A Mac cleaner software will clear up disk space on your Mac hard drive so you can regain disk space required to run your Mac more smoothly. Below are some of the best tools to check out. CleanMyMac 3. If you want comprehensive cleanup solutions for your Mac, then CleanMyMac 3 is your best bet. For starters, its sleek interface makes it easier for users to execute useful commands to clean up your.
Why You Should Trust Us
My name is JP, and I’m the founder of SoftwareHow. You’ve probably checked out the about page or maybe some of the tips, guides, and reviews I wrote. So, I’m not going to self-introduce too much here. I’m an Apple fan who owns an old mid-2012 MacBook Pro. I love exploring new technology and figuring out what it has to offer to make our life easier, especially when it comes to being more productive and get more work done.
One of the problems I’ve had with my MacBook often is that the hard drive filled up quickly, and I had to transfer important files to another drive (actually just did so with my Seagate external), clean up unnecessary files, and transfer everything back. To be honest, I hate doing it. It’s boring and time-consuming.
Is there a better way to handle this issue? Luckily, yes. If you’ve ever used a Windows PC, you probably know there are PC maintenance tools like CCleaner or other registry cleaners. Unlike PCs, Macs don’t have registries and thus don’t need registry cleaner programs. But there are many wonderful apps that help you reclaim storage space by cleaning unused or unnecessary stuff. We call them Mac cleaners.
My teammate Adrian and I have personally used and tested a handful of Mac cleaner apps. Some are free (CCleaner, OnyX, etc.) while others are not (CleanMyMac, DaisyDisk, Drive Genius, etc.). Depending on your specific needs and personal preferences, the best Mac cleaner app for you may vary. In fact, you may not need to use a cleaning app at all if you’re a power Mac user. Anyway, you can read more about our reasons why below.
The “Hype” and Myth of Mac Cleaning
Below are a few statements and misconceptions about Mac cleaning.
1. Your Mac gets “dirty” over time.
This is a general misconception among new Mac users who switch over from PCs. Windows users are accustomed to running a registry cleaner program because of accumulated web browser caches and system junk files, leading to a belief that your PC is dirty. It’s important to understand that macOS is not Windows. The two operating systems should not be viewed the same way. In general, Macs don’t need the same level of system maintenance thanks to its Unix heritage. You can learn more about the subject here.
2. Cleaning the macOS system will make your Mac machine run faster.
You probably have come across some marketing slogans where app developers claim their programs speed up your Mac, boost your Mac performance, etc. These are generally misleading because there is no research directly proving that cleaning a Mac system can help speed it up, though HDD-based Macs could gain a bit performance increase from defragmentation. If your Mac has a built-in SSD, you don’t need to defrag. Also, in the Mac community, there’s a general consensus that you should keep at least 10% (some say 20%) free disk space in order for your machine to run smoothly.
3. You can’t clean macOS manually, you have to use an app.
This is a false statement that some advertisers take advantage of to help sell their paid products. The truth is, there are many ways to clean your Mac manually without using any utilities or apps. For example, all web browsers (e.g. Safari, Chrome, Firefox, etc.) allow you to clear the cache, browsing history, and unused extensions. Apple’s macOS also makes it easy to disable startup apps in Login Items (via System Preferences > Users & Groups), and you can uninstall most applications with a simple drag-and-dropEmpty Trash. You see, all these tasks can be done manually without using any third-party apps.
Who Should (& Should NOT) Get a Mac Cleaner App
The main value proposition of a Mac cleaning app is that it should reclaim storage space while spending little time achieving it in the process. Therefore, you should consider using a cleaning app in the following situations:
- If your Mac is running out of disk space, especially if you get that “Your disk is almost full” warning.
- You are relatively new to macOS and uncomfortable handling technical stuff, though you can definitely learn how to deal with the matter on your own.
- You know how to clean your Mac manually, but it’s not worth your time.
You probably won’t benefit from a Mac cleaner app if you own an old Mac and it is running super slow, keeps freezing, or has general performance issues. You’d be better off simply upgrading your computer.
Case in point: I’m on a mid-2012 MacBook Pro. Last year, I managed to replace the internal HDD (a Hitachi hard disk drive) with a new solid-state drive from Crucial, and the performance boost was absolutely crazy. Initially, my machine took at least 30 seconds to fully start up. Now, it only requires ten seconds or so. Plus, it’s much quieter thanks to the advantages SSDs have over HDDs.
Also, if you’re a photographer or videographer who regularly uses an old Mac (prior to 2012) for heavy photo/video editing, you may consider adding extra RAM as this will help increase your Mac’s capability to process requests and avoid app frozen issues. There are many other possible reasons why a Mac may run slowly. Check out this infographic for more details.
How We Picked and Tested
It’s hard to compare different products with the same criteria. These days, app developers understand how to compete by differentiating their products over aspects like features, pricing, and support. We thus disclaim here that the goal of conducting this review and comparison is to help our readers make wiser decisions and find their desired Mac cleaner apps. By no means do we aim to rank these products.
Also, we’ve hand-tested and used each of the programs. With some of them, we also reached out to the developers’ support team for product-related questions. In doing this, we strive to fully understand what an app has to offer and evaluate the support quality of its developer. Below are the key points we looked at when evaluating these apps:
1. The app’s core functions must include cleaning.
Your goal is to make room for your Mac, not to install a number of third-party utilities that eat up more storage. Ideally, the best cleaner app is cleaning-focused, meaning it should aim to help users remove unneeded files and applications. We understand that in reality, it’s hard to find apps that offer exactly the same features without differentiation. Therefore, we expand ed the level of consideration a little bit. As long as one of the app’s core features is cleaning, we put it to the test.
2. How effectively does the app clean your Mac?
When it comes to reviewing a piece of software at SoftwareHow, the primary factor we always evaluate is effectiveness. This is important because apps should do what they claim to offer: Reclaim a decent amount of disk space by cleaning system junk, identifying and deleting useless items like old iOS backups, finding duplicated or similar photos, uninstalling third-party apps and their remnants, etc.
3. Is the app easy to use?
Software is designed for humans, and we expect a well-developed cleaning app to be simple to use. It doesn’t have to be equipped with a fancy or sleek user interface (if it does, that’s definitely better), but the features, navigation buttons, and text instructions must be clear and easily understood. Also, app crashes or file corruption may be unacceptable depending on how badly it hurts the user experience.
