Windows 10 ESU: What It Costs Kampala Firms
Windows 10 support ended in October 2025. Extended Security Updates keep your PCs patched, but the price rises every year. Here is what it means for Ugandan businesses.
Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 on 14 October 2025. That means no more security updates, no more bug fixes, and no more support from Microsoft for the machines still running it.
Plenty of offices in Kampala are still there. If you are one of them, you have three options, and each has a real cost.
What Extended Security Updates actually buys
Extended Security Updates (ESU) are a paid subscription that keeps critical security patches flowing to Windows 10 after support ends. It is not a upgrade. It does not add features. It only keeps plugging security holes — and the price goes up every year.
Microsoft's consumer ESU pricing started around $61 per device for the first year and roughly doubles in the second year, which began in October 2026. Business and enterprise pricing follows the same rising pattern but is licensed differently (through volume licensing or Microsoft 365). Confirm current rates with Microsoft or your licensing partner before you budget — pricing and eligibility change.
The consumer ESU programme ended on 13 October 2026. Businesses on volume or cloud licensing can still buy in, for now.
Your three options
| Option | What it costs | What you get | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy ESU | Rising annual fee per device, no new features | Security patches only, for a limited time | A machine you plan to replace within 12 months anyway |
| Upgrade to Windows 11 | Free (licence-wise), but hardware must qualify | Full support, Copilot-ready hardware | PCs from roughly 2018 onward with TPM 2.0 |
| Replace the PC | New hardware cost | Full reset, warranty, better speed | Machines failing the Windows 11 hardware check |
Most businesses discover the decision is not really about ESU fees. It is about how many of their machines can even run Windows 11.
Check your fleet first
Before spending anything, run this check across every machine:
- Can it run Windows 11? Microsoft's PC Health Check tool tells you in a minute. The usual blockers are an old processor and missing TPM 2.0.
- How old is the machine? If a laptop is past five years, the repair-versus-replace maths rarely favours another year of patches.
- What runs on it? Old accounting software, custom POS front-ends and industry tools are the real migration risk, not Windows itself.
- Who uses it? Finance and management machines deserve priority in any refresh order.
The Ugandan angle: power and dust
A PC refresh in Kampala is not only a licensing decision. Machines in hard environments — workshops, shops, warehouses — fail earlier than air-conditioned office desktops. If you are refreshing anyway, budget for:
- A UPS or at least surge protection on the new machines (see our power protection guide)
- Endpoint protection from day one — a new PC without antivirus is an open door (ESET deployment is what we run)
- A backup check: confirm the new machine is included in your backup routine before you retire the old one
A sensible order of operations
This month: inventory every Windows 10 machine, run the compatibility check, and separate the fleet into "can upgrade", "can upgrade after RAM/SSD work", and "must replace".
Next 30 days: upgrade what you can. Windows 11 upgrades on compatible machines are free and typically take under an hour per PC, best done outside working hours.
Next 90 days: replace or ESU-cover the rest. If a machine is getting ESU as a stopgap, put a replacement date on it — ESU is a bridge, not a destination.
Get the fleet checked properly
Backspace audits device fleets as part of our managed IT services: what can upgrade, what needs replacing, what it costs, and how to do it without losing a working day. A free site assessment covers this in a single visit.
Book a free site assessment or call +256 786 394 913.
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