Windows 11 Overtakes Windows 10 as Extended Support Fees Loom

Windows 11 now accounts for an estimated 71.5% of Windows computers worldwide, while Windows 10 has fallen to 27.8%, according to new Statcounter figures reported by The Register and Computerworld. The shift is taking place as Microsoft prepares to charge for continued security updates on Windows 10, a change that puts pressure on organisations and households still running the older system.

What happened

Statcounter's latest estimates show Windows 11 continuing to gain ground at the expense of its predecessor. The figures come from tracking code embedded in websites around the world, so they are an inference from web traffic rather than an official count. Microsoft does not publish its own user numbers, and Statcounter does not split its data between consumer and business use.

The most significant change came when mainstream support for Windows 10 ended on October 14, 2025. Only a month earlier, roughly half of PCs were still running Windows 10, according to executives from Dell and HP. Since then, businesses and consumers have been able to keep receiving security patches through Microsoft's Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESU) programme.

Microsoft initially indicated that consumer ESU coverage would last only a year. It has since extended the consumer programme beyond that window. Consumers can enrol at no cost, while the reporting indicates that a price increase for continued security updates is on the horizon, which is the driver behind the headline framing of looming fees.

Why it matters

For organisations, the numbers point to a migration that is now well advanced but not complete. A platform still carrying a sizeable minority of devices after its mainstream support has ended creates a growing gap between what teams assume is secure and what is actually patched. Each month that a fleet stays on Windows 10 without a funded ESU plan adds operational risk, and the cost of that delay becomes harder to predict once pricing applies.

The story also illustrates how end-of-support dates function as operating-model events rather than IT housekeeping. Device refresh, application compatibility, identity management and user training all have to move together. Leaders who treat the Windows 10 deadline as a single upgrade project tend to discover that the hard part is the change in how people work on the new platform.

By the numbers

• 71.5% of Windows computers globally are estimated to run Windows 11, according to Statcounter.
• 27.8% of Windows computers are estimated to run Windows 10 on the same basis.
• October 14, 2025 is the date mainstream support for Windows 10 ended.
• About half of PCs still ran Windows 10 one month before that date, according to Dell and HP executives.

The Renascence take

Most readers will focus on the market share headline and miss the part that matters for experience design: the decision is no longer about the software, it is about who carries the cost of waiting.

The people most likely to be caught out are not the ones who ignored the deadline, but the ones who assumed a free extension would always be available. Behavioural economics would call this a default that quietly becomes a decision. A customer-obsessed operator should map which users, devices and teams still depend on Windows 10, price the ESU route against a planned migration, and set a dated exit point rather than waiting for the next fee notice to force one.