Some Windows 10 Lite builds, such as the MAXNETAR version available on GitHub, are distributed as , meaning users do not need to purchase a separate license key. However, the legality of this practice is questionable at best.

By disabling unneeded background services (like Print Spooler or Windows Search), these builds can run on as little as 1GB or 2GB of RAM.

A standard 64-bit installation of Windows 10 can easily consume 2.5 GB to 3 GB of RAM at idle. A optimized Lite build can drop idle RAM usage to under 1 GB, freeing up vital memory for applications and games.