We study the size of the largest component of two models of random graphs with prescribed degree sequence, the configuration model (CM) and the uniform model (UM), in the (barely) subcritical regime. For the CM, we give upper bounds that are asymptotically tight for certain degree sequences. These bounds hold under mild conditions on the sequence and improve previous results of Hatami and Molloy on the barely subcritical regime. For the UM, we give weaker upper bounds that are tight up to logarithmic terms but require no assumptions on the degree sequence. In particular, the latter result applies to degree sequences with infinite variance in the subcritical regime.