BleachBit vs WinDirStat
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Where they differ
- BleachBit is free. WinDirStat is free.
- Only BleachBit lists a Linux app.
In commonFree planWindowsOpen sourceDisk cleanup
At a glance
| BleachBit | WinDirStat | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Every feature is free, with no registration, license activation, ads or upsells; the site describes it as free forever. Donations are optional. | The whole app is free software under the GNU GPL v3 or later. The site says it can be used free of charge in personal or commercial settings. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Andrew Ziem | WinDirStat Team |
| Price read from | bleachbit.org | windirstat.net |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 9, 2026 |
Who each one suits
BleachBit
- Windows and Linux users who want to free disk space at no cost
- People clearing browser history, cookies and app traces in one pass
- Administrators who script cleanup across many machines
WinDirStat
- Finding out what is filling a Windows drive at no cost
- Companies that want a free tool: commercial use is allowed
- Administrators exporting CSV or JSON reports from automated scans
Worth knowing
BleachBit
- There is no regular macOS version: the download page lists Mac OS X support as experimental with limited features.
- The current Windows installer is for Windows 10 and 11; Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 need the older 4.7.0 release.
- Importing winapp2.ini, which adds thousands of extra cleaners, is available on Windows only.
- New versions are not installed automatically; the app can notify you, and updates are downloaded from the website by hand.
WinDirStat
- Windows only; the site points Mac and Linux users to other open-source tools such as GrandPerspective and QDirStat.
- It is developed and tested for Windows 7 through 11 and Windows Server 2008 R2 through 2025; other versions are not supported.
- The accelerated NTFS scan needs the app to be run elevated.
- File recovery is described as an attempt and covers only local NTFS, exFAT and FAT drives.
Key features
BleachBit
- Junk and cache cleaning
- Removes temporary files, browser caches, logs and other junk, using built-in cleaners for Google Chrome, Edge, Firefox, VLC, system logs and many other targets.
- Privacy cleaning
- Erases browsing history, cookies, saved passwords and application traces across several browsers in one step. A cookie manager for keeping chosen cookies is new in the 5.1.0 beta.
- Preview before deleting
- You tick the items to clean, click preview to see every file that would be removed, and then delete only what you want.
- Shredding and free-space wiping
- Shreds sensitive files so their contents cannot be read, and overwrites free disk space to hide files that were deleted earlier.
- Command line and custom cleaners
- A command line interface supports scripting and automation, advanced users can write cleaners in CleanerML, and Windows users can import winapp2.ini for thousands more.
- Linux system cleaners
- On Linux it can clear memory and swap, delete unused localizations and broken shortcuts, and clean the APT, Pacman, Snap, Yum and DNF package managers.
WinDirStat
- Scanning
- Scans multiple folders, drives, network shares or MTP devices in one pass. Running elevated speeds up scans of local NTFS drives.
- Disk usage views
- Shows the largest files and file types alongside treemaps, sunbursts and flame graphs, and compares logical with physical sizes.
- Search and duplicates
- Searches by name, size, type or owner. Duplicates are found by comparing content hashes, with optional sparse hashing for probable matches.
- Reports and monitoring
- Scan snapshots can be saved and reopened, reports exported as CSV or JSON, scans automated, and file-system changes watched.
- Cleanup and recovery
- Runs cleanup tools on selected items and can attempt to recover deleted files from local NTFS, exFAT and FAT drives.
- Permissions and storage analytics
- Inspects permission entries and estimates storage tier costs from file sizes and modification ages.
Plans
BleachBit
BleachBit$0
The complete cleaner for Windows and Linux, open source under GPLv3. The features page says every user has the "Pro" version.
WinDirStat
WinDirStat$0
The complete app as x64, x86 and ARM64 installers, portable archives, a Microsoft Store package, or through winget, Chocolatey or Scoop.
