Microsoft will let consumers pay for Windows 10 security updates after 2025

Microsoft will make consumers pay to get security updates for Windows 10 when support ends in October 2025. Until now, only companies could pay for Extended Security Updates.

Microsoft has not yet said how much this will cost. That consumers can pay for Extended Security Updates, is stated in a Microsoft blog about the planned end for Windows 10. The ESU consumer program is also at a faq page from Windows.

Many desktops and laptops run on Windows 10. The end of support with free updates is scheduled for October 2025. That is just over ten years after the release of Windows 10 and about four years after the release of Windows 11. The Windows 7 -ESU program cost around $280 per machine for three years. It is still unknown how much this will be for Windows 10.