Microsoft is finally announcing that it will charge consumers $30 for a year of additional security updates for Windows 10. Support for Windows 10 ends on October 14, 2025, but consumers can purchase a single year of Extended Security Updates (ESU). for $30 for the first time ever.
While businesses will be charged $61 for a single year of ESU, they also have the option of paying $122 for a second year and then $244 for a third year for updates. Microsoft is only offering consumers a single year if they are willing to pay the $30 fee. “Registered PCs continue to receive critical and important security updates for Windows 10; However, new features, bug fixes and technical support will no longer be available from Microsoft,” said Yusuf Mehdi, executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer at Microsoft.
Consumers will be able to enroll in the ESU program “closer to the end of support in 2025.” Of course, Microsoft is once again encouraging consumers to upgrade to Windows 11 instead of purchasing extended security updates for Windows 10. “With Windows 10 end-of-support, now is the time to move to Windows 11 with confidence,” says Mehdi.
Switching to Windows 11 may require purchasing a new PC. Millions of PCs cannot officially upgrade to Windows 11 due to stricter hardware requirements and Microsoft's security push with its latest operating system. Windows 11 is only supported on 2018 and later CPUs and devices that support TPM security chips.
Windows 11 adoption has lagged behind Windows 10 in recent years, but there are signs that people are starting to upgrade more or refresh their hardware. In August, Windows 11 briefly became the most popular PC gaming operating system among Steam users before falling behind Windows 10 in September. It's likely that Windows 10 usage will continue to remain strong in 2025 and beyond.
After initially declaring that major Windows 10 updates would end in 2023, Microsoft changed its approach earlier this year in a confusing move that could help keep Windows 10 usage strong. The software giant took the unusual step in June of restarting its beta program for Windows 10 users to test new features and improvements to an operating system that is scheduled to end support next year.