4. How much does the app cost?
Free apps are great and if they do the job they’re even better. But it’s worth noting that a free app isn’t necessarily the best app. We conducted these reviews from the perspective of what these apps offer — in other words, the benefits they provide, i.e, how much storage space they free up on your computer hard drive. In general, paid apps tend to offer more than free apps. Among those paid apps, pricing also varies. For example, CleanMyMac is priced at $39.95 per Mac (one-time fee), while iMobie MacClean costs $29.95 per Mac but it comes with a $19.95 annual subscription model as well. When it comes to evaluating whether a Mac cleaning app is worth it, we often take both its features and price into consideration.
5. How good is the developer’s customer service?
When you have questions or encounter any technical issues related to an app, it’s best that the developer can be reached out in a number of ways like email, live chat, or phone. If they have a knowledge base with FAQs and/or an actively moderated forum, that’s even better. In our opinion, paid cleaning apps usually offer higher-quality, more timely customer support than free apps. This is unfortunate but reasonable, as adding a new channel for support means extra cost to the developer.
6. Is the app compatible with the latest macOS version?
Apple launches a new major macOS version every year. As of this writing, the newest is 10.13 High Sierra. Most Mac users will choose to update their machines to the latest version. For example, I just updated my MacBook Pro to High Sierra (you can read this post for a list of performance issues and fixes I discovered) and found a few apps I regularly use were out of date. One of those was CleanMyMac. I was using an older version, 3.6, which is only usable on Sierra. Luckily, once I updated the app to the latest version, 3.9, it worked perfectly. Therefore, the best Mac cleaner app must support the latest macOS. It’s ideal if it also covers some older macOS versions.
The Winners
Best Choice: CleanMyMac + Gemini
CleanMyMac 3 has a number of cleaning utilities that are helpful in getting rid of system junk, while Gemini 2 shows its power in detecting and removing duplicate photos and files.
Both apps are developed by the same company, MacPaw Inc., and they are extremely easy to use. To be frank, I really wished that MacPaw integrated Gemini’s features into CleanMyMac. I emailed their team my feedback, but it seems they don’t have a plan to do this at the moment.
That’s why I recommend this cleaning bundle — you can get CleanMyMac and Gemini for only $53.95 (with a 10% discount). Of course, you can choose to get them separately. I suggest you try out the trial version, which is free, before committing to the app or the bundle.
I’ve thoroughly tested almost every feature of both these apps. You can read my detailed review of CleanMyMac and the full review of Gemini here. For the sake of time, I’ll highlight a few key features I like and explain what they mean to you. I’ll also point out the things I dislike so you can better understand whether or not it’s right for you.
Here’s the main screen of CleanMyMac v. 3.9 on my MacBook Pro, 10.13 High Sierra based.
CleanMyMac 3 all comes down to convenience, and the feature I like most is Smart Cleanup, which you can see in the screenshot above. It took less than a minute for the app to scan my Mac (which has a 500GB solid state drive), and it found 5.79GB junk that was safe to remove. Please note that I run the app regularly and the last scan was just two weeks ago. If it’s your first time using this app, you’ll probably find a lot more junk.
The second feature I really appreciate is Large & Old Files. A quick scan found close to 112 GB of files. CleanMyMac automatically puts them into different groups, sorting them by size from top to bottom. I found this helpful because I don’t have to take the time to manually check up on every folder.
Pay attention, though! A file that’s old and large doesn’t mean it should be deleted. I highly encourage you to carefully review each item (by clicking the “Reveal in Finder” and “Quick Look” icons within the app) before removing them. For example, on my MacBook, CleanMyMac found a large disk copy of my Lexar flash drive stored in the Downloads folder. The file is 32 GB in size, which caught my attention immediately.
After reviewing, the file turned out to be redundant as I’ve backed up my Lexar data to an external hard drive. So, I knew it was okay to delete. Once I selected this item and hit the “Remove” button, CleanMyMac displayed, “32.01 GB removed. You now have 257.69 GB free on your startup disk.” Boom…how cool is that?
Under the “Utilities” section, you’ll see several tools like Uninstaller, Maintenance, Privacy, Extensions, and Shredder. Those features are pretty self-explanatory and can be useful for many of you. However, don’t use them that often because most of those tasks can be completed in other ways I’m already familiar with. For example, you can disable startup apps and services via Extensions > Login Items.
There are several other things about CleanMyMac that I’m not a fan of. For example, the app menu adds itself to the auto startup list once installed (though you can disable it in the preferences), and sometimes a scan causes my Mac to heat up quickly.
Overall, those issues are tolerable compared to the incredible amount of value CleanMyMac provides. As you can see, I managed to reclaim close to 38 GB in storage, and the whole process took less than ten minutes to complete. In this regard, CleanMyMac 3 is a huge time-saver, and keeping it on my Mac is a no-brainer.
Next, we’ve got MacPaw Gemini 2, the intelligent duplicate finder app.
Here’s the main screen of Gemini v. 2.4.2 on my MacBook Pro, based on 10.13 High Sierra.
These days your Mac is probably the hub for everything. It’s the place to save your backup files (or backup of your backups, like they say) and photos you shot on your iPhone or digital camera, etc. The tricky part is that those items can take up lots of disk space and can result in a lot of duplicates. This can especially be the case if you’ve used your Mac for a long time.
Manually checking and comparing those files to identify duplicates is unrealistic. Luckily, there are amazing apps like Gemini 2 that can help you quickly find and delete duplicate files. The best part? It’s extremely easy to use. The latest version, 2.4.3, is also fully compatible with macOS High Sierra.
For example, I selected a random folder on my Mac and let Gemini scan it. In about 30 seconds, it found 654 MB similar files and some exact duplicates. A quick review revealed that they are mostly photos recently uploaded to my Mac, and I hadn’t yet organized them. The number may not look exciting — but considering this is a random test, I was quite happy with the results I got.
Previously, I tested an earlier version of the app and wrote a review based on my findings. That was a little over half a year ago. It found nearly 40 GB duplicate files on my MacBook, and I ended up removing 10 GB within just a few minutes. Gemini 2 is available to buy on Mac App Store at $19.99 USD, but I recommend you get it from the official MacPaw website because there’s a free trial that you can test drive before paying. The price on their site is the same as on App Store.
