The developer of RegCleaner, jv16 PowerTools, Uninstalr, WinFindr, Startup Timer, ScreenshotX, System Examiner and Windows Update Fixer.
There are many third-party software uninstallers for Windows, with many of them making all kinds of marketing claims about how good they are. But how good are they, really? I wanted to find out, and that is why I did this benchmark.
Windows Uninstaller Benchmark 2025
I find it peculiar, why it’s possible to find in-depth tests and benchmarks of almost any kind of PC hardware but at the same time, testing and benchmark culture does not seem to exist in the world of PC software. I think it is a shame. We should be able to look beyond the user interfaces and marketing terms to see exactly how well software performs.
That is why I present to you this: A benchmark on Windows uninstallers.
Disclaimer: Before we get any further, I need to declare that I’m the developer of Uninstalr, one of the tested programs. Therefore, I obviously have a bias. To compensate for that bias, I’m not sharing any opinions nor do I even compare the features of these different programs. Instead, I focus purely on things that can be objectively measured and these measurements can be verified and replicated. The entire testing was done with screen recording, allowing you to double-check and verify everything.
This is not my first rodeo. I have done similar testing in the past, for example, A Mad Journey: Comparing Windows uninstallers, getting upset and then deciding to make my own basically started the whole long process of me developing Uninstalr to begin with. I tested how well different Windows uninstallers performed, and the results were so bad, I thought I wanted to try to make something better myself.
That was on July 27, 2023. Today it’s February 9th, 2025. And here I am again, testing software on a Sunday afternoon, when I could be outside having a walk. Oh well.
Comparing the uninstallers
In any case, I tried to include all the most common Windows uninstallers:
| Name | Version | Website |
| Absolute Uninstaller (Free Edition) | 6.0.1.10 | https://www.glarysoft.com |
| Bulk Crap Uninstaller | 5.8.2 | https://www.bcuninstaller.com |
| Geek Uninstaller | 1.5.2.165 | https://geekuninstaller.com |
| HiBit Uninstaller | 3.2.50 | https://hibitsoft.ir |
| IObit Uninstaller 14 Free | 14.1.0.2 | https://www.iobit.com |
| O&O AppBuster | 1.4.1345 | https://www.oo-software.com |
| Revo Uninstaller Free | 2.5.7 | https://revouninstaller.com |
| Revo Uninstaller Pro | 5.3.5 | https://revouninstaller.com |
| Total Uninstall | 7.6.0 | https://www.martau.com |
| Uninstall Tool | 3.7.4 | https://crystalidea.com |
| UniGetUI (formerly WingetUI) | 3.1.6 | https://www.marticliment.com |
| Uninstalr | 2.6 | https://uninstalr.com |
| Wise Program Uninstaller | 3.2.2.265 | https://www.wisecleaner.com |
| Windows Installed Apps | Windows 11 Pro (24H2) | n/a |
This time, I wanted to keep the benchmark as simple as possible. Instead of uninstalling a lot of software, I wanted to uninstall as little as possible.
The testing procedure was this: I had a Windows 11 Pro, activated and with all the latest updates, running inside a VirtualBox 7.1.4 Virtual Machine. Inside the testing system, I had installed the latest version of Adobe Creative Cloud and CCleaner. I chose these two software, after asking ChatGPT to list me third party Windows apps that people often have problems uninstalling. These two software were on that list.
In each test, I uninstalled Adobe Creative Cloud and CCleaner using each Windows uninstaller. After the uninstallation, I used WinFindr with search terms “adobe” and “ccleaner” to find all the data that was left behind after the uninstallation. WinFindr is another software that I have developed, it allows you to search for file system data as well as registry data using many search terms at the same time. That is why I thought it to be ideal for this type of testing.
The baseline
To establish a baseline, I first ran WinFindr to find how man files, folders, registry entries and registry keys these two software had created to the system. The answer is: 281. That is how much data these two software have created.
Then I uninstalled Adobe Creative Cloud and CCleaner using the standard Windows Installed Apps feature. Then I used WinFindr to see how much data remained afterwards. The result was a total of 118 files, folders, registry entries and registry keys. That’s the number to beat.
The results
Without further ado, here are the results after uninstalling the two apps with each of the tested uninstallers and resetting the testing system between each run:
| Name | Leftovers (smaller is better) |
| Absolute Uninstaller | 116 |
| Bulk Crap Uninstaller | 111 |
| Geek Uninstaller | 102 |
| HiBit Uninstaller | 103 |
| IObit Uninstaller 14 | 120 |
| O&O AppBuster | 263 |
| Revo Uninstaller Free | 119 |
| Revo Uninstaller Pro | 116 |
| Total Uninstall | 39 |
| Uninstall Tool | 116 |
| UniGetUI | 129 |
| Uninstalr | 17 |
| Wise Program Uninstaller | 113 |
| Windows Installed Apps | 118 |
I tested Bulk Crap Uninstaller with both the Quiet Uninstall method and the normal Uninstall method. The results were 111 and 112, respectively.
With Revo Uninstaller Free and Pro, I used the “advanced” mode for leftover scanning, and deleted all of the leftovers the software suggested. With other software, I used all the default looking options about leftover removal.
It’s probably also worth noting that UniGetUI is not technically a software uninstaller, but a package manager for Windows. Nevertheless, it supports uninstallation of software and that is why I thought it would be interesting to include it in this uninstaller comparison as well.
TLDR: Most of the uninstallers provided very little to no benefit over simply using the normal Windows Installed Apps view to uninstall software. The only two uninstallers that actually provided any benefit were Uninstalr and Total Uninstall.
For full transparency, I did all these tests with a screen recorder running. This means you can confirm that the testing was done as described, and that the results are real. The video recording is here: https://youtu.be/7u-dsxHdGqY
But what would be even better is if you do your own testing. It takes less than half an hour to set up a virtual machine, install something on it and then uninstall that with your favorite brand of uninstallers and see how well they actually perform. Don’t be fooled by the marketing terms.
It seems like very little progress has happened since last year, when I last compared Windows uninstallers.