Windows 10 ESU Deadline: Year 1 Ends 13 October 2026

If your business is still running Windows 10, the next deadline is close. Free support ended on 14 October 2025, and the first year of paid Extended Security Updates (ESU) for business devices ends on 13 October 2026, three weeks from the date of this update.

That date matters more than the 2025 one did. Last year, most firms paid for ESU, or did nothing, and carried on. This October the price doubles, the risk compounds, and the question gets harder to answer for your insurer, your auditor and your clients.

Here is where things actually stand, and what we would do in your position.

The Short Version

You have three options for every Windows 10 machine in the business:

1. Pay for another year of ESU — double last year’s price, per device
2. Upgrade to Windows 11 — free, if the hardware qualifies
3. Replace the machine — the right answer more often than people expect

There is no fourth option. Running Windows 10 without ESU after 13 October 2026 means unpatched vulnerabilities on machines that hold your email, your files and your clients’ data — in a year when the government’s breach survey found 43% of UK businesses reported a breach or attack.

What happens after 13 October 2026?

For business devices, Microsoft’s lifecycle schedule sets out three ESU years, each ending on a fixed date:

• Year 1 ends on 13 October 2026
• Year 2 ends on 12 October 2027
• Year 3 ends on 10 October 2028, and then the updates stop for good

A Windows 10 PC enrolled for Year 1 only stops receiving security updates after 13 October 2026. Nothing else changes on the day — the machine keeps working — which is exactly why unpatched devices linger. ESU also only covers Windows 10 version 22H2, and it includes security fixes only: no new features, no non-security fixes and no technical support.

What ESU Actually Costs Now

Microsoft’s business ESU pricing was designed to move you off Windows 10, and it works like a ratchet. Microsoft publishes it in US dollars: $61 per device for Year 1, doubling each consecutive year, for a maximum of three years. There is no official sterling price. The pound figures below are conversions at the European Central Bank reference rate on 23 September 2026 (about 75p to the dollar), not a Microsoft price list, and what you pay will depend on your licensing partner and agreement.

• Year 1 (to 13 October 2026): $61 per device, roughly £46
• Year 2 (to 12 October 2027): $122 per device, roughly £92
• Year 3 (to 10 October 2028): $244 per device, roughly £184, and then it ends for good

ESU is cumulative: Microsoft requires a device joining in Year 2 to pay for Year 1 as well. So a 20-person firm keeping every Windows 10 machine through Year 2 pays around £1,840 for one more year of patches — on machines that are, by definition, getting old. That is money spent holding the problem in place rather than solving it. Windows 10 virtual machines in Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop get ESU at no extra cost, which is worth knowing if a cloud desktop was already on your list.

Budget the replacement properly, though: new hardware usually arrives with a Microsoft 365 licence review attached, and those prices moved on 1 July. Our Microsoft 365 2026 pricing breakdown covers what each plan now costs and when the new rate actually hits your bill.

The consumer extension to 2027 does not cover business PCs

In June 2026 Microsoft extended the consumer ESU programme for personal-use devices by a year, to 12 October 2027. Home users can enrol free if they sync their PC settings, with 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, or with a one-time $30 purchase. That generated a lot of confused headlines. Microsoft is clear that the consumer programme can’t be used in commercial scenarios and won’t be offered to devices joined to Active Directory or Microsoft Entra, or enrolled in device management. For company PCs, the commercial schedule above is the one that matters. Do not plan around a consumer concession.

The other 13 October 2026 deadlines

If you searched for an October 2026 Windows deadline, Windows 10 may not be the only one that applies to you:

• Windows 11 Home and Pro, version 24H2, reaches the end of servicing on 13 October 2026, according to Microsoft’s lifecycle page. Machines still on 24H2 need moving to 25H2 to keep receiving security updates. On a managed fleet this is a routine feature update; on unmanaged PCs it is easy to miss.
• Office LTSC 2021 (and Project and Visio LTSC 2021) reaches end of support on the same day, per Microsoft’s partner announcements. If you bought Office as a one-off licence a few years ago, check which version it is.

Will Your Machines Run Windows 11?

Most business laptops and desktops bought from 2019 onwards meet Windows 11’s requirements (8th-gen Intel or equivalent, TPM 2.0, Secure Boot). If your kit qualifies, the upgrade is free and — done properly — a non-event for staff.

“Done properly” is doing some work in that sentence. A fleet upgrade should include:

• A compatibility audit before anything is touched (five minutes per machine, saves days of pain)
• Verified backups, so a failed upgrade is an inconvenience rather than an incident
• Staggered rollout — never everyone on the same morning
• A check that your line-of-business software actually runs on Windows 11 (it almost always does; the exceptions are exactly the apps you cannot live without)

This is routine work for a managed IT support provider, and with three weeks to go it is worth starting with the machines that pass the check first.

When Replacing Is Cheaper Than Keeping

Here is the maths people avoid doing. Take a 2018 laptop that cannot run Windows 11. These are illustrative estimates, not quotes:

• Year 2 ESU: $122, or roughly £92 converted
• Slower hardware costing a conservative 15 minutes of productivity a day: £800+ a year at London salaries
• Higher failure risk on a 7-year-old battery, drive and fan: call it £150 a year in expected cost
• A capable business laptop: £450–700, with three years of warranty and native Windows 11

On those numbers the replacement pays for itself inside twelve months, and you stop paying for patches on hardware you were going to replace anyway. For small businesses we usually recommend replacing anything that fails the Windows 11 check rather than buying ESU Year 2 — the exception being specialist machines tied to hardware (lab kit, CNC controllers, till systems), which deserve ESU while you plan properly.

The Compliance Angle Nobody Mentions

If you hold Cyber Essentials — or want to — unsupported operating systems are a straightforward fail. The scheme requires software that is licensed and supported. IASME, which runs the scheme, treats Windows 10 devices enrolled in ESU as supported, so ESU keeps them in scope while you migrate. A device whose ESU year runs out on 13 October 2026 without renewal becomes unsupported from that day.

The same question appears on cyber insurance renewals and client due-diligence questionnaires. If your firm answers security questionnaires to win work, a Windows 10 estate without ESU is a line item you will have to disclose — and explain.

A Sensible Plan for the Last Three Weeks

With the deadline this close, do things in this order:

This week — Audit the fleet. Every device, OS version (including Windows 11 24H2), Windows 11 eligibility and age. If that list does not exist yet, building it is the first job, and an afternoon usually covers it.

Next week — Upgrade everything that qualifies, in waves, and move Windows 11 24H2 machines to 25H2. Order replacements for what does not qualify.

Before 13 October — Buy ESU Year 2 only for the machines you have consciously chosen to keep, including anything still waiting for its replacement, so nothing is left unpatched while you finish.

After 13 October — Migrate users to their new machines and decommission the old ones properly (drive wiping is part of the job, not an optional extra).

The Bottom Line

The October 2026 deadline is not really about Microsoft — it is a forcing function for a hardware and security decision you would eventually make anyway. The firms that make it deliberately spend less than the firms that make it in a panic the week before.

If you would like the audit done for you, book a free 30-minute review — we will tell you exactly which machines can upgrade, which should be replaced, and which genuinely deserve another year of ESU. You will come away with a straightforward list to work from.