Windows 10 LTSC 2021 has five months before security updates cost extra
ESU meter starts running in January, unless you're on the IoT edition
Microsoft has announced that Windows 10 LTSC 2021 will reach its final security update on January 12, 2027, marking the end of its free support. To continue receiving security updates, organizations must purchase Extended Security Updates (ESU) starting September 1, 2026, with a cost of $61 per device for the first year, and doubling each subsequent year until January 8, 2030. ESU sales are cumulative, meaning organizations starting in Year 2 would need to pay for both Year 1 and Year 2 licenses.
Organizations using Microsoft cloud-based update services like Intune or Autopatch can benefit from a 25 percent discount, reducing the Year 1 price to $45 per device. However, this discount is not applicable to Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC, which remains supported until January 13, 2032.
Despite Microsoft's efforts to reduce the dominance of Windows 10, it still holds just under 30 percent of the market share, according to Statcounter's sample. The migration to Windows 11 remains slow, with many enterprises citing specialized applications or hardware setups incompatible with the newer operating system, as well as Windows 11's hardware requirements.
Microsoft has promised to optimize the code for systems with 8 GB of RAM, but this does not help machines ruled out by its processor and TPM compatibility rules.
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