Windows 11 market share creeps upwards as cost of staying on Windows 10 set to double

How badly do you want that Win10 device to keep getting security updates?

The first year of Windows 10 Extended Security Updates is coming to an end, and Windows 11's market share has ticked up as enterprises weigh up the cost of keeping Windows 10 running a little longer.

Windows 11's market share has risen above 70 percent to 71.5 percent, while Windows 10's has dropped to 27.77 percent, according to statistics wrangler Statcounter.

Microsoft does not provide official statistics on Windows 11 and 10 usage, so Statcounter's figures should be treated as estimates. They are derived from Statcounter's tracking code, which is installed on over 1 million sites globally.

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The shares have remained relatively static since a surge in Windows 11 adoption at the end of last year, likely driven by the upgrade wave after Windows 10 dropped out of support on Oct 14, 2025. The Extended Security Updates (ESU) program allowed holdouts to stick with Windows 10, but the first year of that program is coming to an end, and kind old Microsoft will be hiking the prices for year two, at least as far as commercial customers are concerned.

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ESU licenses cost $61 per device for the first year for commercial users. Microsoft stated that the price would double every consecutive year for a maximum of three years, meaning that a renewal for year two will come in at $122.

There are ways around the charge, of course. As well as consumers who can stay with Windows 10 and receive free security updates in return for redeeming Microsoft Rewards Points or using Windows Backup to sync their settings to the cloud, Windows 365 users are also exempt.

It's also worth noting that European Economic Area (EEA) consumers receive no-strings-attached security updates.

However, enterprises that need Windows 10 security updates must pay for them, as they did with other Microsoft products the software biz moved on from despite large user bases. The rising cost may be prompting some to reassess their estates. This month's uptick, while far short of last year's surge, could signal a sizeable ripple as the economics of keeping Windows 10 devices supported begin to favor Windows 11. 

Enterprises have plenty of reasons to keep Windows 10 devices: that one weird bit of hardware that won't work with anything else, or a simple case of a refresh cycle not fitting in with Microsoft's demand that old kit be junked to allow new software to run.

Esben Dochy, a principal technology evangelist at Lansweeper, told The Register that its data indicated enterprises had been very active in moving off Windows 10 during the first year of ESU, with what is left being much "stickier."

He reckoned there would be a "small bump" around the renewal date, and said, "The ESU price doubles for the second year, and that makes the business case for replacing the 'we'll get to it' machines a lot easier," but noted "it's likely that the steep part of the curve is behind us.

"The remaining devices are mostly ones where paying ESU is cheaper or simpler than replacing whatever they're bolted to. For those, ESU really is the cost of doing business."

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The Statcounter figures indicate that that "small bump" could be on the way as ESU costs double, but many of the Windows 10 hold outs seem unlikely to be going anywhere just yet. ®