Microsoft Shares Pricing Details For its Windows 10 Extended Security Updates Program

Microsoft revealed today how much it will cost to keep receiving security updates for Windows 10 once the OS reaches end of support on October 2025. The company announced a paid Extended Security Update (ESU) program for the Windows 10 back in December, and organizations will be able to start purchasing licences as soon as October 2024. This ESU program will also be available for consumers who don’t want (or can’t) update to Windows 11.

Even though it’s been almost 3 years since the release of Windows 11, Windows 10 remains the most popular version of the OS by a pretty wide margin. According to Statcounter, Windows 10’s market share actually grew from 66.47% to 69.07% between January and March 2024, while Windows 11 went from 27.83% to 26.68% during the same period.

Microsoft would much prefer if consumers and organizations all moved to Windows 11. But in reality, there’s a good chance that most PCs that could benefit from the free update have already been upgraded, and that the strict minimum hardware requirements for Windows 11 have probably left many devices on the sidelines.

Anyway, the Windows 10 ESU program will be available for organizations (and consumers) that aren’t ready to upgrade, but it won’t be cheap and sustainable in the long-term. “Extended Security Updates are not intended to be a long-term solution but rather a temporary bridge, Microsoft said today. “ESUs do not include new features, non-security fixes, or design change requests.”

Organizations will have different options to access Windows 10 extended security updates, and the first one is the 5-by-5 activation method. Getting updates for one device will cost $61/year, and this price will double every consecutive year. This means it will go up to $122 on the second year, and then to $244 on the third year.

Microsoft said that there will be special pricing for nonprofits, and there will also be a 25% discount for organizations opting to receive ESU updates via a cloud-based update management solution such as Intune or Windows Autopatch. However, ESUs are cumulative, which means that organizations joining the program on the second year will also need to pay for the year one updates.

Lastly, for organizations paying for Windows 365 to access Windows 11 Cloud PCs on a Windows 10 device, Extended Security Updates for the OS will be available at no additional cost. The activation will be included with a Windows 365 subscription with a one-year commitment.

Microsoft only plans to offer Extended Security Updates for Windows 10 for a maximum of three years. This should give enough time for most organizations to upgrade their fleets, though there’s still a chance that the longevity of Windows 10 could defy expectations. Microsoft also plans to support the LTSC version of Windows 10 version 21H2 until January 2027, while the LTSC version of Windows 10 version 1809 will get two additional years of support throughout 2029.