SecurityNot yet confirmed elsewhere1 publisher2 min readPublished
Business Windows 10 patch fees quadruple over three years of Extended Security Updates
Microsoft charges business customers $122 per device for year-two Windows 10 security updates, double the $61 it charged in year one. Statcounter puts Windows 10 at 27.8% of Windows PCs, without splitting business from consumer machines.
The Watch · Security desk
Key figures: business ESU costs $244 per device in the third and final year, $61 per device in the first year and $122 per computer in the second year, according to Computerworld.
| Figure | Value | Note | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business ESU price, third and final year | 244 $ per device | 11 | |
| Business ESU, first year | 61 $ per device | 9 | |
| Business ESU, second year | 122 $ per computer | 10 |
What happened
- Statcounter estimates Windows 11 now runs on 71.5% of Windows computers worldwide, according to figures Computerworld took from The Register.
- The business program's third and final year doubles again, to $244 per device.
- Consumers enroll in Windows 10 ESU for free, and Microsoft extended that consumer program a second year, to October 12, 2027.
Why it matters
- cost A business that keeps 1,000 Windows 10 machines enrolled for all three years pays $427,000, and that bill lands on whoever still owns the fleet.
- constraint The 27.8% cannot size the paying population, because Statcounter does not split business from consumer use and consumers enroll free.
- decision Each remaining device now has a rising price for staying put, and Computerworld reports the increases are expected to push more migrations to Windows 11.
The price schedule is the only fixed number in the story. Business customers must pay to enroll devices in Windows 10 Extended Security Updates [8]. Microsoft charges $61 per device for the first year, $122 for the second and $244 for the third and final year [9][10][11]. That is a fourfold rise from first year to last [13]. A device enrolled for all three years costs $427 [12].
Take a hypothetical fleet of 1,000 devices. Year two costs $122,000 and three years cost $427,000 [14][15]. The fleet size is our assumption.
The share figure is weaker evidence than the price. Microsoft publishes no user figures, and Statcounter's estimates come from tracking code installed on websites [3]. They are not broken out by consumer and business use [4]. Consumers can enroll in the program for free, and Microsoft extended that offer by a year, to October 12, 2027 [7]. The 27.8% [2] therefore includes machines that cost their owners nothing to keep patched. The number of paying devices is some unknown part of it.
The earlier benchmark has a different source. According to executives from Dell and HP, about half of PCs still ran Windows 10 a month before mainstream support ended on October 14, 2025 [6][5]. Because the two figures come from different sources, we would not subtract one from the other to get a migration rate.
Computerworld's report does not give an end date for the third business year, and it describes no exploitation of Windows 10 devices.
What to watch
- The next Statcounter reading for Windows 10, to see whether it moves below 27.8%.
- October 12, 2027, when the extended consumer ESU program is due to end.
- Any Microsoft or vendor figure that separates business Windows 10 devices from consumer ones.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence62
- Adoption72
- Hype gap+10
- Incentives
- Insufficient
- Confidence55
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
Statcounter estimates Windows 11 accounts for 71.5% of all Windows computers globally.
ReportedSupportedSource: Statcounter figures, as reported by The Register and relayed by ComputerworldView cited source - [2]
Statcounter estimates Windows 10 has dropped to 27.8% of Windows computers globally.
ReportedSupportedSource: Statcounter figures, as reported by The Register and relayed by ComputerworldView cited source - [3]
Microsoft does not publish any user figures; Statcounter's estimates are based on tracking code installed on websites globally.
- [4]
Statcounter's figures are not broken out by consumer and business use.
- [5]
Mainstream support for Windows 10 ended on October 14, 2025.
- [6]
Just a month before mainstream support ended, about half of PCs still ran Windows 10, according to executives from Dell and HP.
- [7]
Consumers can enroll in the Windows 10 ESU program for free; after saying updates would be available for only a year, Microsoft extended the consumer program another year, until October 12, 2027.
- [8]
Business customers must pay to enroll user devices in the Windows 10 ESU program.
- [9]
The first year of Windows 10 ESU for business costs $61 per device.
- [10]
As the second year begins, the business ESU price doubles to $122 per computer.
- [11]
The business ESU price doubles once more, to $244 per device, for the third and final year.
- [12]
A business device enrolled in ESU for all three years costs $427 in total.
- [13]
The third-year business ESU price is four times the first-year price.
- [14]
For a hypothetical fleet of 1,000 devices, year-two ESU costs $122,000.
- [15]
For a hypothetical fleet of 1,000 devices enrolled for all three years, ESU costs $427,000.
- [16]
The ESU price increases are expected to further accelerate the transition to Windows 11.
Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
- computerworld.comWindows 11 gains ground as price hike looms for Windows 10 security updates (2 minute read)
1 article · October 12, 2026
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