The support for both CleanMyMac and Gemini are also amazing. MacPaw, the developer of these apps, offers a number of ways to take customer queries including email, phone calls, and social media channels. They’re most active on Twitter.
Also Great: Drive Genius
If you’re willing to pay a bit more for a Mac cleaner in order to get some enhanced security and optimization, Drive Genius 5 from Prosoft Engineering is the tool to beat.
The app includes every feature a cleaner app has to offer, plus additional protection against viruses and malware which helps protect your investment from any threat.
The best part? Drive Genius is also used and recommended by the tech geeks at Apple Genius Bar.
Do Macs also get viruses? The answer is yes, even if Apple says otherwise (watch this old Apple commercial ad). You can read about several examples of Mac malware compiled in Macworld. The article also mentions that there’s been a 230% increase in malware in 2017, and that scam software is coming to Mac App Store — once a small issue, especially when compared to PCs.
Just a couple weeks ago, I chose to update my MacBook Pro to the latest 10.13 High Sierra, only to find that a huge vulnerability was reported all over the world: Hackers could extract text passwords from Keychain. You can read more details in this 9to5mac post. Although Apple quickly responded to this issue and launched a supplemental update for High Sierra, their once bulletproof reputation has yet to recover.
Drive Genius was originally developed to keep your Mac hard drive clean and safe from disk errors. The newest edition, 5, has added a comprehensive feature called Malware Scan, part of the automated DrivePulse utility which monitors your Mac for potential issues and viruses. On its main screen, you can get an idea of what the app offers. You can also read our full review of Drive Genius here.
To clean and speed up your Mac, Drive Genius provides several tools. The first one I’d like to highlight is “Find Duplicates”. It’s pretty much like Gemini 2, which allows you to locate duplicate files and remove them to free up disk space. The “Find Large Files” utility is similar to CleanMyMac‘s “Large & Old Files” feature, which is self-explanatory. Another feature I want to mention is “Defragment”, which makes files stored on your Mac hard drive (HDD only) more organized through defragging. It can give a helpful speed boost, as my teammate Adrian Try pointed out in his reviews.
The customer support team from Prosoft Engineering offers phone and email support (Monday to Friday, 7 AM to 5 PM, PST). They also have lots of useful documentation to help users learn how to properly handle Drive Genius and tackle macOS related problems. The latest version of Drive Genius is fully compatible macOS 10.10 Yosemite, 10.11 El Capitan, and 10.12 Sierra. 10.13 High Sierra support is coming soon.
Honorable Mention: Dr. Cleaner
Dr. Cleaner is a product developed by Trend Micro, an enterprise cybersecurity solution provider most famous for its anti-malware and application control software. The app caught my attention while I was testing Dr. Cleaner (the free version) and found that the app offers a lot more free features than most of its competition, and I instantly felt the app developer’s ambition. This is a good thing for Mac users because we have another good “free” cleanup tool, though Dr. Cleaner’s cleaning capabilities still have room for improvements while compared to that of CleanMyMac (you can real my full review for details).
Dr. Cleaner has a free version that allows you to clean your disk (e.g. removing cache and temp files, user download folders, web browser junk, etc.), optimize memory usage by closing apps, and monitor usage of the CPU and network. The professional version, called Dr. Cleaner Pro, is offered at a $14.99 price point. The Pro version allows you to access several advanced features including Smart Scan, Duplicate Finder, App Manager, and File Shredder.
There’s also the Dr. Cleaner Menu (see above), a mini app that shows up on Mac menu bar once you install Dr. Cleaner. At first glance, it’s like the Apple’s Activity Monitor app built into macOS. But I find the Dr. Cleaner Menu much convenient and easier to use because I don’t have to launch Activity Monitor via Spotlight search every time I want to know what’s going on with my Mac’s real-time status.
Dr. Cleaner is free to get from the Mac App Store. The app requires OS X 10.10+ and 28.9 MB space to run and fully supports latest macOS High Sierra. I didn’t encounter any issues during my tests. Trend Micro offers customer support for the app. You can read more from my Dr. Cleaner review here.
The Competition and Comparison
iMobie MacClean wants to be the all-in-one cleaning suite for Macs. At first glance, it’s a combination of CleanMyMac and Gemini, but even more powerful because the app claims it can clean malicious cookies and scan your Mac’s Applications and Downloads folders for potential security risks. The app looks attractive and is simple to use, as you can see from its main navigation panel on the left part of the main interface.
Like other cleaning apps, MacClean has a number of tools for the job as you can see from this screenshot. Version 3.2.0 built on 20170920.
My teammate Adrian reviewed MacClean thoroughly and found that it was able to free up around 35 GB storage from his MacBook Air with a 128 GB SSD drive. Most scans were quite fast, usually completed in seconds — very helpful, as Adrian said. However, the app definitely has room for improvement, as Adrian encountered several crashes, and failed to find some large files he hadn’t used for a while. That said, MacClean is well worth it considering as it costs only $29.99 for personal license and $39.99 for a family license (which allows you to install the software on up to five Macs and earns you priority support). We gave it a 4-star rating in both Effectiveness and Support (they were responsive via email tickets). The latest version, 3.2.0, supports macOS High Sierra.
A scanning result of DaisyDisk 4.4 on my MacBook Pro, High Sierra based.
DaisyDisk is a beautiful yet different disk space analyzer that allows you to quickly find what’s taking up the most storage on your Mac. A quick scan showed me that 215 GB had been used. The funnest part is that DaisyDisk shows those files in a sunburst diagram. If you hover your cursor over each block, it will blink and further file details in that “block” will show up. You can then move the unneeded files to the collector (located on the bottom left corner), or directly drag and drop them there. Unfortunately, deleting files or applications from the collector is restricted in the free trial (as you can see from this popup warning). You’ll need to buy a license, which costs $9.99, either from the official website or Mac App Store. The DaisyDisk app was reviewed and covered by 9to5mac, MacRumors, and a few other prestigious magazines. I especially liked and appreciated the design of the app, which gives me a different and cool feeling. It’s also inexpensive. Just save two cups of coffee per month and you get this beautiful app — totally worth it.
