Year one of Microsoft's Windows 10 ESU programme ended on 13 October 2026, and the year-two fee has risen from USD 61 to USD 122 per device. Because licences are cumulative, organisations joining now must also pay the year-one fee.
The first year of Microsoft's Extended Security Updates (ESU) programme for Windows 10 closed on 13 October 2026. Year two began the following day, and for commercial customers the per-device fee has doubled.
Mainstream support for Windows 10 ended on 14 October 2025. Microsoft gave organisations the option to buy up to three additional years of security patches. According to Microsoft Learn, ESU is sold as an annual subscription, partial years cannot be purchased, and coverage is capped at three years after end of support.
What the new pricing looks like
The commercial per-device rates compiled by TechRepublic are as follows:
- Year 1 — USD 61, coverage ended 13 October 2026
- Year 2 — USD 122, coverage through 12 October 2027
- Year 3 — USD 244, coverage through 10 October 2028
There is a detail here that catches many companies out: ESU licences are cumulative. Microsoft states that an organisation joining the programme in year two must also pay for year one. In practice, a business deciding to buy ESU today faces a bill of USD 183 per device, not USD 122.
Why this matters in Turkey
This is not an abstract problem for Turkish businesses. StatCounter's September 2026 figures put 35.2 percent of Windows devices in Turkey still on Windows 10, against 64.4 percent on Windows 11.
That share weighs heaviest on organisations with long hardware refresh cycles — manufacturing sites, industrial estates and large office fleets. Older desktops that fail the Windows 11 TPM 2.0 and processor requirements can be kept alive with ESU, but the cost now compounds every year.
Devices without ESU receive no security updates at all. The exposure is not only technical. Where a machine processes personal data, running it with a known unpatched flaw is a difficult position to defend under Turkey's data protection obligations.
What we recommend at Kamer Bilişim
- Start with a clean inventory. Which machines are on Windows 10 22H2, which meet the Windows 11 hardware requirements, and which do not — no cost decision is sound without those three lists. To receive ESU patches a device must be on 22H2, carry the latest cumulative update, and have the ESU licensing preparation package installed.
- Compare two years of ESU against replacement. Years two and three together come to USD 366 per device. For a standard office desktop that approaches the price of new hardware. On non-critical machines, replacement may well be the cheaper route.
- Isolate whatever stays unpatched. If some machines will be neither replaced nor licensed, move them onto a separate VLAN, restrict their internet access and file server rights, and keep personal data off them. Segmenting a system you cannot patch is the lowest-cost control available.
For a Windows 10 inventory, an ESU eligibility review and a refresh plan across your offices and facilities on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, you can reach us through our contact page.
Source: Microsoft Learn — Windows 10 Extended Security Updates; TechRepublic — Windows 10 ESU Cheat Sheet; StatCounter Windows Version Market Share Turkey, September 2026.
Source: Microsoft Learn