CCleaner Browser Reviews

Visit CCleaner Browser

Editor's Rating
Overall
Features
Customer Service

Positives

• Great security features
• Built-in ad blocker
• Low resource usage
• User-friendly
• Compatible with Chrome extensions

Negatives

• Only available for Windows
• No themes
• No synchronization

In 2019, the popular cleaning and optimization software, CCleaner, made the move of building its own browser service. Owned by Avast, CCleaner offers a handful of neat security and privacy features, fast speeds, and does not use too much memory or CPU resources. Moreover, it also comes with an intuitive, built-in ad blocker, as well as a video downloader that lets you download any video on the internet, YouTube included. On top of that, CCleaner Browser is still developing some of its features, and we can expect it to come with built-in CCleaner shortly. If that is not enough, since it's based on Chromium, you can always install your favorite Chrome extensions. Unfortunately, it's only available for Windows from 7 onwards.

Features & Extensions

Being a Chromium browser, CCleaner Browser is compatible with most Chrome extensions. Due to security, CCleaner will block most of the extensions by default, but you do have the option to unblock the extension you want to use. However, you can’t do this without reading how the extension compromises your security or privacy first, which is a great way to make users aware of what they are giving up in exchange for the benefit. Sadly, not the same can be said about themes, as all the ones we've tried to install gave an error.

If you have used Avast Secure Browser before, you will quickly recognize the built-in features CCleaner Browser brings with it. It comes with an ad blocker that is enabled by default, as well as a video downloader that lets you download videos from any website you are visiting, YouTube included. On top of that, it also comes with a bunch of add-ons to secure your browsing.

However, since CCleaner Browser came out in 2019, it's still perfecting its offer which explains why CCleaner's website shows more features than you actually get with the browser. Hopefully, this means we can expect to have more features added in the near future.

Privacy & Security

CCleaner Browser claims to be fast, secure, ad-free, tracking-free, and junk-free. Considering that Avast owns Piriform and the browser comes with all the neat built-in features related to protection and privacy from Avast Secure Browser, we believe CCleaner's claim.

With that being said, you just need to visit the security & privacy center, which is on the right side of the address bar, to see the excellent protection CCleaner provides. By default, you will find the anti-phishing and anti-tracking enabled, but more than that, CCleaner also throws a flash blocker and a webcam guard into the mix. Moreover, although you need to enable it yourself, you can also make use of the anti-fingerprinting feature, which prevents websites from identifying and tracking you without your consent.

It’s unsettling that CCleaner's privacy policy does not mention its browser service since we can't understand what type of information it gathers from its users. However, CCleaner’s privacy policy is basically the same as Avast’s, which means the data collection will be similar or even equal to that of Avast Secure Browser. Since the latter collects cookies, the number assigned to the browser's installation, IP addresses, and browser extension data, it makes sense that CCleaner will also gather this type of data. Although that does not sound great, you can easily bypass this problem by opening a private window.

Platforms

CCleaner Browser is new to the game and is still a little rough around the edges, for example with the CCleaner platform’s reach. While the popular cleaning and optimization software is available on Windows, macOS, and Android, CCleaner Browser is only compatible with Windows 7 and later versions.

CCleaner Browser's interface is unsurprisingly similar to other popular browsers such as Google Chrome and Opera, but more than that, it's painfully similar to Avast Secure Browser. In many ways, CCleaner seems to be a copy of Avast Secure Browser. However, the resemblance is even more noticeable when it comes to the interface, especially when you enter the privacy & security center, which seems to be the same menu as Avast Secure Browser with identical writing, icons, and even organization. That's not necessarily a bad thing though, since the interface from Avast Secure Browser is great, meaning CCleaner Browser's interface is nice and user-friendly as well. However, it would be nice to see some changes here and there to distinguish the two browsers from one another.

When it comes to performance, CCleaner also copied Avast’s lightness factor. Not only does it open pages faster compared to Chrome, but it also consumes fewer system resources while doing so.

Customer Service

Since CCleaner Browser is part of a company that provides more products than just the browser, it's no surprise that the customer support is not explicitly built to respond to problems about this service. Nevertheless, Piriform has an FAQ specifically intended to answer questions about its browser, and you can also find a dedicated thread on CCleaner's community forum. On top of that, there are also different channels for getting in touch with the company. One of them is through social media where it's usual to see CCleaner and Piriform’s customer support answering consumers' questions on Twitter and via Facebook messages in about a day. Nevertheless, if you still can't find the answer to your question, you can always get in touch through email.

Bottom Line

Overall, the CCleaner Browser is fast, reliable, and secure. However, it's a shame that it is almost an exact copy of the Avast Security Browser, making us wonder if there is actually a need for it on the market. Moreover, since its development started a year later than Avast, it still lacks features to make it stand out, such as having a built-in CCleaner as Avast Secure Browser has its other products available in the privacy and security center. However, since both CCleaner and Avast can be installed as extensions, this just leaves us with the same product with different names. Are they both good? Certainly. But, do we really need the same product twice? We don't think so.