However, I’d like to point out that Apple has a built-in function that allows you to do pretty much the same thing. Click on the Apple logo on the top left, then About This Mac > Storage > Manage, here you’ll get a detailed overview of your system storage information. For example, when I select Documents, macOS automatically sorts them based on size (from big to small). I can then remove those old large files to free up some space. If that’s all that you want to do, you probably don’t need to buy DaisyDisk. Again, it’s a paid app ($9.99) and the developer offers email support for it. It requires OS X 10.10+ to run and is compatible with 10.13 High Sierra.
Main interface of IObit MacBooster, version 5.0.5.
MacBooster is neck-and-neck with CleanMyMac in terms of features, though MacBooster has added several features that CleanMyMac doesn’t offer including Defragment, Duplicates Finder, and Photo Sweeper. All of those features are categorized into four main modules as you can see from the main interface above: System Risks, Cleaner, Booster, and Tools. The program looks attractive, with three main dashboards clearly laid out in the center, resembling a car dashboard.
Under “System Status”, a quick scan will show you all the “issues” on your Mac. Note that I use a quote here because I feel IObit, the maker of MacBooster, is a bit over-serious in making users believe those “issues” are problems that deserve attention. For example, after using the app to scan my Mac, it found close to ten thousand issues and my system was marked as “Dangerous”. A closer examination revealed that most of those issues were privacy data e.g. cookies, browsing histories, etc. left behind in the Chrome browser. I regard those as a false report. However, I do like the Duplicates Finder and Photo Sweeper features, which are quite similar to what Gemini 2 offers. Photo Sweeper is most useful for those who are used to syncing photos across your mobile devices without cleaning them; you can use this feature to locate those duplicates or similar files and remove them safely. This should help you free up a decent amount of storage considering these days digital assets are larger in size.
Similar to the CleanMyMac Menu which shows up as a shortcut in the menu bar, MacBooster Mini also allows you to get a quick overview of your Mac, e.g. how much memory has been used, your real-time network download or upload speed, and how many GBs are available to use for storage. In general, MacBooster is a nice app that aims to clean and speed up a Mac machine. Its features are a combination of what CleanMyMac and Gemini offer, and even go beyond. However, choosing the best Mac cleaner software is not simply a game of comparing the number of features. Personally, I still prefer the user experience of CleanMyMac and Gemini, and recommend them because they are more lightweight in nature, as well as the way MacPaw markets their products.
MacBooster is priced at $39.95 for Lite (1Mac), $59.95 for Standard (3 Macs), and $89.95 for Premium (5 Macs). The app runs on Mac computers with OS X 10.7 or later (High Sierra included). IObit offers support via email, and they have an active forum specifically dedicated to monitoring customer feedback.
The Cleanup interface of MacFly Pro, version 1.0.48.
MacFly Pro is a new player in the Mac cleaning app market. Initially, it appeared on ProductHunt about three months ago, branding itself as “a simple-yet-powerful tool to keep your Mac’s drive sparkling clean and junk-free…with a clean and intuitive interface, without irritating pop-ups or needless permission requests”, as its maker, Tomasz Jesko, posted in the discussion. I installed and ran the app on my High Sierra-based Mac without any problem. After a quick system scan, I was surprised to see that the app discovered 2.69 GB junk files on my Mac, while CleanMyMac could only locate 1.39 GB.
However, after carefully reviewing the results, I finally discovered MacFly counts the content in /private/var/folders as junk while CleanMyMac doesn’t. Out of the 2.69 GB of junk it found, 1.45 GB was from this folder. You probably shouldn’t delete files in this folder unless you know what you’re doing, as you could break something or cause a problem with macOS. Currently, MacFly Pro offers a free 7-day trial; after that, it requires a $4.99/mo subscription. At this moment, I wouldn’t recommend this app, considering that it’s still in the preliminary stages and needs more work to make it compete against CleanMyMac. Plus, the cost will add up quickly if you commit to its subscription-based pricing. It’s definitely worth watching, however.
What about Those Free Apps
CCleaner Free – CCleaner has racked up millions of downloads from PC users, and Piriform definitely wanted to replicate its success on Mac. I’ve used the app on both my HP laptop and MacBook Pro. The interface and feature set on both the Windows and macOS versions are almost the same, except that the Windows version has a registry cleaner feature. macOS doesn’t have a registry (learn more about the reason from this Quora discussion), so no registry cleaner is needed.
You can use CCleaner to quickly remove your web browser cache files, history, cookies, etc. It also offers a few utilities (mainly under “Tools” section) that allow you to uninstall third-party apps, disable or remove startup items, and erase a whole disk volume (do so with extreme caution!). The app is really good, but frankly, I still prefer CleanMyMac because it’s way more powerful than CCleaner and much easier to use. If you have tried both apps, you’ll probably agree that CCleaner Free is far behind in cleaning features, and the results (i.e. extra disk space) you get will be night and day. Another reason that might hold you back from considering CCleaner is the recent malware issue involved with the app. You can read more about that in this TechCrunch report; I covered the issue here as well.
OnyX version 3.3.8, the interface of the Maintenance module).
OnyX – OnyX is a freeware app that gets lots of love in the Apple community. Personally, I feel it’s best for power users and techies. Unlike cleaning software primarily designed for non-tech users, you’ll probably have a hard time using OnyX. Its user interface looks quite different from the other apps reviewed here, with lots of checkboxes and buttons to click. It’s powerful, can do the job for you, and offers a number of other utilities; however, I find it’s not best for me.
Just a side note: It definitely caught my nerve when my MacBook froze up for about ten seconds while the app verified my startup disk. During that time, I couldn’t even move the cursor until a pop-up window said, “The disk has been verified, the startup disk appears to be OK.” Though OnyX had an important disclaimer about this freeze, users who don’t carefully read the disclaimer might think the issue was permanent and give their Mac a hard reboot. OnyX supports all versions of OS X and macOS, including latest 10.13 High Sierra.
AppCleaner version 3.4, compatible with macOS High Sierra
AppCleaner – Like its name indicates, AppCleaner is a utility specially designed to help users clean unwanted apps and related files associated with those apps. It’s quite similar to the “Uninstaller” feature in CleanMyMac; however, CleanMyMac shows you a complete list of apps installed on your Mac, while AppCleaner doesn’t.
