Windows 7 market share skyrockets as Windows 11 market share barely moves

Is Windows 7 making a comeback in 2025? Well, it looks to be the case as the latest operating system numbers from StatCounter show that when it comes to the worldwide desktop Windows version market share, Windows 7 is sitting at an impressive (and surprising) 9.6%. And Windows 7 use is surging, with it increasing from around 2% in July to almost 10%.

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Windows 7 was first released back in 2009 as the successor to Windows Vista. Unlike Vista, Windows 7 quickly gained popularity among all users, especially gamers and those using their PCs for multimedia purposes. Windows 7 received its last security update in 2023, so it is surprising to see its market share rise in recent months.

According to StatCounter's latest data, although Windows 11 is the most popular version of the operating system, its market share has remained relatively unchanged since June. In fact, even though the market share for Windows 10 has dropped from around 48% to 40%, the chart suggests that Windows 7 has gained those customers.

It's a different story in the PC gaming space, with the latest Steam Hardware & Software Survey for September 2025 showing clear growth for Windows 11, which accounts for 63.04% of all Steam users, followed by Windows 10 at 32.18%. That's over 95% of all Steam users gaming on either Windows 10 or Windows 11. Microsoft is officially ending Windows 10 support at the end of this month for most users, so it makes sense that gamers are jumping over to Windows 11.

As for the unexpected resurgence of Windows 7, we'll be monitoring this data in the months ahead to see if the trend continues.