Microsoft wants $30 out of your pocket to give your Windows 10 PC another year of life

The death of Windows 10 is just upon us. The operating system, a popular choice among gamers on Steam for quite some time, will reach its end-of-support period on October 8, 2025. That’s around a year from now.

And now, Microsoft is trying to make people pay $30 to get them moving to Windows 11. The Redmond tech giant says in a recent blog update that, if you want to stay using Windows 10, you have to purchase one year of Extended Security Updates (ESU). The rates are even higher for businesses that want multiple years of ESU options.

Sure, you can still use Windows 10 even without paying, but there won’t be any security updates let along new features. “Starting Oct. 14, 2025, Windows 10 will no longer receive security updates. As security threats evolve and adapt, so must our operating systems and hardware,” Microsoft says in the update.

With Windows 11’s stricter hardware requirements preventing many PCs from upgrading, Microsoft is still encouraging users to transition to Windows 11 instead. Some users even reported a compatibility hold on their devices when they were trying to install Windows 11 24H2, its latest, biggest, and most AI-friendly update.

Microsoft has made various conscious attempts to make Windows 10 a bit look more like 11, like repainting the About page on Settings, as well as a “copy file” button and a file preview in the share menu. This ESU plan was even previously limited to business and institutional users, but it is now available for individual consumers.