Windows 10 vs Windows 11 in 2026: Upgrade Now or Wait?
The Windows 10 vs Windows 11 question has a different answer today than it did a year ago, because the deadline moved. Windows 10 lost mainstream support on 14 October 2025, but in June 2026 Microsoft extended the consumer Extended Security Updates programme, so enrolled home PCs now receive security updates through 12 October 2027 rather than last month. That means you are not in a panic - but you are on a clock, and the sensible move is to upgrade to Windows 11 now if your hardware qualifies, and to use ESU as breathing room if it does not.
What follows is the honest version. Windows 11 is not dramatically faster, it will not transform your gaming, and the interface changes are a matter of taste. The reason to move is support, not sparkle. This guide shows exactly where Windows 10 stands, what the two versions actually differ on, whether your PC qualifies, and what each of the three realistic paths costs.
Quick verdict
Upgrade to Windows 11 now if your PC passes the PC Health Check. The upgrade is free from an activated Windows 10, takes under an hour, keeps your files, and ends the deadline worry permanently. There is no advantage to waiting.
Enrol in consumer ESU and ride Windows 10 to October 2027 if your PC fails the hardware check, if you depend on software that is not yet certified for Windows 11, or if you simply cannot face the disruption right now. This is a legitimate choice, not a cop-out - but set yourself a reminder for spring 2027.
Plan a new PC if your machine fails the check and is already five or six years old. ESU to October 2027 gives you almost a year to shop properly rather than buy in a hurry.
Tip: Before you do anything else, download Microsoft's free PC Health Check app and run it. It takes two minutes and tells you in one screen whether this entire decision is even yours to make. Everything in this guide branches off that result.
Where Windows 10 actually stands today
There is a lot of stale advice online, so here is the current position as of 1 November 2026.
Windows 10 reached end of support on 14 October 2025. From that date Microsoft stopped shipping feature updates, bug fixes and technical support for it. The one thing that continued was security updates, and only for people who enrolled in the Extended Security Updates programme.
The important change came in June 2026, when Microsoft extended consumer ESU. The programme had been due to finish on 13 October 2026 - a date that has now passed harmlessly. Instead, consumer ESU runs through 12 October 2027. Enrollment remains open until then, and people who had already signed up were rolled over automatically with nothing to do.
If you are not enrolled yet, there are four routes in, and three of them are free:
- Free by syncing your PC settings to a Microsoft account using Windows Backup.
- Free by redeeming 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, if you have them banked.
- Free if you are in the European Economic Area - EEA users get consumer ESU at no cost simply by signing in with a Microsoft account.
- A one-time payment of about $30 if none of the above suits you.
Be clear about what ESU is, though. It delivers critical and important security updates only. No feature updates. No bug fixes. No technical support. It is a lock on the front door, not a maintenance contract - and after 12 October 2027 even that stops for consumers.
It is also worth saying plainly what has not happened. Windows 10 was not switched off, slowed down or remotely disabled on 14 October 2025, and it will not be on 12 October 2027 either. Your licence is perpetual, your activation stays valid, your files are untouched and your programs keep running. Nothing about end of support reaches into your PC and breaks it. The only thing that changes is whether anyone is still fixing the flaws that get found in it - and that is why the date matters, rather than any dramatic switch-off moment.
Businesses sit on a different track. The paid commercial ESU programme runs in yearly blocks: Year 1 ended 13 October 2026, Year 2 ends 12 October 2027, and Year 3 ends 10 October 2028. Qualifying editions are Windows 10 Enterprise, Education and Pro in commercial use. So a managed business fleet can be covered two years longer than a home PC - at a price that rises each year. Our Windows 10 end of support guide goes deeper on enrolment mechanics.
Windows 10 vs Windows 11: feature and support comparison
The support rows at the top of this table are the ones that should drive your decision. The feature rows below them are mostly preference.
| Area | Windows 10 | Windows 11 |
|---|---|---|
| Mainstream support | ✗ Ended 14 Oct 2025 | ✓ Current and fully supported |
| Security updates for home users | ESU only, through 12 Oct 2027 | ✓ Included |
| Security updates for business | Paid ESU in yearly blocks to 10 Oct 2028 | ✓ Included |
| Feature updates | ✗ None | ✓ Yes |
| Bug fixes | ✗ None | ✓ Yes |
| Microsoft technical support | ✗ None | ✓ Yes |
| TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot required | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Minimum RAM / storage | 2 GB / 32 GB | 4 GB / 64 GB |
| Taskbar and Start menu | Left-aligned, classic Start with live tiles | Centred by default, pinned-app Start |
| Snap Layouts and Snap Groups | ✗ Basic snap only | ✓ Yes |
| Auto HDR for games | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Copilot and built-in AI features | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Virtual desktops and multi-monitor memory | Basic | Improved, remembers window positions |
| New app and driver certification | Winding down | ✓ The target platform |
| Maximum RAM (Pro edition) | 2 TB | 2 TB |
Read it top to bottom and the shape is clear. Windows 11 wins decisively on support and modestly on features. Windows 10 wins on nothing except hardware tolerance and familiarity - which, to be fair, are the two reasons most people are still on it.
