CCleaner is widely regarded as one of the best optimizers on the market. It’s been around for almost decades and boasts an impressive 2.5 Billion downloads.
Glary Utilities is newer and less prolific, over 40 million users have downloaded the utility.
While both offer automatic disk cleanup, there is a host of features that are also important to look at such as startup and cookie managers.
Both CCleaner and Glary Utilities aim to make registry cleanup easier. But which is better? In this review, we’ll take a look at the features that both of these applications provide.
Each utility also has a pricing plan and limits certain features behind pay-walls, so you should consider which tools you actually need before you decide which one is best.
CCleaner Overview
CCleaner separates their products into two tiers: CCleaner Free and CCleaner Pro. Although the free version lacks many advanced features, it does have the most important tools.
CCleaner Free has standard, single-click drive cleaning which scrubs through your system to find dead links and junk files that are taking up unnecessary disk space.
There is also a registry cleaner which is great for finding unused temp files or .dll’s which are not properly linked. It’s a useful tool, but be sure to backup your registry before trying to fix anything in your registry.
CCleaner Pro comes with all the functionality of its free counterpart, but has a few extra features. The Pro version allows cleaning across multiple users on the same device, as well as active system monitoring and automatic cleaning.
Both the Free and Pro version comes with a standard level privacy protection by managing and monitoring your browser and cookies.
As of 2012, CCleaner is available on macOS for Apple users. They also support Android mobile devices that provide the same features.
Most of the tools in CCleaner Free are readily available in any version of Windows since Windows 7. CCleaner is best for anyone who is unfamiliar with command prompts or someone looking for something more user-friendly.
Glary Utilities Overview
Like CCleaner, Glary splits its packages up into two pricing tiers. Glary Utilities free plan has an impressive amount of features over CCleaner.
Glary Free has similar 1-Click maintenance to CCleaner, as well as registry and file management options. These features work very well considering they are part-and-parcel of the free download.
If you decide to opt for the premium version of Glary Utilities, you’ll unlock a host of nifty features. One of the features tied to Glary Utilities Pro is the deep registry cleaner which is good for fixing stability issues (provided you know what you’re doing).
Despite its usefulness, Glary Utilities is only available to Windows users.
Features: CCleaner vs Glary Utilities
1-Click Cleaning for Glary and CCleaner
Both utilities have simple, single-click cleaning. This is the main draw of the applications and is available on the free version for both. So which is better?
In actuality, both functionalities are pretty much identical. The cleanup function scans your hard drive and picks out any redundant files to clear out some disk space. They both perform this task well and can clear up gigs of space depending on your system.
Glary is faster than CCleaner, but the difference is minuscule, so they come out pretty evenly in this category.
CCleaner does have an edge in terms of design. The UI is more clear than Glary which looks a little amateur in comparison.
Registry Management differs across CCleaner and Glary
If your computer is prone to crashing then you may be looking for a registry cleaner like CCleaner or Glary, but the applications are quite different in this regard.
Both free options have some form of registry cleaning. Mostly, they will pick up unlinked .dlls that are left behind after uninstalling a program.
Always remember to do a full backup before attempting any automated registry fix. Messing with reg files can often result in disaster.
CCleaner has a fairly standard registry cleaner for this kind of application and it works well.
Glary Utilities is not as good at it. Although the free version has a form of registry cleaning, it doesn’t really do anything. To get the full service, you have to pay for Glary Pro to get access to the Deep Registry Cleaner.
Cleaning your registry isn’t vital to keeping your PC clean and stable. If you’re having stability issues and you’re looking for a cleaner specifically for that, CCleaner is the best option here.
Glary Utilities vs CCleaner System Management
These optimization tools aren’t just limited to disk cleaning and registry scanning. They also have a whole suite of system managers and plugins.
Some of what they offer is quite similar, but there are some key differences between the two.
Both CCleaner and Glary Utilities allow users to manage their startup options. By limiting which programs can run on launch, you can drastically reduce your startup time. Glary even has a window that measures your startup time.
They’re both functionally the same, but Glary Utilities was easier to make sense of and use. CCleaner requires more clicking and navigation to achieve the same ends.
Both applications also let you manage and disable scheduled programs.
Best Accessibility of Glary vs CCleaner
Glary Utilities is only available for Windows for now, which limits a large percentage of users who are on Mac.
CCleaner is the clear winner here with downloads for both macOS and Android. It is also superior in terms of usability. Navigating the tabs on CCleaner is easier than with Glary’s clunky UI.
Pricing Breakdown
Both apps have a free as well as a premium version and they all come with different tools.
Glary Pro is the more expensive option, although it’s frequently on sale, discounting up to 50%.
Their paid option provides the deep registry cleaner mentioned earlier as well as technical support, automatic updates, and scheduled maintenance.
CCleaner Free is more limited than Glary’s free offering and comes only with basic privacy protection and system cleaning. Paying for the service will give you access to any beta programs as well as early-access updates.
You get priority email support, which isn’t as rapid as Glary’s customer support.
If you want to avoid paying anything, Glary Utilities has far more options, even if paying for the service doesn’t give you that much.
CCleaner Free is very limited but opens up a lot more if you’re willing to pay for it.
Conclusion
There’s a lot more to both of these programs than listed here, but we’ve gone over the most important parts.
Both applications do a good job and both are recommended if you’re looking for an optimization utility, but only one came out on top.
Because Glary Utilities has so many features off the bat it’s the clear winner. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you’ve fiddled around with it you’ll know your way around.
CCleaner does have the edge with its registry cleaner, but that’s not enough to give it a win.