In a significant announcement, Microsoft has unveiled its pricing strategy for Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows 10, set to take effect as support for the operating system comes to a close on October 14, 2025. Consumers will have the opportunity to purchase an additional year of security updates for a fee of , marking a notable shift in the company’s approach to consumer support.
Details on Extended Security Updates
While businesses will face a higher price point of for a single year of ESU, they also have the option to extend their coverage further, with costs escalating to 2 for a second year and 4 for a third. In contrast, individual consumers will only be able to secure one additional year of updates at the aforementioned rate. Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s executive vice president and consumer chief marketing officer, clarified that enrolled PCs will continue to receive critical and important security updates, although new features, bug fixes, and technical support will no longer be available.
Enrollment in the ESU program will be available closer to the end of support in 2025, but Microsoft is actively encouraging users to transition to Windows 11 instead. Mehdi emphasized this point, stating, “With the Windows 10 End of Support moment, now is the time to move to Windows 11 with confidence.”
Transitioning to Windows 11
The shift to Windows 11 may necessitate hardware upgrades for many users, as the new operating system imposes stricter requirements. Specifically, Windows 11 is compatible only with CPUs released from 2018 onward and devices equipped with TPM security chips. Despite the challenges, there are indications that users are beginning to embrace Windows 11, as evidenced by its brief rise to prominence as the most popular OS for PC gaming among Steam users in August, although it subsequently fell behind Windows 10 in September.
Interestingly, Microsoft’s strategy regarding Windows 10 has seen some unexpected turns. Initially, the company had announced it would cease major updates for Windows 10 in 2023, but it later reversed this decision. Earlier this year, Microsoft reopened its beta program for Windows 10 users, allowing them to test new features and improvements, a move that could bolster the operating system’s usage leading up to the end of its support lifecycle.
