Microsoft reveals Windows 10 ESU pricing: starts at $61
Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system is nearing the end of its life. Come October 2025, support for the operating system ends officially. Microsoft announced that it is going to offer ESU, Extended Security Updates, for at least three years.
This means that organizations and also home users may extend the life of their systems by three years. ESU requires a subscription, and Microsoft has just revealed information about that subscription. Some information is still missing though.
Extended Security Updates were introduced for Windows 7 when the operating system neared its end of life. Microsoft offered the service to organizations only at the time. Organizations paid $50 in the first year, $100 in the second, and $200 in the third to receive these updates. Some clever folks discovered ways to get these updates on their home machines.
The popularity of Windows 7 forced Microsoft's hand. Windows 8, not nearly as popular as Windows 7, died without any ESU offer from Microsoft.
Windows 10: ESU pricing
Windows 10 is equally popular. It is still the most used version of Windows, even though its successor, Windows 11, has been on the market for three years. Not all Windows 10 devices can be upgraded to Windows 11. Experts estimate that the number of incompatible Windows 10 devices is in the hundreds of millions.
Microsoft announced some time ago that it would offer Extended Security Updates for Windows 10. This time, it did not exclude home users from the offer. In other words: anyone running Windows 10 can extend support by three years.
This comes at a price, which Microsoft revealed this week. Unfortunately, only for businesses and organizations.
Organizations have three options to extend update support for Windows 10: 5-by-5 activation key, cloud-based activation, or Windows 365 subscription-based activation.
For a 5-by-5 subscription key: It is available for $61 per device for the first year. This price doubles each year, meaning that organizations have to pay $122 in the second year and $244 in the third to continue receiving extended security updates.
The second option is only available for Windows 10 PCs accessed via Windows 11 Cloud PCs. These PCs are automatically included in ESU at no additional cost to the organization.
The third and final option is available for organizations that use Microsoft cloud-based update management solutions such as Microsoft Intune. These may get a 25% discount on ESU licensing. This drops the price in the first year to $45 per user (up to five devices). The price is still doubling each year.
What about home users?
Microsoft did not reveal any information on the ESU pricing for home users. It is still more than a year before the official end of support for the operating system. Clearly, Microsoft wants organizations and home users to upgrade to Windows 11 instead. This is the first recommendation of the article. The second is to purchase a new PC with Windows 11.
Home users who cannot upgrade to Windows 11 officially and do not want to (or can) buy a new PC face a tough decision. ESU would give them three extra years of updates.
Another option to extend support is to use the services of 0Patch. The third-party micro-patching business creates security patches for various Microsoft products that are no longer supported by Microsoft. It will do the same for Windows 10 once it runs out. This does require a subscription as well, but it is available for about $25 per year.
Closing Words
Extended Security updates are not cheap. A three year subscription is available for $427 ($315 for the cloud-based option). If the pricing is similar for home users, it would make the extension quite expensive.
What about you? Do you run Windows 10 and plan to extend its life through ESU?
The “Ballmer egging” (search YouTube) should be required viewing as you boot Windows the first time. Clearly M$ didn’t learn their lesson by that example. Like the guy’s shirt said:
“Microsoft = Corruption”
@RH,
“You lost most people at “and/or”.
Either there or at “distros” -> that makes no sense until you’re embedded in the Linux world.”
Nice try but a lame reply. I expect much more from M$ gremlins.
W10/11 have already demonstrated several times manual tweaks required to navigate through faulty or regular patches, horrible print driver issues and more – all of which Grandma can’t solve by themselves, without help.
@ 45RPM
“It’s really grating and boring to get all these Linux comments nearly every time there’s some Windows news. ”
It’s really grating and boring to get all these X,Y,Z comments nearly every time there’s an article, video, etc. If you don’t like it, skip over it, Mr. Micr0s0ft.
“EVERYONE reading this site know about Linux.”
Doubtful, but when they read the Wind0ze articles, now they will know of it.
