Windows 11 has gained nearly 2.53% market share as more and more users are realizing that Windows 10 is now less than 7 months away from reaching the end-of-life period. On October 14, 2025, Windows 10 support will end, and you’ll need to switch to Windows 11 or pay $30 for extended security updates. Many would choose the first pat,h apparently.
StatCounter, which is an analytics platform, has confirmed that Windows 10 is indeed losing market share to Windows 10. From December 2024 to January 2025, Windows 10 dropped slightly from around 62.7% to 60.3%, while Windows 11 went up from about 34.1% to 36.7%.
Windows 7 also fell a bit (2.4% to 2.2%). Windows 8.1 stayed almost the same, and Windows XP rose just a little (0.24% to 0.27%). Overall, it looks like more people moved from Windows 10 to Windows 11, with most other versions staying fairly steady. But what are the odds that there are false positives?
In other words, is it possible that StatCounter’s data has some inaccuracies and that Windows 11 isn’t gaining significant market share? It’s entirely possible, but a 2.53% market share gain is still massive to be dubbed as an error. Considering all the margin of errors, we’re fairly certain Windows 11 has grown by 1.5-2% in January.
And I wouldn’t be surprised if the number keeps rising.
I spoke with several small business owners who told me that they’re now starting to migrate their thousands of PCs to Windows 11. “We’ve been testing Windows 11 for months now, and we think it’s the [right] time to move away from Windows 10,” one of the IT admins, who manages over 1,500+ PCs, told us in a statement.
Anyways, to better understand the market share changes, we’ve framed a table with the market share of every Windows version:
| Windows Version | Dec 2024 (%) | Jan 2025 (%) | Change (p.p.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 10 | 62.70 | 60.33 | -2.37 |
| Windows 11 | 34.12 | 36.65 | +2.53 |
| Windows 7 | 2.41 | 2.24 | -0.17 |
| Windows 8.1 | 0.30 | 0.30 | 0 |
| Windows XP | 0.24 | 0.27 | +0.03 |
| Windows 8 | 0.18 | 0.16 | -0.02 |
| Other | 0.05 | 0.05 | 0 |
Windows 10 end-of-support looms
Windows 10 support ends on October 14, 2025, which means you’ve almost seven months to decide.
You can keep using Windows 10, but remember that your operating system will be vulnerable to security flaws. This means your device could be infected with malware and other serious security problems if you keep using outdated Windows 10 installation post-October 14, 2025.
Or you can upgrade to Windows 11. As Windows Latest recently reported, Microsoft is now offering Windows 11 24H2 directly to Windows 10. Windows 11 24H2 is the best version of Windows 11 in terms of features and usability, but there are some rough edges that you need to watch out for.
If you do not want to install Windows 11 and keep using Windows 10 securely, you can subscribe to Windows 10’s extended security updates, which cost $30 and give you another year to decide.
Here’s a full breakdown created by Windows Latest:
| Category | Consumers | Enterprise | Education |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows 10 End of Support (EOS) | October 14, 2025 | October 14, 2025 | October 14, 2025 |
| Extended Security Updates (ESU) | Available for purchase; 1-year program for $30, starting closer to EOS date | Available via Volume Licensing; 3-year. $61 (Year 1), $122 (Year 2), $244 (Year 3) | Special education pricing: $1 per license (Year 1), $2 (Year 2), $4 (Year 3) |
| ESU Activation Options | No details, but it has to be super-simple. Maybe via MS website or MS Store? | 5-by-5 activation method, cloud-based (Microsoft Intune or Windows Autopatch), or included with Windows 365 | Cloud-based option for schools/uni. Microsoft Intune and Windows Autopatch support. |
| Support Provided Under ESU | Only security updates, no new features. | Only security updates. | Only security updates |
| Cloud-Based ESU Discounts | N/A | ~25% discount available through Intune or Autopatch for cloud-managed updates | Available, especially for institutions using Intune for cloud management |
If you’re still on Windows 10, are you planning to upgrade? Or if you’ve already upgraded to Windows 11, what do you dislike? Let us know in the comments below and we’ll share the feedback with Microsoft.
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