Here's How Much an Extra Year of Windows 10 Security Updates Will Cost You

If you're dead set on continuing to use Windows 10 after Microsoft ends support in October 2025, you can now pay for an extra year of updates. And we now know how much that extra year of Extended Security Updates (ESU) will cost.

Microsoft Offers ESU to Consumers Still Using Windows 10

The end of support for Windows 10 is looming large on the horizon, as we're now within a year of it hitting everyone still stuck using the aging operating system. Microsoft will be ending support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025, and really wants as many people to upgrade to Windows 11 before that date arrives.

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However, for the first time ever, personal users will be able to pay for an extra year of security updates for an unsupported version of Windows. Which, in this case, is Windows 10. Business users have been able to leverage ESU previously, giving them more time to upgrade their legion of PCs. But now, with Windows 10, consumers are being given the option too.

Microsoft announced that ESU would be available to consumers for the first time back in December 2023. Which prompted us to ask whether extended Windows 10 support is worth paying for. At the time, we didn't know how much it would cost, but now we do.

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At the end of a lengthy post on the Windows Experience Blog which is desperately trying to sell Windows 10 users on the need for them to upgrade, Microsoft reveals that the "ESU program for consumers will be a one-year option available for $30." And that "program enrollment will be available closer to the end of support in 2025."

Ultimately, Windows 10 Users Are Delaying the Inevitable

As a reminder, paying for ESU only buys you "Critical and Important security updates for Windows 10". However, "new features, bug fixes, and technical support will no longer be available from Microsoft". Plus, as well as the price, we now know that this is a one-time deal, with ESU only available to consumers for a single year.

All of which means that, in essence, Windows 10 users signing up for ESU would just be delaying the inevitable. Which is either upgrading their current machine to Windows 11, or, if it isn't eligible for an upgrade, buying a new Windows 11 PC.

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