Best Mac Cleaner software: Reclaim disk space with a Mac cleaner app

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Few cleanup apps are as comprehensive as CleanMyMac from MacPaw, which has been updated to version 5.0 (and dropped the X from its name). Version 5.0 sports a redesigned interface that simplifies things by displaying the results of its scans as a series of tiles that give you a quick summary of each scan. 

CleanMyMac’s tools fall into five main categories that focus on different tasks: Cleanup, Protection, Performance, Applications and My Clutter. A new Smart Care feature gives your Mac a quick check-up and summarises the result of its scans for all five categories.

The Cleanup tools focus on deleting junk. The Protection tools can scan for malware, detecting and quarantining threats. CleanMyMac isn’t a dedicated antivirus program like those featured in our Best Antivirus for Mac round-up, but it’s a nice addition.

The Performance tools help with routine maintenance, such as clearing out DNS cache, or re-indexing Spotlight and Mail to speed up search results. The Applications tools help you delete unwanted applications and left over installation files. 

My Clutter can scan either individual folders or your entire Mac drive to locate old files. Version 5 adds the ability to identify duplicate files, or photos that look very similar, so that you can delete them.

There are also some new diagnostic tools, including the ability to identify apps that are using a lot of battery power.

You can buy CleanMyMac from MacPaw’s own website, or from the Mac App Store, although the version sold on the Mac App Store omits a few features. You can choose from an annual subscription, or you can buy it for a one-time fee. It’s not the cheapest cleanup app, but it provides dozens of different tools for deleting old files and data. 

There’s a free version available to download and a free trial version available on MacPaw’s website, but it restricts the app to only remove files up to a maximum of 500MB – and in the middle of deleting files it will demand you pay the license fee for the app. You can download that limited version and scan your Mac to see just now much space you can save before committing to buying the app. MacPaw is currently running a 30% discount for students – submit your university email address and receive a download code here. 

You can get CleanMyMac here.

Parallels Toolbox offers more than 50 tools and among them are some real gems like the Clipboard History and video download tools, but in this round up of Mac Cleaners, we are most interested in the tools to free memory and the drive cleaner, among other utilities.

Mac cleaning tools provided in Parallels Toolbox include Clean Drive, Uninstall Apps, Find Duplicates, and Free Memory.

The Clean Drive tool can locate unnecessary files that are taking up space on your Mac, and also find duplicate files that you may no longer need. It offers easy notifications and access as to what’s eating drive space (i.e., log files, cache files, trash, browser data, mail cache, mobile apps, iTunes temp files, iOS device backups, and old updates) and offers a nice level of control as to clearing them out. Clean Drive also offers quick access to the macOS Storage pane, which tends to be overlooked, and allows you to adjust your storage preferences on the fly.

The Free Memory tool notifies you as to where your Mac’s RAM/Unified Memory is going, which applications are using the majority of it, and allows you to mark the amount of free memory in macOS’ Menu Bar.

The Uninstall tool can fully uninstall Mac apps, along with any related files that may be scattered around your Mac’s drive. You can go through a list of installed applications on your Mac, pick and choose what to remove, and reliably strip out both the app and its support files. It can also highlight large files that are taking up a lot of space, such as games that you may not need anymore.

You can also run Find Duplicates to dig out any identical files – even ones that have different file names.

Parallel’s Toolbox is included free of charge along with Parallels Desktop but you can also purchase it as a standalone product for both Mac and Windows, with an annual subscription fee. There’s also a free 7-day trial that will actually delete files, free memory and do all those other useful things without you buying the app!

You can get Parallels Toolbox here.

Cleaner One Pro for Mac is easy to download and install. The software requires is available in both free and paid subscription-based tiers. For the free tier, the software offers basic scanning and no user limits while requiring no credit or debit card to be stored with Trend Micro. The Basic tier, requires a payment method to be stored with Trend Micro, offers support for one device, access to additional tools, and easy uninstallation if desired. The Advanced tier requires a payment method to be stored with Trend Micro, and offers support for five devices, macOS and Windows support, quick uninstallation, and access to additional tools. 

Cleaner One Pro is designed around an assortment of modules including Smart Scan, which looks over your storage, diagnostics, and applications, Junk Files, Big Files, Disk Map, Startup Manager, Duplicate Files, Similar Photos, App Manager, and File Shredder. The modules performed well during testing, and were able to locate large files and duplicates to be disposed of.

