Windows 11 ships with Disk Cleanup and Storage Sense, but neither tool gives you the granular control that power users demand. For years, CCleaner filled that gap — until it didn't. Bundled offers, forced updates, and the 2017 malware incident turned a trusted utility into a cautionary tale. Users began hunting for alternatives. On May 11, 2026, Windows Central spotlighted a new contender: Fluent Cleaner.

Built by developer Builtbybel and released as open source, Fluent Cleaner is a native Windows 11 utility built on WinUI 3. It pledges the same junk-cleaning muscle as CCleaner but without the telemetry, upsells, or opaque decision-making. The tagline is embedded in its architecture: transparent rules, visible code, and a clean break from the adware-riddled past of system maintenance tools.

Why CCleaner Lost Its Crown

To understand the appetite for Fluent Cleaner, you need to look at how CCleaner fell from grace. Acquired by Avast in 2017, the app suffered a supply-chain attack that same year, injecting malware into version 5.33. Although the breach was contained, it shattered trust. Subsequent updates added pop-up advertisements, a mandatory active monitoring service that resisted being turned off, and periodic \u201chealth check\u201d nags pushing premium upgrades.

Privacy advocates also flagged CCleaner\u2019s telemetry practices. The free version collected usage data, while the \u201canonymous\u201d analytics sometimes correlated with IP addresses. For a tool that purports to clean your tracks, that felt like a betrayal. These grievances sent users searching for open-source alternatives such as BleachBit, but BleachBit\u2019s cross-platform GTK interface looks out of place on Windows 11 and lacks Fluent Design language. Fluent Cleaner steps directly into this gap.

The Fluent Cleaner Proposition

Fluent Cleaner isn\u2019t just a skin over existing cleanup APIs. Builtbybel designed it from the ground up as a WinUI 3 application, meaning it inherits the modern look and feel of Windows 11. Rounded corners, acrylic materials, and responsive layout adjustments are standard. More importantly, WinUI 3 gives Fluent Cleaner access to the latest Windows platform features without the legacy baggage of Win32.

The tool scans for standard digital debris: browser caches, temporary files, thumbnail caches, Windows Update leftovers, log files, and the recycle bin. It also reaches into specific applications \u2014 Microsoft Office recent file lists, Windows error reports, DirectX shader caches, and more. Rules are defined in plain JSON configuration files that any user can inspect, modify, or extend. That transparency is a direct counter to CCleaner\u2019s closed-box logic.

Builtbybel has published the full source on GitHub, licensed under the MIT License. This means no hidden routines, no untracked network calls, and the freedom for the community to audit every byte. A built-in rule editor lets you craft custom cleanup instructions, so if Fluent Cleaner doesn\u2019t natively support the app you want to tidy, you can teach it.

Privacy by Design

From the first launch, Fluent Cleaner operates entirely offline. It does not phone home for update checks or usage stats \u2014 if you want a new version, you fetch it from GitHub. The application never prompts you to upgrade to a paid tier because no paid tier exists. There are no bundled toolbars, background services, or scheduled tasks unless you explicitly create them through the Windows Task Scheduler.

For regulated environments, that\u2019s a selling point. IT admins can customize a set of JSON rules, deploy the unsigned appx package across managed devices, and trust that Fluent Cleaner won\u2019t interfere with group policies or silently ship data to a third party. The source-available model also allows enterprises to fork the project and add internal certifications if needed.

Under the Hood

Fluent Cleaner leverages the Windows Cleanup API (IFileOperation, IShellItem, and related interfaces) rather than raw file deletion, which ensures that deletions respect folder permissions and can be undone via the recycle bin when appropriate. It also integrates with the Disk Cleanup Manager (cleanmgr.exe) extensibility points, so it can invoke system-level cleanup handlers that Microsoft itself maintains.

The UI is built with the Windows App SDK and WinUI 3, placing it in the same technology family as modern inbox apps like the Settings app itself. This means Fluent Cleaner respects system themes, automatically switching between light and dark modes. It also supports Windows\u2019s accessibility features \u2014 Narrator, high-contrast themes, and keyboard navigation work without extra effort from the developer, a byproduct of choosing the native UI stack.

Performance benchmarks are still emerging, but early reports from the community indicate that a full scan on a typical 256 GB SSD completes in under 10 seconds. Memory consumption hovers around 80 MB during a scan, which is modest for a managed .NET application. Builtbybel opted for C# and the .NET runtime, which keeps development velocity high at the cost of a slightly larger memory footprint compared to a pure C++ tool, but most users won\u2019t notice on modern hardware.

Who Is Builtbybel?

Builtbybel is a pseudonymous developer known for a string of Windows customization and privacy tools. Previous projects include Private WinTen, a now-deprecated privacy script; WPD, a dashboard for toggling Windows telemetry; and Burnbytes, a lightweight ISO burner. Each of these tools shared a common thread: they tackled pain points that Microsoft either ignored or addressed with clunky, enterprise-first solutions.

The developer\u2019s communication style is direct and occasionally irreverent, but the code quality is consistent. Fluent Cleaner represents Builtbybel\u2019s most ambitious project to date, with a polished UI, an active GitHub issue tracker, and an evolving documentation wiki. The project is accepting pull requests, and several contributors have already added language translations and refined the default cleaning rules.

Installation and First Run

You can grab Fluent Cleaner from its GitHub releases page. The download is a signed MSIX package that installs cleanly and uninstalls without leaving registry residues. Because the certificate isn\u2019t from a Microsoft-trusted root, you\u2019ll need to click through a SmartScreen warning on first run \u2014 a familiar ritual for open-source Windows software.