Performance and gaming: the honest reality
We are going to disappoint anyone hoping for a dramatic answer here. On hardware that meets the Windows 11 requirements, the performance difference between Windows 10 and Windows 11 is small enough that most people would fail a blind test.
Boot times are comparable. App launch speed is comparable. File copying, browsing and video playback feel the same. Windows 11 sits on slightly more RAM at idle because of its newer shell and background services, which is worth knowing if you are on a 4 GB machine but irrelevant above 8 GB.
Gaming is the question we get asked most, and the answer is the same: effectively a tie. Both run DirectX 12. Frame rates in the overwhelming majority of titles land within normal run-to-run variance of each other. Where Windows 11 pulls genuinely ahead is in specific features rather than raw speed - Auto HDR adds HDR to older titles on a capable display, and Windows 11 is the platform new games and GPU drivers are now developed and certified against. That last point is the quiet one that matters: as time passes, Windows 10 drifts from being the tested configuration to being the tolerated one.
So if you are weighing "should I upgrade to Windows 11" purely on speed, do not bother - you will not feel it. Upgrade because you want to keep receiving updates, keep driver and app compatibility, and stop thinking about deadlines.
Compatibility is the other half of the picture, and it is quietly better than the forum horror stories suggest. Almost everything that ran on Windows 10 runs on Windows 11, because the underlying platform is the same family rather than a rewrite. The exceptions cluster in two places: very old peripherals whose manufacturers never shipped a signed driver for Windows 11, and specialist or industrial software tied to a specific Windows build. If you depend on a scanner, label printer, audio interface or a piece of trade software from the early 2010s, spend ten minutes checking the vendor's support page before you upgrade. That single check prevents the large majority of upgrade regrets we hear about.
One genuine downside deserves a mention: the Windows 11 interface changes take adjusting to. The centred taskbar, the reworked right-click menu and the new Start menu annoy plenty of long-time Windows 10 users for the first week. You can move the taskbar back to the left in Settings. After that first week, almost nobody goes back.
Can your PC even run Windows 11?
For a lot of people this decides everything. Windows 11 enforces a hardware floor that Windows 10 never did, and the checks are not optional on a supported install. Your PC needs:
- TPM 2.0 - a security chip, present on most machines built from roughly 2018 onward. It is often disabled in BIOS by default, so a failed check does not always mean a failed PC.
- Secure Boot capability, enabled in UEFI firmware.
- A 64-bit CPU on Microsoft's supported processor list - this is the check that most commonly fails on older hardware, and it is the one you cannot fix.
- 4 GB of RAM minimum. 8 GB or more is what you actually want.
- 64 GB of storage minimum.
Run the PC Health Check app from Microsoft to get a definitive answer. It names the specific failing requirement, which matters enormously - a TPM switched off in BIOS is a two-minute fix, while an unsupported CPU is a wall.
If you pass, there is one more piece of good news: upgrading from an activated Windows 10 carries your licence straight across. Windows 11 activates itself and you pay nothing. You only need to buy a key if you are doing a clean install on a new drive, running an unactivated Windows 10, or building a PC that has never held a valid licence. In those cases Windows 11 Home is €49.99 and Windows 11 Pro is €58.99 with us. If you are moving a Windows 10 Pro machine and want to stay on Pro, the Upgrade to Windows 11 Pro key is €58.99 and does the job in place. Unsure which edition? Our Windows 11 Home vs Pro breakdown settles it in a couple of minutes.
The three realistic paths compared
Strip away the noise and there are three things you can actually do. Here they are side by side with real costs.
| Path | What you do | Protected until | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Ride ESU on Windows 10 | Enrol in consumer Extended Security Updates and carry on | 12 October 2027 | Free via Windows Backup sync, 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points, or free in the EEA with a Microsoft account - otherwise about $30 once | PCs that fail the hardware check, or software you cannot move yet |
| 2. Upgrade this PC to Windows 11 | Run PC Health Check, then upgrade in place through Windows Update | Indefinitely - fully supported | €0 from an activated Windows 10. €49.99 Home or €58.99 Pro for a clean or unactivated install | Any PC that passes the check - the default answer |
| 3. Buy a new PC | Replace the machine with one running Windows 11 | Indefinitely - fully supported | Hardware cost, varies widely | Machines that fail the CPU check and are already 5-6 years old |
For most people reading this, path 2 is the answer and it costs nothing. The upgrade runs through Windows Update, keeps your files, apps and settings, and leaves a rollback window of a few days if you hate it.
