It's very common to hear complaints about how Microsoft handles Windows 11 nowadays. The company loads up its operating system with a lot of apps and services that not everyone needs, and some find that upsetting, as these things can have a noticeable impact on both performance and privacy.
There are a few programs out there that allow you to remove some of the bloat that bogs down Windows 11, but what if you want a truly fresh start? That's where Tiny11, a fan project, comes in. This modification of Windows 11 removes almost everything Microsoft installs on Windows 11, offering an operating system that's much lighter on resources, whether that's storage or overall performance. There's also Tiny11 Builder, a script that lets you apply these changes to your own Windows 11 ISO, and it works with any version of Windows 11. We tested the latest standalone release, version 2311, but more recently, the creator also released Tiny11 Core, which is available through its own script. We gave that a quick run as well to compare the size of the installation.
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The setup
To compare Tiny11 to Windows 11, I created fresh installs of both Windows 11 version 23H2 and Tiny11 2311, which is based on that same release, on different partitions of an Omen 16 laptop, both the partitions of the same size (approximately 100GB).
The setup process was the same for both, using pre-created ISOs and creating bootable USB media with Rufus, with any modifiers to system requirements disabled. While setting up the operating system for the first time, we opted to use an offline account for Tiny11, which gives us that option, while Windows 11 normally does not. Otherwise, the two operating systems were set up similarly.
How much smaller is Tiny11?
It's much lighter than Windows 11
Right off the bat, the difference in size between Tiny11 and the standard Windows 11 version it's based on is nothing to scoff at. The Windows 11 version 23H2 ISO comes in at 6.34GB, while Tiny11 stays at a mere 3.52GB. That's a huge difference already.
Of course, the real comparison is the size of the installation itself, and that's even more impressive. To measure how much space is taken up by the OS, I first installed both operating systems, but I then allowed them to use Windows Update to install updates and drivers, and installed any updates for pre-installed apps (more on that in a bit). This was because the laptop had many missing features like Wi-Fi or touchpad functionality with the stock drivers included in the ISO files. So this isn't the raw size of the OS alone, but rather what you'd need for the hardware to properly function. It may vary depending on your device, but the point is to draw a comparison.
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After installing the latest updates and cleaning the leftover files using Storage sense, I looked at how much space was being used on the 100GB partition. The standard Windows 11 installation was using roughly 36.3GB. Before installing any of the updates (out of curiosity), Tiny11 used a mere 17.9GB, but after installing drivers, Windows updates, and the latest versions of built-in apps, it went up to 29GB.
That's a big increase from the completely clean installation, but it's still significantly smaller than Windows 11 proper. For a device with low storage capacity, like the 64GB of eMMC storage like Microsoft's own Surface Go 3, that kind of difference is very big. Those gigabytes could store thousands of photos, music, or plenty of videos. It's no joke, and it makes Tiny11 very tempting if you have one of these lower-end devices. Of course, that impact is significantly lessened once you install the latest updates, but's still a noticeable chunk of storage.
It's worth mentioning that Tiny11 is stripped of almost every pre-installed Microsoft app, which means that getting updates from the Microsoft Store had little impact on the overall storage, while those app updates added quite a bit to the standard Windows 11 install.
But what about performance?
Does it make a difference?
Naturally, a proper comparison here has to look at the differences that this makes in terms of performance. First, I wanted to see how much of the memory and CPU is used when the computer is in a relatively idle state on these two operating systems. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the differences here aren't huge. Tiny11 seems to have slightly lower RAM usage and CPU usage is also more consistently lower.
It's worth mentioning that RAM usage tends to scale if there's more memory available, but on the same hardware, the difference is fairly small. SSD usage also appears to be a little more contained, based on the Task Manager diagram.
But this is only a very superficial look at performance. What do benchmarks have to say about Tiny11? Well, the story isn't all too different here. Running benchmarks like Geekbench, Cinebench 2024, and PCMark 10 shows relatively minor differences between the two versions, enough for this to be considered within the margin of error.
Interestingly enough, the results on Cinebench were reversed from the other two, but it might just have been an odd run. Either way, the biggest benefits here will come from the storage you save rather than performance, at least on a modern PC.
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What's the catch?