Once launched, Fluent Cleaner presents a dashboard with scan categories listed in a navigation pane on the left: System, Browsers, Applications, and Custom. Each category expands to show individual cleanup items with a checkbox. Selecting an item displays a description, the path it targets, and the amount of space it could free. The design language is crisp: toggles glide, progress rings spin with fluent animations, and the entire UI feels like something Microsoft could have shipped.

A \u201cDeep Scan\u201d toggle switches the engine from quick-path enumeration to a recursive, file-level analysis that can sniff out orphaned log folders and cache directories that standard tools miss. The trade-off is speed: deep scans may take thirty seconds or more on drives with millions of small files. After the scan, you can review the file list in a detailed grid that supports sorting and filtering \u2014 helpful for power users who want to exclude a particular log before hitting the Clean button.

Community Reception

On Windows forums, Fluent Cleaner has drawn praise for its straightforwardness. Comments on Windows Central\u2019s highlight article note that the tool \u201cdoes exactly what it says and nothing more\u201d \u2014 a compliment in a category notorious for overpromising. Reddit threads comparing open-source cleaners frequently mention Fluent Cleaner\u2019s lower memory usage versus BleachBit and its more contemporary interface.

Some users have flagged missing features they\u2019d like to see in future releases: a portable ZIP build that doesn\u2019t require installation, integration with Windows\u2019 Storage Sense for automated cleanup schedules, and support for cleaning Microsoft Edge cookies and history (currently, the tool focuses on Chrome and Firefox, with Edge detection using the Chromium engine still in progress). Builtbybel has acknowledged these requests on GitHub and tagged them as \u201cunder consideration\u201d for the v1.1 milestone.

Criticism has been mild. A handful of testers reported that the quick scan underestimated reclaimable space on a heavily used development machine by roughly 15% compared to CCleaner. The discrepancy appears to relate to how Fluent Cleaner accounts for NTFS compression and hardlink shadow copies \u2014 the developer is investigating adjustments to the space-estimation algorithm.

Fluent Cleaner vs. Other Alternatives

The Windows cleanup tool landscape in 2026 includes a mix of abandonware and actively maintained projects. BleachBit remains a solid choice, but its Python foundation and GTK interface feel out of place on Windows 11. Privacy Eraser offers a free tier but gates advanced features behind a $19.95 lifetime license. Kerish Doctor, a lesser-known Russian utility, bundles so many \u201coptimizations\u201d that it can cause more problems than it solves.

Fluent Cleaner occupies a unique niche: it\u2019s free, open source, uses native Windows technology, and avoids feature creep. That minimalism is deliberate. Builtbybel has stated in the project\u2019s README that the tool \u201cwill never include a registry cleaner, driver updater, or system optimizer,\u201d drawing a clear line against the temptations that have derailed other utilities. Registry cleaning in particular is widely considered unnecessary and potentially harmful. By refusing to offer it, Fluent Cleaner earns credibility among cautious users.

What This Means for Windows 11 Users

Fluent Cleaner arrives as Disk Cleanup continues its slow retirement. Microsoft deprecated Disk Cleanup in Windows 10 version 1809, though the executable still ships in Windows 11 24H2. Storage Sense, its successor, lacks the granularity and preview options that Fluent Cleaner provides. Users who want to see exactly which files will be deleted before committing now have a visually coherent, trustworthy tool.

For the open-source community, Fluent Cleaner is also a case study in how WinUI 3 can be used to build applications that feel truly native to Windows 11. Many open-source tools stick with WPF or even Windows Forms because those frameworks are mature and well-documented. Fluent Cleaner proves that investing in the new platform delivers an experience that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with commercial software.

There\u2019s a symbolic dimension, too. Windows has long struggled with an ecosystem of sketchy \u201cPC cleaners\u201d that prey on less-technical users with scare tactics and dark patterns. Fluent Cleaner demonstrates that a free, open-source tool can fill the same functional role without exploiting its users. If it gains traction, it could pressure commercial alternatives to clean up their own acts \u2014 or lose their audience.

The Road Ahead

The public roadmap on GitHub shows several near-term priorities: expanding browser support to include Vivaldi, Brave, and Edge; adding a command-line interface for scripted deployments; and implementing a \u201csafety net\u201d that automatically backs up deleted configuration files to a compressed archive before removal, enabling recovery if an essential setting is accidentally purged. Builtbybel is also exploring a Microsoft Store distribution once the project meets Store\u2019s certification requirements, which would eliminate the SmartScreen warning.

Longer term, community contributors are prototyping plugins for popular apps like Visual Studio, JetBrains IDEs, and Steam, whose caches can consume tens of gigabytes. The plugin architecture would allow domain experts to maintain rule sets independently, reducing the maintenance burden on the core developer.

Whether Fluent Cleaner can avoid the burnout that plagues single-developer open-source projects remains to be seen. Builtbybel has maintained multiple projects for years, but this tool is more user-facing than the typical privacy script, and user-facing means support requests, feature demands, and the occasional harsh review. The license allows a fork if development stalls, which provides an insurance policy that proprietary tools can\u2019t match.

Final Takeaways

Fluent Cleaner nails the basics: a fast scanner, transparent rules, and a modern Windows 11 interface. It won\u2019t magically speed up a sluggish PC, but it will reclaim gigabytes of wasted space without compromising your privacy or your sanity. For anyone who ditched CCleaner and never found a worthy successor, Fluent Cleaner deserves a spot on your taskbar.

The tool is free, open source, and already capable enough for daily use. Its design shows what\u2019s possible when a developer respects the platform and the user in equal measure. If you\u2019ve got a GitHub account, star the repo; if you\u2019ve got coding skills, pitch in; if you just need a trustworthy cleaner, download the MSIX and run a scan. The junk isn\u2019t going to delete itself.