The Smart Scan, as expected, goes through a general overview of storage, diagnostics, and applications to suss out garbage files and make recommendations as to what tools to use. The Junk Files module found a variety of unused disk images and installers.

The Disk Map module worked as expected, offering a nice layout and concise display of what’s eating up your Mac’s hard drive. The Startup Manager offered an excellent peek under your Mac’s hood, especially in terms of launch agents, the module allowing you to activate or deactivate individual components

File Shredder allows you to drop in files and folders to be securely deleting. The Dropbox Scanner tool, which hooked into my Dropbox account, compared files and file sizes, and offered a quick means of cleaning up larger files, which helped clear dozens of gigabytes of space and proved to be pretty unique as a feature.

Cleaner One Pro is useful, lives up to its description, and offers an elegant and easy to navigate user interface that lets you prune your Mac down effectively. This useful set of Mac cleaning tools comes at a good price, and if you’re looking for something reliable in this field, it’s worth your consideration.

There’s also an iOS version on the iOS App Store. 

MacCleaner Pro from Nektony is divided into a core app and several module apps, namely App Cleaner & Uninstaller, Disk Space Analyzer, Duplicate File Finder, Memory Cleaner, and Funter. The core app can perform an overall disk cleaning and help free up storage space by eliminating extraneous files. 

The App Cleaner & Uninstaller module works well, and allows you to see the app you’re removing as well as its support files. This module has been improved compared to version 3, and now offers you easier access to startup programs and extension files, allowing you to enable, disable, or remove them. A Remaining Files feature allows you to chase down loose files, while an Open With feature lets you assign applications to open certain file types.

With Duplicate File Finder it’s easy to specify file types to look for, such as audio and photo files, with an impressive level of precise control. Memory Cleaner module offers an easy interface to show which applications and processes are consuming the most RAM. Funter module finds hidden files within your operating system. 

The Fast Cleanup option was able to clear up 11.4GB of drive space, most of these being application cache files, while the Deep Cleanup feature helped reclaim 65.4GB of drive space. 

We did have some peculiar instances in which a reminder poped up advising us to clear disk space for a macOS Sonoma (which was already installed). On another occasion when we paused scanning after half an hour we saw a request for full access to the hard drive. 

MacCleaner Pro is easy to install, runs well and has a good feature base. You can buy it on an annual or monthly subscription or as a one-time purchase.

The free trial version is fully functioning for two days and will actually perform some of the tasks you need to do, rather than ask you to buy the full version.

Avast Cleanup Premium for Mac provides a range of utilities to clean your Mac and remove unwanted files. Some modules go beyond expectations. However, care and customisation is needed to avoid accidentally deleting important files.

Avast Cleanup Premium for Mac is divided into modules: Quick Clean, Clean Clutter, Clean Browser, Find Duplicates, Analyse Photos, Uninstall Apps, Startup Manager, System Monitor, and Statistics. The Quick Clean module is the most generic and helps reclaim hard drive space by cleaning app cache, log files, trash, cookies, and web cache files.

The Find Duplicates feature finds and organises duplicates on your system, giving you control over the process. The Analyse Photos module scans local and external photo libraries and volumes, identifying rough copies of old photos and offering to delete them.

The Uninstall Apps, Startup Manager, System Monitor, and Statistics modules are unexpected gems. The Startup Manager module easily located 51 startup items that could be toggled on or off. The System Monitor offered a good user interface and layout, monitoring system sensors like fan speed, power usage, and battery condition.

However, Avast Cleanup Premium for Mac has some issues. Setting up took an extra day due to a server-side error. The software automatically opts into third-party product offers unless you disable this option in the Privacy tab, which is annoying.

But more concerning, is how powerful and broad the modules are: using the generic cleanup function without specifying what you want to clean up can be risky, especially when the browser cleaner removes generic cookies and autofill items, which can be useful later. Be cautious when using these tools, as they can accidentally remove files you might need.

Avast’s utilities are effective and stand on their own. There’s something worth trying here. The software, especially with its 60-day free trial, is worth considering. A free version with a scan function is also available.

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Piriform Software’s CCleaner offers some useful tools in a friendly, appealing package. It retails for $39.95/£39.95 for CCleaner Pro, which covers one device for one year. There’s also a free version: CCleaner.

CCleaner centers itself around several modules, which consist of Quick Clean, Clean Clutter, Clean Browser, Find Duplicates, Analyze Photos, Uninstall Apps, Manage Startups, System Monitor, and Statistics.