I also encourage EVERY LINUX USER to donate Linux software to their local library, and stuff one Linux CD/DVD into every Microshaft related book they find. Everytime you return, check the M$ books for a missing CD/DVD and add another one! NOW THEY WILL KNOW!
“And FWIW, most people aren’t at all interested in Linux for a book-full of valid reasons.”
Sure. In other news, MAN YELLS AT CLOUD.
People are learning about Linux fast and rejecting the convicted monopoly and their crime-ware software. For the amount of damage Muckrowsoft has caused, let there be crowds of people cheering and recommending Linux. Let the OEMs not be strangled by M$. NO MORE BACKROOM DEALS. Let the people be FREE when they walk into a store and see LINUX running on systems for sale.
We call this grassroots efforts of getting the message across. Because other than Ubuntu and their early efforts to get people to notice and use FREE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE by mailing them FREE CDS, there’s no television/streaming ads for Linux. Nevermind that Linux practically runs on anything. Hell, you’re probably running a device with Linux right now and don’t even know it! And if not, you should. Ha!
“For me, it’s Linux fanboys.”
It is bearers of truth in the face of a proprietary monster which evades governments and militaries and makes deals with them, along with schools.
The end of M$ can’t come soon enough.
I hope you washed down this post with a nice tasty ale while praising your gaylord leader bill gates in front of your Wind0ze systems. Kiss the Ballmer ring! Kiss it in worship and respect. They got Wind0ze users by the balls, man! [root]
I will not surrender my liberty over to a crime ridden company with a history of unsafe, dimwitted actions.
We demand freedom and it’s here. Make that loud and clear! LINUX IS FOR EVERYONE!
@ J Ringo
Why bother wasting your time and a lot of words to a person who is to ignorant to except the fact that MS windows is stealing, not only his/her money but also here/his privacy.
Let it be, I hate that song… but that’s just me
Yes, I see the price of prebuilt machines; it blows me away. Even the price of keyboards. Where I live, people are more in to jeeping and biking. Another mind blower because I have no idea where they find the funds to devote to their hobbies. For the jeepers, gas prices alone would have me questioning my sanity. Some of the bikes! It’s not uncommon to see $20,000 bikes.
It’s such a relief to hear someone say, “We’ve been researching, planning, and saving.” Most people I know are “impulse buyers.” Housing is another area. Around here, people move in from CA or the East Coast and don’t hesitate to pay cash for $1,000,000 homes. And then I read about Bezos.
Back to the topic–it would be hard for me to justify spending money to maintain Windows 10–especially for a second or third year.
Having a budget helps. I need to decide what I really “desire” out of millions or trillions of desires; research how much “happiness” I think I shall actually achieve when fulfilling that desire; then, start the planning and saving part of the equation. Down the road, I may discover that “desire” is supplanted by something else, something more rewarding–or sometimes it simply vaporizes.
@VioletMoon
> I am fortunate because my CPU will allow Windows 11 updating even when the new requirement for yet even a newer CPU begins.
You call that “fortunate?” LOL!
I can use Linux distros with a minimal desktop environment and/or Window Manager on ANCIENT systems FOR FREE and go SCREAMING FAST, while Win7 would just crunch the drive and crunch munch munch. I’m talking systems from 12+ years ago.
Now try that with Winblows 10/11? Good luck! Let me know how that works for you.
Don’t forget: M$ has root!
“I can use Linux distros with a minimal desktop environment and/or Window Manager on ANCIENT systems FOR FREE and go SCREAMING FAST,…”
You lost most people at “and/or”.
Either there or at “distros” -> that makes no sense until you’re embedded in the Linux world.
Don’t matter to me. Already switched to Fedora Linux. Goodbye MS spyware. MS AI was the last nail on the coffin for me.
But upgrade to Linux is free! Our Windows 10 machines are already dual boot with Ubuntu, and at Win 10 EOL, we can improve the user experience by uninstalling it. Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!
It’s really grating and boring to get all these Linux comments nearly every time there’s some Windows news. EVERYONE reading this site know about Linux. And FWIW, most people aren’t at all interested in Linux for a book-full of valid reasons. For me, it’s Linux fanboys.