Pro tip: AppCleaner supports batch operations, meaning you can drag multiple unwanted apps and drop them into the main zone. I found this very efficient (see the screenshot above): You first open AppCleaner and drag the app to the left part of your screen. Then, just open Applications and select those third-party apps you want to remove, and drag them into AppCleaner. The apps and their associated files will be removed immediately. I really like this small utility; it’s simple and well-designed. If you are an “app junkie” who has installed scores (if not hundreds) of third-party apps on your Mac, AppCleaner is definitely a go-to tool — and it’s free.
A loading result in Disk Inventory X, version 1.0.
Disk Inventory X – This app, developed by Tjark Derlien, claims it can scan a disk and show the sizes of all files and folders in visualized “treemaps”. In this sense, it’s similar to DaisyDisk — both apps give you a colorful overview of your Mac files. I almost gave up on Disk Inventory X because it took about five minutes to fully load the content on my startup disk with 180.3 GB used (as you see from this screenshot). During this process, it seemed like the app would stay in the loading process forever. I even had a hunch that the app isn’t fully optimized for scanning an APFS-based drive.
Luckily, the magical results showed up (patience is a virtue :-)) and I was able to navigate through the treemap to see what kind of files are taking up disk space. You can click “Reveal in Finder” for further review, or click “Move to Trash” to remove the content. In my opinion, Disk Inventory X offers some value, but I still prefer the “Manage Storage” overview as a default in macOS.
Monolingual – This is an app for deleting unnecessary language files built into Apple macOS by default. By utilizing this app, you can free up several hundred megabytes, or a little over 1 gigabyte in space. Simply open the app, select those languages you don’t want to keep and click the “Remove” button. Note: Monolingual auto-selects all other languages (except the ones you regularly use like English). It’s worth double checking just to ensure you only remove those unwanted language packs. I choose to keep those languages on my MacBook Pro, mainly because it currently has about 50% free storage space, and some language files may be useful for an international friend just in case he/she borrows my Mac. Monolingual requires a 64-bit Intel-based Mac with macOS 10.12 Sierra or 10.13 High Sierra.
The main interface of dupeGuru for macOS, version 4.0.3.
dupeGuru – dupeGuru is an app that finds duplicate files on your Mac; in that vein, it’s similar to Gemini 2. As you see on the main screen below, it has three modes (Standard, Music, and Picture) for you to choose from depending on what kind of files you want to scan. You can also define a specific “Scan Type” under each mode. For example, for Standard, you can scan by contents or by file names, whereas Music allows you to scan by tags as well. I used it to check my Downloads and Desktop folders for duplicates. The scan process was very quick. The results were clearly displayed like a table, and from there I was able to easily identify which ones are copies, as they are marked in blue. The app also shows you file size, which folders those files are stored in, and a match percentage (in my case, mostly 100%).
It’s a great app, does what it does well, and is free. I don’t believe dupeGuru is less powerful than Gemini 2. But in terms of user experience, Gemini 2 is definitely superior: It looks more attractive and has “Smart Selection” and “Smart Cleanup” buttons which allow you to select all duplicates and remove them in just one click. Though the developer, Hardcoded Software, notes on its official website that the app is for OS X 10.8 to macOS 10.12, I ran dupeGuru on my Mac with 10.13 High Sierra without any problems.
Fair Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, meaning that if you click on one of them and decide to buy the app, I may get a commission (at no additional cost to you). If you do not feel comfortable with this, you can do a quick Google search, enter the app developer’s official website, and get to it that way. I’d appreciate it if you would support my work and buy from my affiliate links. By doing so, you’re helping me create more thorough, unbiased software reviews on SoftwareHow (without putting any flash ads on the site). Again, please note the price you pay will be no different, and you won’t be charged any extra cost. Thanks!
Update History:
- dupeGuru is no longer maintained by Hardcoded Software and thus changed its homepage.
- Drive Genius 5 decreased the price from $99 to $79.
Utilities • Updated on Aug. 9, 2019
Mac devices are normally great, you know. It has a smooth User Interface, a smoother integration and most importantly the smoothest workflow. However, there is a slight problem: storage space optimization. People are always worried about losing storage space on their macOS devices. More often than not, there are some system interventions as well.
There are many third-party macOS apps that let you get more free space on your Mac. And, CleanMyMac is one of the popular options out there. However, we wanted to test not just CleanMyMac but also other Mac cleaning software in the market. In this article, you will find our review of CleanMyMac and whether you’ve to spend money on this Mac cleaner software.
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Background
Starting with macOS Sierra, Apple offered an elegant space-clearing solution feature, Optimized Storage.
Optimized Storage in macOS Sierra and later can save space by storing your content in the cloud and making it available on demand. When storage space is needed, files, photos, movies, email attachments, and other files that you seldom use are stored in the cloud automatically. Each file stays right where you last saved it, and downloads when you open it. Files that you’ve used recently remain on your Mac, along with optimized versions of your photos.
The feature helps us deal with junk like duplicates, old email attachments and downloads – and automatically sifts through them to delete the files or move them to the cloud.
But, instead of deleting them, it mainly moves the junk files to iCloud. The result of the optimization is more free space on your hard drive and many-many gigabytes of cloud storage taken up.
While it’s an amazing built-in feature, it doesn’t help many heavy Mac users.
Why you need a Mac cleaner software
You can guess the first reason on your own. It’s not possible to keep paying Apple according to the storage space taken up. As we said, Optimized Storage would be moving your junk files to iCloud. As it happens, the iCloud space is limited. When you cross the 5GB free limit, you will have to start paying for the extra space you are getting. When you have GBs of junk data to keep on the cloud, this doesn’t make sense.
Using a Mac cleaner software, you will be able to do this without iCloud. The point is that you don’t have to spend extra money if you can find free space in your Mac itself. Apart from storage optimization and space-saving, there are some other reasons below why you need a Mac cleaner software.
- Mac cleaner software helps you remove GBs of application language data, which is often unused.
- These tools can also remove cache files on regular basis, saving a lot of space.
- System Log files are stored by System Apps that runs from the moment you boot up to OS X Desktop.