Uninstall Apps tool worked well and the Manage Startups tool dug up a chunk of files and and offered an easy way to remove them. The Clean Browser tool was able to locate and remove 2.01GB of cache files and cookies and Find Duplicates found 106.45GB of duplicate files. The Quick Clean tool was able to locate app cache files, log files, trash, cookies, web cache, and duplicate files offered to clear 6.5GB of cache files.

System Monitor offered system specs, access to sensors, and information such as fan usage, disk usage, battery cycles and temperature. The scheduling tool worked well, CCleaner offering a good level of customization.

There’s a good set of tutorial videos for CCleaner’s various versions, but you have to go looking for them. Piriform should offer quick links to these tutorial videos they’ve already produced and published.

There’s an excellent collection of tools to be found in CCleaner. The interface is clean, it runs well, and it doesn’t make the mistake of trying to perform every task under the sun.

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Onyx, which presently stands at version 4.7.1, is one of the best utilities on the market, and it’s free! OnyX is Donationware, with users asked to send along whatever they believe the program is worth.

It provides easy access to the powerful underlying tools within the macOS operating system. You can run powerful sets of customizable scripts to perform functions such as checking volume structures, getting low-level system specifications, repairing permissions, cleaning up system databases, and sorting out under-the-hood level system details. 

it’s easy to access complex system functions such as security, login options, Display Calibrator, Keychain Access and so on., 

Our only criticism would be that the Scheduling feature is a bit vague and seems to only function around specific days, hours, and minutes. And a set of tutorial videos would be useful. Users have complained that support is slow in getting back to them – but this is donationware, so, to be fair, it’s understandable. 

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DaisyDisk incorporates a clean, fun, interesting user interface via which it sets out to help you visualize the data on your Mac and its local, network, and cloud-based volumes, map it out, see which files are taking up the most space, and help you free up gigabytes of drive space.

DaisyDisk supports a number of file formats and file systems, as well as network volumes, virtual elements and disk images, and can mount and scan just about anything as long as the volume itself is operational. 

It can also mount cloud-based services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, and Box so you can find ancient files to be deleted. I was able to clear up dozens of gigabytes of space in the process. See our round-up of the best cloud backups for Mac.

We did have some difficulties with Google Drive, which refused to allow DaisyDisk access, stating that the app was blocked and “tried to access sensitive info in your Google Account. To keep your account safe, Google blocked this access.” This appears to be a conflict between DaisyDisk’s developers and Google and hopefully it will be sorted out soon.

DaisyDisk users are also currently unable to add and sort through Apple’s iCloud Drive accounts given Apple’s sandboxing of the environment. You can scan a local copy of your iCloud Drive contents using the “Scan Folder…” button but not the web-based data, which is frustrating.

In addition to being able to scan entire volumes at once, you can click the “Select Folder…” button and navigate to a custom folder. 

With DaisyDisk it’s entirely up to your own discretion as to which files and folders to delete, with nothing more than a five-second countdown clock and time period in which to cancel the decision.

Apple’s Disk Utility app can be accessed from the Menu bar to perform disk repairs on the fly. 

Unlike so many apps you don’t have to sign up for a subscription package: the app retails for a one off fee of $9.99/£9.99, which is excellent value. 

Though not strictly a Mac cleaner, like other apps in this round-up, MacPaw’s Gemini 2 can certainly help you get back some disc space. It is a duplicate removal tool that focuses specifically on reducing the thousands of duplicate photos in your Photos library. It also hunts down duplicate files within Apple Music and across the macOS operating system. The app is available through Apple’s App Store and MacPaw’s SetApp application, which grants access to Gemini and other apps for $9.99 (£7.60) a month. It is easy to install and offers a seven-day free trial in exchange for either your credit or debit card information.

The app includes scripts for easy scanning of the Photos library and your Music library, as well as custom folders and external volumes that can be chosen from a menu or dragged, dropped, and quickly scanned. Other features include Menu Bar elements, whitelists that can be created that are exempt from being scanned, and a Duplicate Monitor feature that helps compare files and heads off duplicates before they begin to pile up.

In testing, Gemini 2 quickly sought out duplicates, offered the option to remove them, and eradicated them from our hard drive. This also applies to music files and other document types, and the Duplicate Monitor warns you about possible duplicates that have been carried over to your hard drive.

However, there are some caveats, such as confusion about account registration and permissions after downloading and installing Gemini 2 from the App Store. MacPaw is urging its clients towards SetApp subscriptions, which offer full access to the company’s apps for a given rate per month.

