Cost of Windows 7 extended support?

Written by Horatiu Vladasel · March 22nd, 2019

We know 13th Jan 2015 is the date when Microsoft's mainstream support for Windows 7 ended. Since then, Microsoft has continued to provide security updates for free and will do this until 14th Jan 2020 when Windows 7 extended support is going to end. As it has done with previous versions of Windows, the only people who will receive extended security updates (ESUs) after Jan 2020 will be those willing to pay for them.

Now, less than 1 year before Windows 7 extended support ends, Microsoft has disclosed how much it will cost to get ESUs after Jan 2020 and for how long. And it’s not cheap at all.

Microsoft will sell Windows 7 ESUs for 3 years starting from 2020, on a per-device basis, with the price doubling each year. These might come helpful for those businesses that are unable to move to Windows 10 before Jan 2020. And are only meant to offer support while businesses prepare to move.

What is the price?

As per Microsoft’s announcement, Windows 7 Enterprise users will have to pay $25 in the 1st year (Jan 2020 – Jan 2021). This doubles to $50 in the 2nd year (Jan 2021 – Jan 2022) and goes up to $100 in the 3rd year (Jan 2022 – Jan 2023). For Windows 7 Pro users, this is going to be even more expensive as the price is double ($50 in the 1st year, $100 in 2nd year and $200 in 3rd year)

At first glance, it might not look that expensive, but bare in mind that the prices above are per device. Some basic math and the result does not look very good. A company with 5.7K Windows 7 Enterprise users (and I must admit I have come across companies with much more users than that throughout my professional career) will end up paying $1 mil over the course of the 3 years.

The only way, not only to avoid getting such a bill from Microsoft, but also to stay safe by getting security updates, it’s to migrate to Windows 10. It’s far cheaper and easier to say goodbye to Windows and act now. Start planning your migration to Windows 10 while you still have time!

Discover how Advanced Installer can help your team migrate modernize your applications while migrating to Windows 10.