Global Windows market share statistics for November 2025: Windows 10 and Windows 11 continue to give Microsoft headaches

Statistics website Statcounter has just officially published its monthly report, revealing the latest detailed information on the market share of Windows operating system versions running globally.

Something strange happened in the Statcounter report for November. Windows 11 – the only supported version of Windows – dropped from 53.7% in November to 51.75% in December. While Statcounter's numbers can't be considered absolute, given their limited coverage, they're still the clearest picture yet of how quickly users are switching to Windows 11.

Meanwhile, Windows 10 – the operating system that ended its life cycle in October – surprisingly increased slightly from 42.7% to 44.29%. Windows 7 accounted for 2.19%, while older versions of Windows accounted for only very small percentages.

This figure is quite different from the survey from Steam users. According to the latest statistics, Windows 11 increased to 65.59%, an increase of 2.02 percentage points; while Windows 10 decreased to 29.06%, a loss of 2.08 points.

If we look more broadly at Windows compared to other desktop operating systems, Windows market share in December fell from 69.37% to 66.67%. This is a downward trend that has continued throughout the year. In December 2024, Windows is still at 73.38%, which means that it has lost quite a few users in just one year. Although many people have announced that they will switch to Linux after Windows 10 support ends, Linux is actually still at 3.18%.

Another important detail is that even though Windows 10 has reached end of life, paid extended security updates (ESUs) will continue to be provided. This allows many businesses to keep their old devices without forcing them to upgrade to Windows 11. And of course, switching to Linux is very difficult, because most specialized applications still need Windows.

However, if you are running Windows 10 without purchasing ESU, your system will become more vulnerable over time. If your device supports Windows 11, you should upgrade now. If your hardware doesn't meet the requirements, Linux is still a safe and free option.

Again, Statcounter data isn't foolproof, as only Microsoft—with its massive telemetry system—can provide real-world numbers. Microsoft no longer publishes official Windows market share statistics, though, so third-party services like Statcounter are the only way to get a sense of what's going on with the Windows market. Statcounter relies on data from around 1.5 million websites, so there's always room for error. Still, these stats are useful for tracking long-term trends.

You can find more information from Statcounter's latest report on the official website .

Lesley Montoya

Update 08 December 2025