Windows 10 stopped receiving free security updates on October 14, 2025, and Microsoft is not walking that back. Businesses that still run it can buy Extended Security Updates (ESU) to keep getting patches, but the price doubles every year and the program caps out after three years. If your office still has Windows 10 machines, the real decision this year isn’t whether to eventually leave Windows 10, it’s how to sequence the move so you’re not paying rising ESU fees on hardware you were going to replace anyway.
- Windows 10 stopped getting free updates on October 14, 2025, so unpatched machines stop getting fixes for newly discovered vulnerabilities.
- Commercial ESU costs $61 per device for Year One, then doubles to $122 for Year Two and $244 for Year Three.
- Nearly 30% of Windows desktops worldwide were still running Windows 10 as of July 2026, according to StatCounter’s Windows version tracker.
- Business ESU tops out at three years total. It’s a bridge, not a long-term option.
- ESU pricing is cumulative. Skip Year One and buy Year Two later, and you still owe Year One’s fee.
Why does this matter if the computers still work fine?
A Windows 10 PC that isn’t enrolled in ESU will keep booting up and running your line-of-business software the same as it did last month. What changes is what happens the next time researchers find a serious flaw in Windows. On a supported machine, that flaw gets patched. On an unsupported one, it sits open indefinitely, and it’s exactly the kind of gap ransomware crews and opportunistic scanners look for. We’ve walked through the same math before with Windows Server 2016’s end of support, and the pattern holds here: the machine doesn’t stop working, the safety net underneath it does.
What does ESU actually cost, and what do you get?
Microsoft’s commercial ESU program is sold through volume licensing at $61 per device for Year One, which started in November 2025. Miss that and enroll later, and the pricing is still cumulative, meaning a business that skips ahead to Year Two owes both years’ fees. The price doubles each year after that, topping out around $244 per device in Year Three, and coverage for commercial customers ends after three years total. ESU only covers critical and important security patches. It does not include new features, non-security fixes, or general technical support, so a Windows 10 fleet on ESU is being kept alive, not modernized.
How many machines does this actually affect?
Globally, Windows 10 still accounted for roughly 29.8% of desktop Windows installations in July 2026, per StatCounter’s tracking. That share tends to run higher inside small and midsize businesses than it does among home users, since business PCs often stay in service longer and get replaced on slower cycles tied to budget, not just age. If you manage a mixed fleet of desktops bought across several years, there’s a decent chance a meaningful chunk of it is still on Windows 10 without anyone having done a formal count.
What should a Boston business actually do this quarter?
Start with an inventory. Most IT teams and outside providers can pull a report of every device’s OS version in under an hour, and that number is often higher than the office expects. From there:
- Check which Windows 10 machines meet Windows 11’s hardware requirements, mainly a TPM 2.0 chip and a supported processor, and upgrade those in place for free.
- For machines that can’t run Windows 11, decide between replacement and a temporary ESU purchase based on how much life is left in the hardware.
- Budget for ESU pricing to double at renewal if you do buy it, so it doesn’t land as a surprise line item next fall.
- Loop this into your broader IT planning rather than handling it machine by machine. That’s usually where a managed IT approach pays for itself compared to reacting to each device as it becomes a problem.
Frequently asked questions
Is Windows 10 still safe to use at all?
It still runs and it isn’t going to shut off on its own, but Microsoft stopped shipping free security fixes for it on October 14, 2025. Any new vulnerability found from here on only gets patched on machines enrolled in Extended Security Updates. Treat it as a budget decision on a clock, not something that needs to be unplugged tomorrow.
Does ESU include technical support from Microsoft?
No. Microsoft’s own FAQ for the program says technical support isn’t included, only support for issues with the ESU enrollment itself. If a Windows 10 machine has other problems, that’s on you or your IT provider to fix.
Can I just buy one year of ESU and stop?
You can buy Year One and walk away, but you can’t skip a year and jump straight to Year Two at the Year Two price. Microsoft’s program is cumulative, so buying Year Two later means paying for Year One retroactively as well.
What if some of our computers can’t run Windows 11 at all?
That’s common on machines older than about four or five years, since Windows 11 requires a TPM 2.0 security chip and a supported processor. Those PCs are usually better candidates for replacement than for years of ESU renewals.
If your office hasn’t counted how many machines are still running Windows 10, or hasn’t decided which ones get upgraded versus replaced before ESU pricing doubles again, that’s a plan worth making before it turns into a rushed purchase order. Boston Managed IT offers a free 15-minute Microsoft 365 and security review to help you sort out which devices need attention first. Call (617) 322-5155 or visit bostonmit.com/contact to get started.
— Boston Managed IT
