FolderSizes vs WinDirStat: Feature Comparison
Last updated: April 2026
Both FolderSizes and WinDirStat are Windows disk space analyzers that help you understand how storage is being used. This comparison provides an honest, feature-by-feature look at both tools to help you choose the right one for your needs.
THE TOOLS
WinDirStat is a free, open-source disk space analyzer published under the GNU General Public License (version 2). Originally released in 2003, it was largely dormant from 2007 until a major 2.x rewrite arrived in late 2024, bringing multi-threaded scanning, dark mode, and other modern improvements. It is actively maintained on GitHub.
FolderSizes is a comprehensive disk space analysis and reporting tool developed by Key Metric Software using secure software development practices. Available in both free and professional editions, it has been continuously updated since 2003, with hundreds of releases over that span.
FEATURE COMPARISON
The table below compares features across both tools. WinDirStat has improved substantially with its 2.x release, but FolderSizes continues to offer a significantly broader feature set, particularly in reporting, visualization, and automation.
| Feature | FolderSizes | WinDirStat |
|---|---|---|
| Visualization | ||
| Treemap visualization | Yes | Yes |
| Bar chart visualization | Yes | No |
| Pie chart visualization | Yes | No |
| Sunburst chart visualization | Yes | No |
| Graph data highlighting (by date, attributes, custom rules) | Yes | No |
| File Reports | ||
| Largest / oldest / newest file reports | Yes | No |
| Duplicate file detection | Yes | Yes |
| File owner analysis | Yes | Yes |
| File type / category reports | Yes | Basic |
| File age / attribute / size / depth reports | Yes (15 report types) | No |
| Temporary file identification | Yes | No |
| Export & Reporting | ||
| HTML export | Yes | No |
| Excel export | Yes | No |
| PDF export | Yes | No |
| CSV export | Yes | Yes |
| XML export | Yes | No |
| Customizable export templates | Yes | No |
| Search & Filtering | ||
| Advanced multi-criteria search | Yes | Basic |
| Scan filtering / exclusion rules | Yes | Yes |
| Scheduling & Automation | ||
| Built-in task scheduling | Yes | No |
| Automated email report delivery | Yes | No |
| Command-line interface | Yes | Yes |
| Snapshots & Trends | ||
| File system snapshots | Yes | No |
| Snapshot comparison (point-in-time) | Yes | No |
| Storage trend analysis | Yes | No |
| Performance & Scanning | ||
| Multi-threaded scanning | Yes | Yes |
| Configurable thread pool / I/O priority | Yes | No |
| Real-time results during scan | Yes | No |
| NTFS MFT scanning | No | Yes |
| Network / UNC path support | Yes | Yes |
| File Management | ||
| Delete files / folders | Yes | Yes |
| Move / copy files | Yes | Yes |
| Archive (zip) with AES-256 encryption | Yes | No |
| NTFS transparent compression | No | Yes |
| Find empty folders | Yes | Yes |
| UI & Platform | ||
| Dark mode | Yes | Yes |
| Ribbon-style UI | Yes | No (classic menu) |
| Multiple color themes | Yes | No |
| Explorer context menu integration | No | Yes |
| Portable mode (no installation) | No | Yes |
| Modern Windows support (10/11, Server 2022/2025) | Yes | Yes |
WHERE WINDIRSTAT SHINES
WinDirStat is a solid choice if you need a free, no-frills disk space analyzer. Its 2.x rewrite (released in late 2024) brought meaningful improvements including multi-threaded scanning, dark mode, duplicate file detection, and direct NTFS MFT scanning for faster local drive analysis. It's open source, available as a portable executable, and integrates with the Windows Explorer context menu. For straightforward disk space visualization on a single workstation, it gets the job done well.
WHERE FOLDERSIZES GOES FURTHER
FolderSizes is designed for users who need more than basic visualization. Key areas where it offers substantially more capability:
Multiple Visualization Options
While WinDirStat provides treemap visualization only, FolderSizes offers four distinct chart types — sunburst, treemap, bar, and pie — each with interactive drill-down, multiple color schemes, and data highlighting by file attributes, dates, or custom rules.
Comprehensive File Reporting
FolderSizes includes 13 distinct file report types — largest files, oldest files, newest files, temporary files, duplicates, file types, categories, attributes, owners, sizes, names, ages, and folder depths. Reports can be exported to HTML, Excel, PDF, CSV, and XML with customizable templates. WinDirStat's 2.x release added duplicate detection and CSV export, but does not offer a formal reporting system.
Scheduling, Snapshots & Trend Analysis
For IT professionals managing storage over time, FolderSizes provides built-in task scheduling, file system snapshots with point-in-time comparison, and a trend analyzer for tracking storage growth by folder, owner, or file type. Reports can be automatically emailed on a schedule. WinDirStat does not offer these capabilities.
Advanced Search
FolderSizes includes advanced multi-criteria search that can find files across drives and network shares by name, size, date, attributes, and owner — with the ability to move, copy, delete, or archive files directly from search results.
DEVELOPMENT & SUPPORT
FolderSizes
- Developer: Key Metric Software (Michigan, USA)
- Active since: 2003 (continuously maintained)
- Update frequency: Multiple releases per year
- Support: Professional technical support
- License: Free edition available; Pro edition for advanced features
- Platforms: Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, Windows Server 2025, 2022, 2019, 2016, 2012 R2
WinDirStat
- Developer: Open source (Oliver Schneider, Bryan Berns, and contributors)
- Active since: 2003 (dormant 2007–2024; revived with 2.x rewrite)
- Update frequency: Multiple releases since late 2024
- Support: Community / GitHub issues
- License: Free and open source (GPLv2)
- Platforms: Windows (x64, x86, ARM64)
WHICH SHOULD YOU CHOOSE?
WinDirStat is a capable free tool for quickly visualizing disk space on a single machine. If all you need is a treemap view with basic cleanup, it's a good option — especially with the improvements in its 2.x release.
FolderSizes is the better choice if you need multiple visualization types, comprehensive file reporting, data export in professional formats, scheduled scans, storage trend analysis, snapshots, or advanced search. These features make it particularly well-suited for IT professionals, system administrators, and anyone managing storage across multiple systems.
The free edition of FolderSizes includes all four visualization types, file reports, advanced search, scan filtering, and disk space reports. The Pro edition adds data export, scheduling, trend analysis, snapshots, and the command-line interface.
Learn more about specific capabilities in our File Reports FAQ and File Search FAQ.
Also evaluating WizTree? See our FolderSizes vs WizTree comparison.