Path 1 is the right call more often than people admit. If your PC fails on CPU, ESU to October 2027 is nearly a year of covered use for free in the EEA, and it lets you replace hardware on your own schedule. Just do not let that date sneak up: there is no sign of a second consumer extension, and after 12 October 2027 an unenrolled or unsupported Windows 10 gets nothing at all.
Path 3 makes sense when the machine is tired anyway. A failing CPU check on a six-year-old laptop with a slow drive and a worn battery is not really a software decision.
Save 10%: Use coupon code KIWI10 at checkout for 10% off anything in our Windows keys range - Windows 11 Home, Pro and the upgrade keys included. Genuine EU-sourced licences, email delivery in seconds, invoice supplied and an activation guarantee behind every key.
The unsupported-hardware bypass: read this before you try it
You will find guides telling you to edit the registry to skip the TPM 2.0 and CPU checks and install Windows 11 on hardware Microsoft has not approved. The method exists and it does work. We are not going to walk you through it, and here is why.
Warning: An install created by bypassing the hardware checks is not supported by Microsoft. Three consequences follow. First, the machine is not entitled to updates - Microsoft has stated that unsupported PCs may not receive them, which defeats the entire reason for upgrading. Second, you can be blocked from future Windows releases, leaving you stranded on a version that will itself go out of support. Third, major updates on unsupported hardware have a real track record of failing or breaking drivers, and if it goes wrong you have no support route and no guaranteed way back. If your PC fails the check, enrolling in ESU until October 2027 and then replacing the hardware is the safer plan - and a Windows 10 Pro key at €38.99 is still available for legacy machines that need a clean reinstall in the meantime.
There is a narrow case where a bypass is defensible: a secondary machine, not holding important data, where you are curious and do not mind if it breaks. That is a hobby project. It is not a plan for the computer you work on.
Frequently asked questions
Is Windows 10 still safe to use in 2027?
It is reasonably safe until 12 October 2027, but only if you are enrolled in the consumer Extended Security Updates programme. ESU delivers critical and important security updates, which covers the main risk. It does not include feature updates, bug fixes or technical support. After 12 October 2027 there are no more updates at all for consumer Windows 10, and from that point the risk climbs steadily.
How long will Windows 10 get security updates?
Mainstream support ended on 14 October 2025. Microsoft extended the consumer ESU programme in June 2026, so consumer security updates now run through 12 October 2027 instead of October 2026, and anyone already enrolled was rolled over automatically. Enrollment stays open until that date. For business customers the paid ESU programme runs in yearly blocks: Year 2 ends 12 October 2027 and Year 3 ends 10 October 2028.
Is the Windows 11 upgrade free if I have Windows 10?
Yes, if your Windows 10 install is already activated and your PC meets the hardware requirements. The upgrade carries your existing licence over and Windows 11 activates itself with no key needed. You only need to buy a key for a fresh install on a new drive, an unactivated Windows 10, or a PC that has never held a valid licence.
Will Windows 11 run slower than Windows 10 on my PC?
On hardware that meets the requirements, no. Day to day performance, boot times and frame rates are close enough that most people would not notice a difference in a blind test. Windows 11 uses slightly more RAM at idle, which only matters on a 4 GB machine. Gaming performance is effectively a tie, with Windows 11 ahead on a few specific features like Auto HDR.
Can I install Windows 11 on a PC without TPM 2.0?
Registry workarounds that bypass the TPM 2.0 and CPU checks do exist, but Microsoft does not support the result. An unsupported install is not entitled to updates, can be blocked from future Windows releases and may break after a major update. If your PC cannot meet the requirements, enrolling in ESU until October 2027 and then replacing the machine is the safer plan.
Last thing, because the two deadlines get muddled constantly: Windows and Office run on separate lifecycles with different rules. Windows 10 has an ESU safety net to October 2027. Office 2021 does not have one at all - its support ended on 13 October 2026 with no extension of any kind. If you are still on both, read our Office 2021 end of support guide next, then compare your replacement options in Office 2024 vs 2021 vs Microsoft 365. Licences for both sit in our Office keys range.
Written by the KeyKiwi team - we've been in digital software licensing for 18+ years. Every key we sell is sourced from authorized channels and covered by our activation guarantee. Questions? Talk to a human.