When will corporate greed stop? Answer – never, it will get worse beyond anything you can imagine.This is only a test by MS to see how consumers react. Just like what HP did recentl with printers.
Its just the beginnimng of the end user anon. licensing. Next comes OS by subscription only, after the fed. gov. approves/register you. Thanks to bill gates (the biggest landowner in the US) and the crazies in washington.
Still think you live in a democray America?
What happens if you don’t pay the piper?
You’re safe from updates that brick your box.
I do think Microsoft is capitalizing on users with devices stuck on Windows 10 by Microsoft’s own tighter requirements for Windows 11.
Microsoft can delete its expletive. I have 1 drive with Win 10 that I rarely boot into. I only need it for 1 government site. They won’t see money from me. I have been using Mint for years.
Nearly same here. I have W11 that I rarely use, and also I have Ubuntu 22.04/W10 in other computer. The most of the time I stay working with Ubuntu, no fails, no headaches, no printing problems, no HDMI problems and so forth. I use W10 with some government sites. Last week I didn’t open W11 for nothing, not idea of what I will do with it, probably I will let it till W12.
In October 2025 my PC will be 13½ years old, so my situation is not very complicated : I will probably have bought a new computer before this date.
However, I will wait for the next Intel’s CPUs and motherboards generation in the end of this year because it is anticipated to be a big uplift compared to the actual generation.
Intel is talking about ai next. No thank you.
My hardware was also old, i7 4790K and Z87 chipsets. (no tpm, win 10 pro)
I just built 2 new gaming pc’s based on the new i9 14900K and Z790 chipset for just under 2k each.
I do miss 10, the big pretty custom tiles on a fullscreen start menu.
Win 11 looks like my android phone :(
@ Tachy
My computer is just a little bit older than yours was and I too am concerned about AI which is coming soon. But from what I understand, the AI will reside in the OS itself and the new CPUs will have a NPU section to handle better this AI. A CPU without a NPU section will be able to handle the AI, but it will be less efficient at it. That means that you will not really escape AI if you buy a CPU without the NPU section, you will just have bought a CPU that will be a little bit less efficient for everything because the “regular” CPU itself will have to handle AI. I think that the only way to escape AI, if possible, will be to inactivate the AI in the OS itself. I hope that my explanation is clear because my mother tongue is not english and that what I am talking about now is not easy for me to express.
Not the worst comment I have read lately.
@ John G.
You’re right, my comment wasn’t too bad about Microsoft, but in fact I was just saying that I will soon change my computer and that I will inevitably buy a W11 or W12 licence with it. But in fact I’m not really happy with Microsoft’s OS because there is too much scrap associated with the OS : I would like very much that Microsoft OS’s setup file offers to it’s users the capacity to install the sole OS without anything else and allows the user to add any other application they wish.
@Sputnik–there are myriad ways to install Windows 11 without the “crap associated with the OS.” A common method to sidestep the simple TPM and CPU requirements is to make a USB w/ Rufus. Another, more powerful method, is to work with Tiny 11 Builder.
More ways are discussed with tutorials provided in the following links. Many sites recommend using NLite. I am fortunate because my CPU will allow Windows 11 updating even when the new requirement for yet even a newer CPU begins. Martin provided an article and details [I think MS reversed the decision.]
https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/make-lightweight-windows-11-image-tiny11-builder
https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/create-custom-windows-11-install-disk
I tried one of the Tiny 11 builds with little luck on an older laptop. What requirements AI chips are going to do is anyone’s guess. Keep purchasing upgradable computers with motherboards that accept new chips every six months?
@Tachy–“I just built 2 new gaming pc’s based on the new i9 14900K and Z790 chipset for just under 2k each.” Can’t imagine spending so much on a couple of computers; it isn’t in the budget.
@VioletMoon
Prebuilt pc’s like the ones I built myself run over 4k each. We’ve been researching, planning, and saving for 2 years to build these. The last pc’s I built ran the most demanding pc games for more then 10 years with a GPU upgrade here and there.
We are 3 generations of gamers in this house. PC’s are definitely “in the budget”.