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ViStart vs Start11 vs StartAllBack
Posted 8 August 2026 · prices checked the same day
Go looking for a start menu replacement in 2026 and you end up weighing the same three names: Stardock's Start11, StartAllBack, and ViStart. I make ViStart, so you'd expect this page to conclude that ViStart is the best one. It doesn't. All three are good at different things, the paid two are genuinely worth their money, and the honest answer to "which one?" is it depends on your Windows and what you want it to look like. This is the comparison I'd want to read if I were choosing.
| ViStart | Start11 v2 | StartAllBack | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $6.99 one-off, or a subscription | $4.99 per PC |
| Open source | Yes — GitHub | No | No |
| Runs on | XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11 | 10 and 11 | 11 only (its sibling StartIsBack covers 8 and 10) |
| The menu itself | Its own, fully skinnable | Its own — Windows 7, 10, 11 and Pro styles | Windows' own menu, restored |
| Microsoft Store apps | In All Programs and search | Yes | Yes |
| Touches the taskbar | No — start menu only | Optional enhancements | Full restyle — labels, position, Explorer too |
| Trial | It's free; the trial never ends | Free trial | 100 days |
| Around since | 2007 | 2021 | 2021 |
When to buy StartAllBack
If you're on Windows 11 and what you want is Windows 7 back, exactly — menu, taskbar, Explorer, all of it — StartAllBack is the best in the business and $4.99 is a bargain for it. It doesn't draw its own start menu; it resurrects the one Microsoft already shipped and hid, which makes it the lightest and most native-feeling of the three. That's also its boundary: it looks like Windows because it is Windows, and it only goes where Windows 11 goes.
When to buy Start11
Start11 is the polished commercial option — a company behind it, support staff, deep theming, and menu styles modelled on Windows 7, 10 and 11 plus its own layouts. It covers Windows 10 as well as 11, and it has the enterprise-shaped features (kiosk locking, fleet deployment) that a one-man freeware project is never going to grow. At the time of writing it's $6.99 for a permanent licence covering the v2 line, with a subscription option. If you want the most configurable modern start menu and paying for software with a roadmap sounds like a feature, that's the one.
When ViStart is the right answer
ViStart is the odd one out in that table three different ways, and each of them is somebody's deciding factor:
- It's free and open source. No licence key, no account, no telemetry, no nag screen, and the source is on GitHub if you want to see exactly what it does — or change it.
- It runs on every Windows that still boots. One 1.8 MB installer covers XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 and 11. Below Windows 10, the paid options simply aren't playing — if you're reviving an old machine or keeping a mixed fleet consistent, ViStart is the only name on this page that shows up.
- Skins, in the old sense. The paid products offer Windows-flavoured styles. ViStart's menu can look like Windows 7 — or like Ubuntu, a Mac, or whatever a skinner dreamed up on deviantArt in 2009, and the format is an open zip you can build yourself. It's a desktop-modding-era app and proud of it.
And where it loses, honestly: ViStart draws its own menu rather than restoring the native one, so if pixel-perfect native behaviour is the goal, StartAllBack does that better. It leaves your taskbar alone. And it's one developer plus a community rather than a company — the codebase dates to 2007, which is either a red flag or the whole charm, depending on your constitution.
Honourable mention while we're being fair: Open-Shell (the continuation of Classic Shell) is the other free, open-source start menu, classic-style and deeply configurable. If ViStart's look isn't yours, try that before you pay for anything.
One more, since a lot of people land here searching for Stardock alternatives generally: Stardock also make Fences, the desktop organiser. The free counterpart in this house is ViPad — same idea, tabbed launcher grid, also open source.
Free, no sign-up, no bundled extras. Direct link to the installer if you'd rather skip a step.