While Gemini 2 runs well, a scheduling feature for folder or volume scans would not go amiss. An improved filter for locating duplicate items would be more helpful.

Despite some minor hurdles, Gemini 2 is well-written, sharp, helpful, fast, works well with all kinds of duplicates, and lends a good feature set to the macOS operating system without being overbearing. It hones in on its tasks and performs them well enough to earn the trust of users.

Intego’s Washing Machine X9 is a handy cleaning utility for the Mac that focuses on reclaiming disk space via the Reclaim tool, removing duplicate files on your Mac’s hard drive with the Duplicates tool, and organizing folders using the Organize tool.

As is standard, the software (compatible with macOS 13 High Sierra or later) requires that you grant it full access to your hard drive though your Mac’s Privacy and Security settings. Less standard was that we had to locate the Intego Washing Machine X9 app in the Applications folder and drag it into Full Disk Access in Privacy and Security settings to get it to function. It is more common that an installer will add an easy icon that can be dragged into the macOS Full Disk Access pane to complete the installation.

There’s a good level of customization. Like similar applications, the Reclaim tool can chase after caches, downloads, language files, logs, and trash files to help clean up disk space. The initial run cleared approximately 24GB of drive space from my M2 MacBook Pro’s SSD.

The Duplicates tool took about five hours to create an initial index for my 1TB SSD. It offered control over duplicates that can be selected and specific options and naming filters.

The Organize feature can help organize messy folders into a Snapshot folder for reorganization later. This tool can work with specific folders such as the ever-messy Desktop folder, your Home folder, and macOS’ Smart Folders, and help pull things into order. This Organize feature does feel like slapping a band-aid on the larger problem of a folder’s disorganization though.
The Scheduling option only allows for a specific week or month to be chosen, and it would have been nice to be able to schedule a process for a few minutes from now, as is common with similar software.

While it’s nice to be able to reclaim a few dozen gigabytes of drive space and have control over the duplicate files on your Mac, Washing Machine offers nothing groundbreaking.

With the current discounts and its attractive user interface it’s worth a look though. Alternatively, Intego’s Washing Machine X9 is bundled with Intego’s larger security suite so you could take advantage of that and get a Mac Cleaner with Intego’s Antivirus solution. The Mac Premium Bundle includes VirusBarrier, NetBarrier, Content Barrier, and Personal Backup solutions.

App Cleaner & Uninstaller simplifies the process of removing unwanted applications, startup programs, extensions, remaining files, and updates.

The Applications module indexes all applications and allows users to easily find and remove even the remnants of software. The Startup Programs module provides a convenient list of startup applications, categorised into All Programs, Active, and Disabled, and lets users select which to remove. The Extensions module categorises Mac extensions into Installation Files, Web Browser Extensions, Screen Savers, Settings Panes, Internet Plugins, and Widgets, making it easy to locate and remove specific extensions.

Unfortunately, App Cleaner & Uninstaller’s Remaining Files and Updater elements are problematic. The Remaining Files module, though useful, offers a generalised ‘Remove’ feature that can remove critical system elements like the App Store, affecting your Mac’s functionality.

During testing, it targeted Adobe Creative Cloud applications and files, removing file systems and requiring reinstallation of several Adobe applications. While a generalised cleanup is possible, the Remaining Files module should be used carefully to avoid removing critical elements. The Updates feature missed major updates like ff-Works, Slack, and Microsoft Office. 

macOS doesn’t have a built-in system cleaner, but with a little knowhow you can do the job yourself.

It is possible to clean your Mac for free, however there are risks involved. There’s a reason why Apple doesn’t let you access the contents of System Data: if you delete the wrong thing it could bring down your whole Mac! However you can follow the steps in this tutorial to free up space without spending anything: How to delete System Data on a Mac.

There are several options available that offer free trials or are completely free.

Free Trials: Some Mac cleaner apps, such as CleanMyMac, DaisyDisk, Parallels ToolBox and MacCleaner Pro featured above, offer free trial versions that allow users to clean their Mac for free for a limited period.

Free Versions: CCleaner has a free version with useful cleaning features. OnyX is a free utility that provides access to powerful tools for cleaning and maintenance of the macOS operating system

Some of these trials will merely show you how much space you can free up, but several are essentially free Mac Cleaners that will allow you to clean your Mac for free, albeit for a limited period. While some of these options may have limitations or time restrictions, they provide a way to clean your Mac without immediate cost.