At the end of July 2025, Microsoft reached a big milestone and came one small step closer to its goal of making Windows 11 the most popular version of Windows. For the first time ever, Windows 11’s market share pulled ahead of Windows 10! And the gap was pretty significant, with Windows 11 at 53.51 percent and Windows 10 at 42.88 percent.
But with August 2025 behind us, Microsoft has been hit with a rude awakening. While Windows 11 still sits ahead of Windows 10 in total market share, the gap has shrunk.
According to the latest Statcounter figures, Windows 11 lost notable ground in August 2025, ending the month with a global Windows market share of 49.08 percent compared to Windows 10’s 45.53 percent. In other words, Windows 11 lost around 4.4 points of market share between its July high and August shock.
That said, Microsoft’s Extended Security Updates (ESU) program could also be contributing to the resurgence and stabilization of Windows 10. As of now, it’s possible to keep receiving Windows 10 security updates for free after the October 2025 end-of-support deadline hits. Alternatively, there’s also a free tool that can keep you on a secure version of Windows 10 up until the year 2032.
As people slowly but surely jump ship from Windows 10 to Windows 11, the statistics show that people really do love Windows 10 and many will do whatever they can to stick with it despite a looming deadline.
This article originally appeared on our sister publication PC-WELT and was translated and localized from German.