Tiny11 is missing some things, but it works well
The point of Tiny11 is to be a fully usable version of Windows 11, and technically, it kind of is. Once you have all the drivers, Tiny11 looks and feels just like Windows 11, but the big thing is many of the apps are missing. Out of the box, before any updates, Tiny11 only has two items pinned to the Start menu, and it includes the following apps in the All Apps list:
- Calculator
- Clock
- File Explorer (which is more of a system component(
- Get Started
- Microsoft Store
- Notepad
- Paint
- Settings (again, a system component)
- Snipping Tool
- Terminal
- Windows Backup
- Windows Security
Otherwise, it's just a few system components that would have to be here. The missing apps can be installed through the Microsoft Store, so you can restore the features you need. Interestingly, even Edge is missing, so you don't have a web browser out of the box. Unfortunately, if you do install it, you won't be able to uninstall it normally, which is a bummer. But at least you can easily bypass Microsoft's browser and just download your favorite from the Microsoft Store. Naturally, not having Edge can affect certain features, like the Widgets board and its web-based content, but that's something a lot of people don't need.
Notably, after installing the latest updates, a lot of pinned apps do appear on the Start menu just like on Windows 11 proper, but these apps still aren't installed on your system. They're just links to download those apps from the store, so they're not taking up a ton of space. Most things about Windows itself still function, and even Copilot is supposedly available (though it didn't show up on my machine for some reason).
Tiny11 doesn't make a ton of sacrifices in terms of functionality. Some previous releases were missing a lot more apps, and cumulative updates wouldn't work, but with Tiny11 2311, you can install the latest cumulative updates, too. This might contribute to an overall larger OS, but it's probably more important to keep your PC secure. And you're still saving a few gigabytes worth of space on your drive.
Of course, if you don't want to connect to the internet and prefer ignoring updates, you might be able to save a bit more space, but I wanted to paint a more realistic picture for the majority of users. You will most likely connect to the internet and have to install updates and drivers, so you need to be ready for the extra storage that will take.
Tiny11 Core
Recently, the developer behind Tiny11 introduced a new version of Tiny11 Builder, the script you can use to modify a Windows ISO yourself. This new version adds the ability to create a Tiny11 Core image, which is even smaller than the standard Tiny11 installation. This version isn't meant to be a full-time replacement for Windows 11, though. It removes the Windows Compoenent Store, meaning you can't add features or languages to Windows, plus it can't receive updates, and even Windows Defender is disabled out of the box.
Since you wouldn't want to use it on real hardware, we didn't try any performance tests, but in terms of size, the Tiny11 Core ISO comes in at just 2.65GB, a more than 50% reduction compared to the 6.34GB of the original Windows 11 ISO it's based on. Even compared to the standard Tiny11, it shaves off almost a full gigabyte.
After installation, Tiny11 Core takes up a mere 11.1GB, which is over 6GB less than even Tiny11 itself before any updates. Since Tiny11 Core won't receive any updates itself, that size really won't increase very much, aside from updates to Windows components like the Microsoft Store and Windows Terminal.
Of course, if you do install this on real hardware, you also have to add the size of drivers, which will probably be the biggest difference in size. But you really aren't meant to use this on real hardware, and even the creator of the project says that. So what is the point?
Well, say you want to set up a VM for testing some kind of software and you want it to be as small as possible. With Tiny11 Core, you can significantly speed up setting up your PC, since the files are generally smaller and everything goes by a bit faster. Plus, you don't have to go online with it, so all the Microsoft account setup process is skipped and the initial setup is much faster. This is meant for those scenarios, where the machine itself is a throwaway.
It's still not for everyone
With all this in mind, should you install Tiny11 instead of Windows 11? Probably not. At the end of the day, Tiny11 isn't an official distribution of Windows 11, and Microsoft may find ways to cut off support in the future. Plus, it's not entirely clear how support for new feature updates will be handled for this unofficial version of Windows.
But if you have a lower-end PC that just isn't performing very well and you want to inject some life into it, Tiny11 may be a more friendly solution than ChromeOS Flex. I'm tempted to get my partner to install it on her Surface Go 2, since it has pretty limited storage space and doesn't get a ton of use.
As for Tiny11 Core, you definitely shouldn't install it instead of Windows 11 on a real PC. This version is very specifically made for testing environments in a virtual machine, and for that purpose, it's actually a great way to help you set up more quickly with a smaller virtual drive.