- Photos(iPhoto) Stores cache files, temporary data, backup data, photos, videos and thumbnails which takes several gigabytes in few months usage.
- iTunes Stores plenty of Media data and temporary files, settings into your Hard disk drive, whose too-small SSD is constantly on the verge of filling up.
- If you use XCode or other Development Tools, then the application stores tons of user data, application data for rendering and run time purposes.
- There are other Development junk files, such as support files, Caches, Frameworks and temporary files are stored and left.
- Your Mail Attachments from year old emails that you wanted to delete are stored locally under your Mail App.
- Your Mac can slow way down and exhibit all sorts of misbehavior if you run out of disk space entirely (or come close to it).
- If you are preparing your Mac for sale, then you will want to give it a bit of a clean before you show it off to a potential customer.
When you use a Mac cleaner software, you can take care of all these in a single click. You don’t have to worry about visiting individual directories and getting things cleaner. In short, a Mac cleaner software will help you intoxicate your Mac in every manner. Now that you have an idea, we will check out the best Mac cleaner software available right now.
CleanMyMac X is the best Mac cleaning software
We had to use a number of Mac cleaning apps in order to find the best one. In the process, however, we had to set some reference points. We had used the following criteria to find the most effective tool for cleaning a Mac.
- Does the software have an intuitive and easy User Interface?
- Does the app make it easy to search for junk, cache and broken files in the system?
- Does it help you make full uninstalling procedures with all the unnecessary apps, so you can remove out-of-date software and applications in the proper way.
- Can you locate duplicates and similar files named differently in your system?
- Does the app provide smart deletion? This supposes evaluating how safe it is to delete each file and whether its removal will not be felt by the user of the operation system.
- Does it clean a digital history? After the work of a good cleaner, nobody ever has the chance of determining what pages were recently opened and what information was sent or received.
- Does the app provide rich tools for organizing and maintaining the OS X system?
- Does it add the extended support of the new Apple File System (APFS)?
- Is the app available in different languages? A universal solution is usually a multi-language one so it can be used effectively in different countries and by different users.
After checking 20+ Mac cleaning apps out there in the market, we decided that CleanMyMac X is the best option for most people. Coming from a trusted developer like Macpaw, CleanMyMac X was a part of our preliminary list from the beginning.
What is CleanMyMac X? Why call it X?
CleanMyMac is an all-in-one cleaning software for devices running macOS. It’s developed and distributed by a company named Macpaw, which develops other utility programs as well. However, CleanMyMac can be by far the biggest success — for all the good reasons.
With the 10th anniversary edition, CleanMyMac has completed its transformation into a comprehensive cleanup, optimization, and management tool. Why call it X? Macpaw explains：
Firstly, because this year it’s our 10th anniversary and the X is our tribute to that and the first CleanMyMac created by Oleksandr Kosovan back in 2008. Next up, we believe this version is much more than another numerical in the line — it is X times better.
Macpaw developers have done a great job at making this special version of the Mac cleaning software even special. We were amazed to find such a huge number of features in this package.
What does CleanMyMac X do?
CleanMyMac X lets you clean your Mac device from every aspect. You can get rid of unwanted files, optimize performance of apps and even take care of some maintenance tasks. There are also some additional features like Software Uninstaller and Updater. Altogether, it’s a 360-Degree cleaning package for Mac.
The tool can also help you deal with optimization. Experts suggest that you should use both CleanMyMac X and Optimized Storage from Apple. This way, you will find enough space to store files on Mac, while moving junk stuff to available iCloud space.
This quick promo from Macpaw will showcase how-it-works:
What’s new in CleanMyMac X?
The new CleanMyMac X cares for all Macs (starting from macOS 10.10 versions). Let’s have a quick look at the top features.
- Smart Scan lets you perform a single scan, which would understand the condition of your Mac, help you take decisions thereafter.
- CleanMyMac Assistant is a virtual assistant for useful advices. When you perform certain actions, you will be given the right prompts
- Malware Remover is an additional module in CleanMyMac X. This module will scan your Mac for an immense variety of malware and remove them instantly.
- Optimization module that helps you keep your Mac snappy and performance-friendly. This module will scan your device for various agents and services that work in background.
- Space Lens analyzes your macOS disk and understand the files taking up space.
- 3x Faster Scans are also offered by CleanMyMac X. When compared to CleanMyMac 3, you’ll be able to finish scanning files/apps/system as quickly as possible
These features surely make CleanMyMac X one of the most comprehensive Mac cleaner software out there.
Is CleanMyMac X safe to use?
A BIG YES.
Just like its previous versions, CleanMyMac X is 100% safe to use. You don’t have to worry about threats like data theft or privacy violation. Macpaw is a trusted company when it comes to user-privacy and the essential forms of data management.
Coming to the software, CleanMyMac X does not tamper with your Mac’s core settings. There are a number of exceptions and rules to make sure that system files are not affected. Even if you try to remove these files manually, you will be notified.
Altogether, CleanMyMac X offers one of the best levels of security and privacy for Mac users.
We believe it’s something great to start with.
Our review of CleanMyMac X
So far, you have been given the perfect outline of CleanMyMac X and how it works. Now, we will move onto our hands-on review of CleanMyMac X. We have been using this software for a week on our MacBook Air, and we’ve made up some impressions already. In the following section, you will find a comprehensive yet brief review of CleanMyMac X.
Design
A revamped User Interface is one of the best features in CleanMyMac X, you know. It’s got a lot of rounded corners, brightly-colored icons, faux transparent backgrounds, and a nice ombre effect throughout. It’s simply beautiful, and it helps everyone manage their Mac without feeling like rocket science.
Once you have downloaded and installed CleanMyMac X on your Mac, you will be able to see the Welcome Windows. As it says, you can start a Smart Scan to understand the basic issues with your Mac. It needs to be noted that you will be finding not only the issues but also the areas of potential improvement. Just hit Scan button and CleanMyMac X will be exploring your Mac device for the possible scenarios.
Apart from Smart Scan, CleanMyMac X is divided into five main sections — Cleanup, Protection, Applications, Speed and Files. We will go through these sections individually, but now, keep in mind that all these options are accessible from the sidebar. You have a way-out if you just wanted to check your Mac for some potential malware threats.
