Disclosure first: I make RBS PC Cleaner. Take that bias into account. I'll be honest about where CCleaner still wins — there are real reasons people stick with it.
For most readers, the question is simple: CCleaner used to be the universal answer for "free Windows cleaner". Then around 2017-2018 things got complicated — Avast acquired CCleaner, ads showed up in the free tier, opt-in telemetry crept toward opt-out, and a now-famous supply chain incident made some users nervous about the trust model. CCleaner is still a competent product in 2026, but it's not the simple choice it used to be. So this post is the side-by-side, written by someone who built one of the alternatives.
Quick recommendation
- You want the most established, widely-supported tool and don't mind ads in the free tier: CCleaner Free.
- You want zero ads, zero telemetry, no registry cleaner, fully reversible changes: RBS PC Cleaner.
- You're a power user who wants Wipe Free Space, Drive Wiper, and the Driver Updater (paid): CCleaner Professional ($24.95/year).
- You're cleaning a friend's PC and want something you can recommend without warnings: RBS PC Cleaner.
What they have in common
Both tools cover the same core daily-cleanup ground:
- Junk file cleaner — temp folders, recycle bin, prefetch, log files.
- Browser cache cleaner across Chrome, Edge, Firefox.
- Startup manager.
- Free version for the basics; paid version for "extras".
- Windows 10 and 11 support.
If you only care about junk + cache + startup, both will do the job. The interesting differences are everywhere else.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | CCleaner Free | RBS PC Cleaner |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (with ads) | Free, no ads |
| Install size | ~50 MB + bundled offers | ~61 MB |
| Telemetry / analytics | Yes (opt-out, default on) | None |
| Registry cleaner | Yes (no benefit on modern Windows; can break things) | None — by design |
| Junk cleaner safety rating | Categories shown, no per-item risk rating | Per-item Safe / Caution / Risky labels |
| App cache cleaner (Discord, Teams, Spotify, etc.) | Limited via custom files | Built-in for 6+ apps |
| Hash-based duplicate finder | Yes (basic) | Yes (auto-skips system folders, keeps oldest) |
| Bulk uninstaller | Pro only ($24.95/yr) | Free |
| Startup manager | Yes (basic) | Yes (covers all 5 startup sources, fully reversible) |
| Disk analyzer | Yes (paid version more detail) | Yes (read-only, free) |
| Gaming mode | No (separate "CCleaner Gaming" product) | Yes, free |
| Theme packs / customisation | No | 9 free theme packs |
| Real-time monitoring | Pro only | No |
| Driver updater | Pro only ($24.95/yr) | No (Windows Update handles drivers) |
| Source code | Closed | Closed (release ZIP + SHA-256 + VirusTotal) |
| Owner | Gen Digital (Avast, Norton, AVG) | One developer (Rai, Singapore) |
Where CCleaner is genuinely better
I want to start here so you don't think this whole post is hype. Real wins for CCleaner:
- Maturity. CCleaner has been around since 2003. Twenty-plus years of edge cases handled. RBS PC Cleaner was released in April 2026 — newer software has newer bugs.
- Drive Wiper and Wipe Free Space (paid). If you genuinely need to securely overwrite deleted file slack space (selling a PC, regulatory compliance), CCleaner Pro does this well. RBS PC Cleaner doesn't.
- Driver Updater (paid). Useful if you have an older PC with manufacturer-discontinued driver support. Modern Windows handles drivers fine for most users in 2026 but the long tail exists.
- Massive support community. Stack Overflow / Reddit / forums have answers for every CCleaner edge case. RBS PC Cleaner has a small but growing community.
- Real-time monitoring. CCleaner Pro can sit in the system tray and prompt cleanups based on usage. RBS PC Cleaner uses Windows Task Scheduler instead — less integrated but also less resource-heavy.
If any of those are dealbreakers for you, just keep using CCleaner. There's no shame in using the established tool.
Where RBS PC Cleaner takes a different stance
The differences below aren't just "I built mine differently for fun" — they reflect specific design choices about what a 2026 PC cleaner should be.
No registry cleaner
Modern Windows (10 / 11) doesn't suffer from registry bloat the way Windows XP did. Registry cleaners surface "thousands of issues" that are mostly harmless orphan keys, then offer to fix them for $25/year. The actual benefit to system performance from a registry clean in 2026 is approximately zero. The chance of breaking something legitimate is non-zero. So RBS PC Cleaner doesn't have one. CCleaner Free still does, prominently.
No telemetry
CCleaner sends "anonymous usage statistics" by default. You can opt out, but opt-out is the default. RBS PC Cleaner doesn't have telemetry at all — there's nowhere to send it because there's no server. The app doesn't make any outbound network calls except when you explicitly trigger an update check.
Per-item safety ratings
CCleaner shows you categories ("Internet Cache: 240 MB") but you click Clean without knowing which items are safe and which might log you out of websites. RBS PC Cleaner labels every cleanup target Safe / Caution / Risky and tells you what each one does before you click. Caution-rated items (like Windows Update cache) require a confirm.
Bulk uninstaller is free
CCleaner's free tier doesn't include batch uninstall — you uninstall one program at a time, same as Windows itself. Pro gets you batch. RBS PC Cleaner has it free, with silent mode auto-detection for installers that support it.
App cache cleaning baked in
The single biggest space win on most modern PCs isn't Windows junk — it's Electron app cache (Discord, Teams, Slack, VS Code, Spotify). RBS PC Cleaner has a dedicated page for it. CCleaner can sort of do this with custom file rules, but you have to configure it manually per app.
The Avast / Gen Digital question
CCleaner was independent from 2003-2017, then acquired by Avast (now Gen Digital after the merger with Norton in 2022). Some users consider this a non-issue. Others left at acquisition because they didn't trust the new ownership and never came back.
Both positions are reasonable. The relevant facts as of 2026: CCleaner is still actively maintained, security audits happen, Gen Digital is a public company subject to standard reporting requirements. There's also a now-historical 2017 supply-chain incident where attackers compromised the build pipeline pre-acquisition; this has been thoroughly addressed in the years since. If you're comfortable with the ownership and the corporate trust model, CCleaner is fine. If you'd rather use software from a single identifiable developer with a public face and no backing investors, that's where RBS PC Cleaner sits.
A quick honest take on file size
CCleaner free installer is around 50 MB. RBS PC Cleaner is around 61 MB. Roughly equivalent. CCleaner does try to install Avast One during setup — keep an eye on the installer screens to decline. RBS PC Cleaner has no bundled offers because there's no business relationship to push.
What I'd actually recommend
If you've been using CCleaner happily for years and it's working: keep using it. Switching tools because of a blog post is silly.
If you're installing a cleaner for the first time on a new PC, or you've been thinking about switching anyway, try RBS PC Cleaner. It's free, no ads, no account, no upsell. If it doesn't fit your workflow, uninstalling takes 10 seconds.
If you specifically need Drive Wiper or the paid driver updater features, CCleaner Pro at $24.95/year is the answer — RBS PC Cleaner doesn't compete on those.
Verify whatever you download
Both tools publish SHA-256 hashes on their download pages. After downloading, run Get-FileHash <path> -Algorithm SHA256 in PowerShell and compare. If they don't match, the download was tampered with. RBS PC Cleaner additionally publishes a VirusTotal scan link on its download page.