Windows 11 market share has quietly become dominant, and the shift is happening fast. According to new figures from Statcounter, Windows 11 now accounts for an estimated 71.5% of all Windows computers worldwide, while Windows 10 has fallen to 27.8%, as reported by The Register.
That means roughly three out of every four PCs running Windows have moved to the newer operating system — a big jump from where things stood just a year ago. The numbers underscore how quickly organizations and consumers have migrated since Windows 10 reached end of support, and they set the stage for what many expect to be an even faster transition as Windows 10 security updates get more expensive.
Tracking Windows 11 market share
Before reading too much into the percentages, it helps to understand where they come from. Microsoft doesn’t publish its own Windows user figures, so these estimates rely entirely on Statcounter’s methodology. The tracking company installs tracking code on a large sample of websites globally and measures which operating systems visitors are using to reach them.
There’s an important caveat: these figures aren’t split between consumer and business use. That makes it harder to know exactly how many enterprises are still hanging on to Windows 10 versus how many home machines have already switched. It also means the numbers reflect where people browse the web, which skews somewhat toward devices that are actively and regularly used online rather than offline or work-specific machines.
What drove the shift to Windows 11
The biggest single jump happened when mainstream support for Windows 10 officially ended on October 14, 2025. Until that date, Windows 10 still received free security updates through Microsoft’s standard support cycle. After that deadline, machines could keep receiving updates only through the paid or extended program.
The urgency was real. Just a month before that transition, executives from Dell and HP said roughly half of all PCs were still running Windows 10. In other words, the ecosystem was split almost evenly between the two operating systems heading into the end-of-support cutoff — and it hasn’t looked like that since.
The Windows 10 ESU pricing structure
For anyone who wanted to stay on Windows 10 after October 14, 2025, the path forward went through Microsoft’s Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESU) program. The rules differ sharply between consumers and businesses.
Consumers can enroll for free. Microsoft originally said these free consumer updates would last only a year, but it later extended the consumer ESU program for another year, running through October 12, 2027. That gives home users a longer runway than initially promised.
Businesses, on the other hand, have to pay to enroll each device. The pricing follows a steep climbing schedule:
- First year: $61 per device
- Second year: $122 per computer (double the first year)
- Third year: $244 per device (double again)
For an organization running a large fleet, those numbers add up quickly. A company with 500 Windows 10 machines in its second year of ESU would be paying $61,000 annually — and that climbs to $122,000 in the third year. That escalating cost is exactly what analysts expect to push more businesses toward upgrading to Windows 11 rather than continuing to pay for extended support.
What this means for you
If you’re a home user on Windows 10, you’re not being forced off anything right now. Free security updates are available through the ESU program until October 12, 2027, so there’s no immediate security risk to staying put. That said, Windows 11 is the direction Microsoft is heading, and new features and long-term support will focus there.
If you’re running Windows 10 on a work or business machine, the calculus is different. The per-device ESU fees are designed to make staying on Windows 10 increasingly unattractive, so budgeting for an upgrade is a smart move before costs climb further. Plan the migration while pricing is still manageable rather than waiting until the third-year rates hit.
How to get it
For those ready to make the switch, Windows 11 has been available for purchase and upgrade since late 2022. You can check whether your current PC meets the system requirements through Microsoft’s official PC Health Check tool, then either run a free in-place upgrade or install Windows 11 fresh after backing up your data.
If you decide to stay on Windows 10 for now, make sure your device is enrolled in the ESU program so you don’t lose security coverage. Consumers can find enrollment details on Microsoft’s Windows Extended Security Updates page, while business customers should coordinate with their Microsoft reseller or IT admin to set up device licensing.
Source: Computerworld
Over to you: With Windows 10 security updates effectively doubling each year, are you upgrading to Windows 11 now or waiting out the free consumer updates?
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