You can also go into the individual features. For instance, you will find a feature named “Trash Bins” under the Cleanup module. You can open this section if you just want to remove Trash content from your Mac in a single click. Similarly, apart from module-based clearing, CleanMyMac X lets you go deep into stuff. The best part of all these is that each window tells you what the particular feature would do.
Last but not the least, CleanMyMac X Interface consists of CleanMyMac Assistant as well. You can access the feature by clicking the icon on the top-right portion of the window. It’s a really useful feature. If you cannot find a particular section, you can simply ask the Assistant. There is also a Silent Mode where the Assistant does not provide voluntary response.
Altogether, the design aspect of CleanMyMac X is top-notch. We haven’t seen many Mac cleaner UIs that make the cleaning process this easier.
Functions
As we said earlier, CleanMyMac X is a super-feature-rich iteration of the cleaning tool. Compared to the old versions, you have a lot of functions to explore. To make things easy, CleanMyMac X has broken down things to five sections. We’ll have a look at all the five now.
Cleanup
This is where you intoxicate your Mac — that is, where you get rid of the unwanted stuff. Depending on the various needs, you can choose from the five available options as well.
System Junk Scan takes care of the junk files in your Mac. User cache files, log files and old updates etc. will be detected by CleanMyMac X. All this information is smart-selected and you can remove them without any fear about system crashes.
This is where you intoxicate your Mac — that is, where you get rid of the unwanted stuff. Depending on the various needs, you can choose from the five available options as well.
Photo Junk does two things mainly. First, it would optimize the photograph library you have in your Mac. In the second part, it would remove local iCloud cache files as well. Thanks to smart-select, CleanMyMac X will not tamper your important photographs.
Mail Attachments is a great feature if you use native mail clients on your Mac. There is a chance that email attachments are taking up so much space. This feature of CleanMyMac X would remove all the attachments while optimizing the whole data storage section.
iTunes Junk is perhaps the most important feature in CleanMyMac X Cleanup section. This will remove junk files related to the iTunes application, such as device backups, old updates, copies of iOS apps etc. You would also get rid of broken downloaded files, which may be taking up space.
Trash Bins is also a superb cleaning feature in the Cleanup section. Instead of cleaning bins from individual drives, CleanMyMac X lets you do that in a single click. You will also be able to bypass Finder errors that you may otherwise come across.
Considering all these, Cleanup section of CleanMyMac X is quite comprehensive. From our test, CleanMyMac X removing the massive amounts of unused junk. One of the best examples of this is when it scrubs the junk out of iTunes. Before reviewing CleanMyMac X, we had no idea that iTunes left so much junk scattered all over our computer. Before this turns in to a rant about iTunes, the reason that made an impression on us is that it demonstrates the level of thought put into this software. CleanMyMac is thorough.
Protection
Of course, your Mac needs protection. Understanding this, Macpaw has added some security and privacy-oriented features in the latest CleanMyMac X.
Malware Removal is the biggest feature in this sector. With this, you will be able to scan your Mac device to find possible threats like viruses, adware, spyware etc. CleanMyMac X is using trusted malware databases to recognize the threats. The database is regularly updated as well. Of course, we couldn’t find any malware in our device, but you should give it a try. It’s quite unscientific to say that Macs cannot get malware. So, as something that can protect your Mac from further trouble, this feature is just awesome for CleanMyMac X.
Privacy is yet another useful section in the CleanMyMac X Protection section. You will be able to deal with many aspects of digital privacy here. For instance, CleanMyMac X will remove browsing traces, such as your browsing history and autofill data. Chat data from apps like Skype and Messages will also be taken care of by the powerful engines. In the results, CleanMyMac X actually lets you go deep into every app and see what can be used to trace you — and remove them all.
If you ask us, Protection section of CleanMyMac X offers us peace of mind.
Speed
Optimization part of this section helps you recognize and quit apps that take up a lot of resources. If you did not know, hung applications can keep consuming a lot of resources. CleanMyMac X will recognize such apps and quit them. This section also shows you the Login Items and Launch Agents. In short, CleanMyMac X lets you optimize how your Mac behaves when it’s booted up.
Maintenance part of CleanMyMac X section is even better. In a single click, you can improve performance of drives, eliminate application errors and improve search performance. Indeed, CleanMyMac X does a lot of things in the background. The tool will show you a bunch of options like Cleaning RAM, Flush DNS Cache and Reindex Spotlight. Select the ones you need and hit the ‘Run’ button. You’re all good to go.
We really loved these features, mainly because we had a snappier Mac experience after using them.
Application management
Application Management section of CleanMyMac X can be divided into just two. Both these features, though, are just awesome.
Uninstaller in CleanMyMac X not only shows your applications but also helps you uninstall them effectively. Instead of checking out individual apps, CleanMyMac X will list the apps based on name or size. You can also filter apps based on categories like Store, Vendor and Usage nature. At the end of the day, you can select as many apps you want and uninstall them completely. CleanMyMac X makes sure that the apps are removed from your system 100%.
Updater does exactly what you thought it’d do from the name. It lists the updates available for the apps you have installed on the device. Compared to the App Store or official websites, data is represented in an easy-to-use manner. You can hit the Update button to update the apps individually.
We’re not big fans the Updater, but Uninstaller can be productive at times.
File management
Just like Applications, Files section of CleanMyMac X has two features only, but both are awesome, at least for us.
Large & Old Files feature of CleanMyMac X lets you find large and old files on your Mac. Not only that, the tool will display all the files based on directory, size and access date. For instance, you can know the files you haven’t accessed for a month or so. This makes really easy to remove files, which may be consuming a lot of space from your Mac.
Shredder feature allows you to remove sensitive files with 100% confidence. For shredder option, in our opinion, it’s useful for Macs that run spinning hard disk drives (HDDs), but not for SSDs (solid-state drive), because emptying the Trash is enough to make those files unrecoverable due to the way TRIM enabled SSDs manage data.
Again, be careful with shredder option because you won’t be able to get your data back if you accidentally “shred” the wrong file or folder.
Long story short, CleanMyMac X lets you stop worry about data security and files taking up space.
Availability and pricing
CleanMyMac X works on macOS 10.10 and later, including the newly released macOS Mojave. A free trial version is available for download.
