real findings in the first session.
14-day free trial on your own tenant. Cancel inside the trial.
An owner on every finding.
Each finding says what to cut, who owns it and what it is worth. The savings report tracks what was actually cut.
A savings report with an owner, an action and a value on every line
Nothing fails silently.
Every leaver closed, checked and filed. Every check says what it couldn't read: anything unread shows as "Not read", never as zero. Read-only by default, and changes are opt-in, run under your own admin's delegated sign-in.
ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 42001
A UK software company for the Microsoft estate. Listed by Microsoft as a Windows 365 partner, on Microsoft Marketplace, and certified to ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 42001.
About EfficientEther
Run AVD tighter, or price the move, from one trial.
Read-only by default. Writes such as scaling plans and host changes are switched on per tenant. AVD management is in preview, and in the same £0.79 per-user price.
£0.79per licensed user / month
Whole platform, one price. You pay for licensed users only. A licensed user is an account that is switched on and holds any Microsoft licence, such as E3. Volume and MSP pricing on request.
Take it to the people who decide.
Free documents for this decision, written to be forwarded.
Questions people ask first.
Microsoft facts on this page are checked against Microsoft Learn. Glossary of terms
No. It brings host pools, session hosts, user sessions, scaling plans and gallery images together through Azure APIs, across every tenant you manage. Changes use native AVD features, such as Microsoft’s own scaling plans, and writes are switched on per tenant, so the Azure portal stays where it always was.
Guides and analysis on this topic
Read the blog
Windows 365 and Cloud PC · 4 Aug 2026
AVD to Windows 365 Migration: Comparing Costs and Knowing When to Move
How AVD and Windows 365 costs really compare, when to move personal or pooled desktops, and how the Windows 365 migration API helps. Directional guidance.
Read article
Company news · 6 Jul 2026
New Research: Native MSIX or App Attach for Azure Virtual Desktop?
EfficientEther publishes open-access research comparing native MSIX and App Attach for Azure Virtual Desktop across delivery and risk.
Read article
Windows 365 and Cloud PC · 21 Jul 2026
Free Windows 365 TCO Calculator: Check If Migrating From AVD Pays
Use the free Windows 365 TCO calculator to compare your current Azure Virtual Desktop run cost against Windows 365 Enterprise and Flex. Directional, no signup.
Read articleSee it on your own tenant this week.
Start on your own, see it with a practitioner, or ask the question procurement will ask. Every path has a person behind it and a published price.
- TodayConnect read-only in about seven minutes. Nothing in your tenant changes.
- First sessionFindings appear as the scan runs, each with a monthly figure and an owner.
- Day 14Keep the plan or cancel.
See what your Microsoft estate is wasting.
Connect your own tenant with read-only consent. Licence, Azure and Cloud PC findings appear in the first session.
- 14-day free trial on your own tenant
- Read-only by default, actions opt-in
- ISO 27001, 9001 and 42001
Next: sign in with Microsoft and approve read-only access. About seven minutes to connect.
Prefer to see it first? Watch the 90 second tour