Macpaw is charging $39.95 per year for a subscription to CleanMyMac, or $89.95 for a one-time purchase. You can purchase it from official website store, or get it from SetApp subscription.
Our final take on CleanMyMac X
If you ask us, CleanMyMac X is a great addition to any Mac out there. According to our experience, we were able to save a lot of storage space and enhance performance of our MacBook Air, enormously. Considering the amount we have to pay, we believe the program is just awesome. That’s also the reason why we stick to the opinion that CleanMyMac X is the best Mac cleaner software out there right now.
Pros:
- Beautiful interface.
- Simple and safe cleaning.
- A full range of cleaning options and advanced tools like an uninstaller, general maintenance, online privacy functions, etc.
- Smart – You will be notified of important files before cleaning.
Cons:
- The Monitoring Menu isn’t that effective.
Other options for consideration
This is not to say that CleanMyMac X is the only option when you need a Mac cleaner software. In fact, we’d come across some of the coolest options too. So, if you are not ready to spend on CleanMyMac X, you can try one of the following tools.
CCleaner Professional ($24.95)
For years, the standard in PC cleaner software has been CCleaner, and now Mac users can benefit from the experience that the Piriform developers bring to the table. CCleaner Professional is quick and easy to use program, which speeds up your Mac and secures it. Although CCleaner has a free version, there are only two basic features described on the website as “faster computer” and “privacy protection”. At the premium level with price $24.95 you have Automatic Browser Cleaning, Real-time Monitoring, Automatic Updating and what they call “Priority Support”.
There are 3 tabs – “Cleaner”, “tools” and “option”. These 3 ways CCleaner helps you remove junk files, trash files, unused data, unwanted files and software and many more such things which decrease mac’s performance, enabling it to run faster and smoother. It also removes cookies, browsing history and saved passwords, making your online browsing more secure, so no one can misuse your online. CCleaner cleared almost 3000 files in one go from my system. So, it is effective.
Though CCleaner Professional has many helpful features, it lacks in some things. CCleaner for Mac is beta version , it is not fully featured. Some features are missing from it which are available in the original version. CCleaner is limited to some browsers such as Safari, Firefox and chrome to delete cookies and trash files from them. Windows version of CCleaner has more features.
Intego Mac Washing Machine X9 ($29.99)
Intego Mac Washing Machine is a Mac cleaner that makes it easy to get rid of junk files that slow down your Mac.
This app completes three separate but complementary functions. It scans for unused or obsolete files that can be deleted, it identifies duplicate files, and it lets you manage your desktop. Through the app’s intuitive interface, you can quickly access all features and have your computer running more smoothly in no time.
Overall, the app is fine. It’s definitely worth checking out if you are looking for an app that helps you organize your storage drives and removes unnecessary files.
Clean Up Tool For Windows 10
But here is no quick-look support for files preview and the trial version of this app can only complete the preliminary steps of each function. You get to see what each phase of the scanning process looks like, but to get any real functionality you’ll have to pay $29.99 for an unrestricted license.
Macbooster 7 (start from $2.49/month)
MacBooster from IObit is a powerful Mac maintenance tool for cleaning up Mac computers, and offers good functionality for its class. MacBooster and CleanMyMac X have quite similar functionality, offering users a number of cleaning options and tools: system cleanup, finding duplicates, deleting large files, uninstalling applications, protecting your Mac from virus and malware, etc.
Start by clicking Clean and Boost for example and four sections – Internet Security, System Cleanup, System Optimization and Disk Clean – are scanned for errors, threats and redundant files. You’re shown how much space will be removed or how many issues require fixing, then find yourself invited to the click the Fix button.
We really like Macbooster’s performance boost tool, which basically lets you shutdown low-level services to speed up your Mac further. If you’re a power user looking to deep-clean your Mac, give the 14-day trial a whirl, after that, it requires a $2.49/month subscription.
DaisyDisk ($9.99)
DaisyDisk is a beautiful yet different disk space analyzer that scans the drives on your Mac and gives you a visual overview of what’s eating up space on your Mac. It displays files in a pinwheel-shaped disk map, letting you quickly locate and clean up large files. You can use the built-in QuickLook preview to see what you might want to get rid of (you can also reveal in Finder to take a closer look).
There’s a collection drawer where you can stage files (or entire segments) for trashing. Once you’ve browsed through and collected things you don’t need, one click clears them out. DaisyDisk is available for just $9.99 from the Mac App Store as well as from their own website (standalone edition). The standalone edition from their own website offers some additional features since it is not bound by Apple’s sandboxing rules.
We really like DaisyDisk’s design with its circular visualizations! But it’s important to note that DaisyDisk does not warn you if you delete something that is needed for your system or even for any application. So please use DaisyDisk carefully.
AppCleaner (free)
Why do you let your pretty Mac get cluttered with apps? AppCleaner is a small and simple utility we’ll include it anyway, because it comes in handy when it comes time to uninstall an application and it is FREE. Sure, the Mac makes it a lot easier to get rid of unwanted software than Windows, but don’t be thoroughly cleaned — even if you’ve dragged a Mac application icon into the Trash, that doesn’t delete the Mac app’s entire footprint. Often times the app will leave behind configuration files, cache folders and other remnants that occupy disk space.
AppCleaner does a serviceable job of locating all the files associated with the app, and provides an index so you know just how much space they’re taking up. Once you’ve got them all accounted for, click the Delete button and banish them forever.
Wrap up
In short, CleanMyMac X is an all-around great Mac maintenance tool for most people because it offers a great combination of useful features with a sleek interface of amazing power and beauty.
Of course, if you’re a power user, you will probably prefer to perform cleaning operations on your own via Terminal or other OS X system apps.
But if you’re a bit uncomfortable with diving into Terminal, and think about that time, and possible confusion, CleanMyMac is about as good as you’re going to find when it comes to apps of this nature.
It should also be noted that CleanMyMac X is used by more than 5 Million Mac users across the globe. Just in case you didn’t know, it’s recommended by popular websites like TheNextWeb and MacWorld, which also show the trustworthiness. And, if nothing is enough, you can take our words that CleanMyMac X will speed up and secure your Mac like never before.
Best Software For Cleaning Mac
You can download CleanMyMac X for free from Macpaw official website.
It’s also available on Setapp.