Free Mac Disk Cleaner

28 February 2021

Does your Mac feel a little slow and unresponsive?

  • The Storage pane of About This Mac is the best way to determine the amount of storage space available on your Mac. Disk Utility and other apps might show storage categories such as Not Mounted, VM, Recovery, Other Volumes, Other, Free, or Purgeable.
  • How to Clean Your Mac's Hard Disk Drive? SSD (Solid State Drives) is fast, stable, and offers great performance. Unfortunately, compared to HDDs (Hard Disk Drives), the capacity-to-cost ratio is not good. There are, however, methods to free up hard drives to obtain additional capacity for computer systems, including the macOS.

Or is it displaying a 'Your disk is almost full' error message?

That could be because there are excessive junk files occupying your Mac's storage disk.

These files often take up disk space for no good reason. Mac OS X tries to automatically remove temporary files, but a dedicated application will likely find more files to clean up. Cleaning temporary files won’t necessarily speed up your Mac, but it will free up some of that precious disk space. Once the free trial is over, activate with a nominal 1-year subscription fee to continue using the software. Disk Doctor is a practical disk cleaning application for your Mac that removes temp files, caches, logs, leftovers, large files (over 100 MB), and other unneeded files.

Junk files take many shapes and forms. They also have varying sizes (some are tiny files while some may run into gigabytes) and are scattered across several folders on your Mac. Manually locating and removing these unwanted disk-consuming files can be exhausting and futile.

Thanks to Mac cleaning and optimization software, you can give your Mac's storage a clean sweep and free up space within seconds. So, here are our top picks of the best Mac cleaner software in 2021.

Best disk cleaner for Mac

You'll find tons of applications out there offering disk cleanup for Mac. Choosing the best one that matches your needs can get difficult. This is why we compiled this list containing ten of the best cleaning software for Mac.

RatingNameFeatures / RemarksMore Info
1MacKeeperBest all-in-one solution to clean your Mac.
Found the most junk files.
Removes viruses, malware, and blocks ads/trackers.
Provides 24/7 monitoring on your Mac for data breaches.
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2CleanMyMac XOffers a “Smart Scan” feature that cleans and optimizes your Mac in one click.
Comes with a “Shredder” that lets you remove locked items and junks without facing any (Finder) errors.
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3CCleaner for MacMonitors junk files in real-time and offers privacy protection.
“Smart Cleaning” feature automatically notifies you when there are junk files to clean.
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The Mac cleaners reviewed in this article all found varying gigabytes of junk files on our test device — a 128GB MacBook Pro running macOS Big Sur. Here’s a result of our findings.

Mac
  • MacKeeper 5 - 8.29 GB of junk files
  • CleanMyMac X - 7.18 GB of junk files
  • DaisyDisk - 2.10 GB of junk files
  • CCleaner - 3.49 GB of junk files
  • Cleaner One Pro - 8.20 GB of junk files
  • Onyx - 3.80 GB of junk files
  • AVG Cleaner - 3.17 GB of junk files
  • Mac Cleaner Pro - 4.00 GB of junk files
  • Avast Cleaner for Mac - 3.50 GB of junk files
  • Disk Doctor - 5.00 GB of junk files

This is the latest version of the MacKeeper software. MacKeeper 5 boasts of improved functionalities, refreshed design, and an easy-to-navigate interface. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Mac newbie or a pro—you’ll get a hang of MacKeeper easily.

MacKeeper is an all-in-one software with a bunch of built-in cleaning tools that’ll get rid of junks and redundant files eating up your Mac’s storage. As a bonus, you also get an antivirus, duplicate finder, an ad blocker, and a variety of other privacy protection utilities.

There’s a 'Find & Fix' section where you can check the status of your Mac's storage, security, and overall performance at the click of a button.

MacKeeper also has an Auto-scan feature that’s enabled by default. So you don’t have to set a reminder or schedule to get your Mac scanned for vulnerabilities — MacKeeper does that automatically in the background.

As a cherry on top, MacKeeper also comes with a built-in 'Update Tracker'. This tool checks your Mac for outdated software and updates them accordingly.

You can also use MacKeeper’s “Smart Uninstaller” tool to uninstall apps and remove their respective leftover files.

  • Price: From $14.95 (1-month plan).
  • Download: Available here.

CleanMyMac X offers a suite of tools that removes junk files and malware from your Mac. The software has a clean interface and you’ll find everything you need to clean and optimize your Mac on the right sidebar.

There’s also a 'Smart Scan' feature that thoroughly scans your Mac and cleans unneeded junk, neutralizes potential threats, and boosts your system performance.

Like MacKeeper, CleanMyMac X also lets you effectively manage applications on your Mac. You can use the utilities in the Applications module to uninstall applications, remove system extensions, and find outdated apps and update them accordingly.

The Maintenance module will free up disk space on your Mac’s disk, repair broken file permission, and compress the size of your (Time Machine) backup.

CleanMyMac X is a paid cleaning tool but you can use the trial version for free. However, you should note that the trial version comes with a 500MB cleaning limit.

  • Price: From $39.95 (1-year subscription).
  • Download: Available here.

CCleaner is a household name in the cleaning software industry, and the company has one of the best Mac cleaning software.

CCleaner offers a cleaning utility that analyzes your Mac’s storage to hunt out cache files, browser cookies, and other junk files. It scans both system and third-party applications, leaving no stone unturned.

Free Mac Disk Cleanup Utility

Asides from cleaning junk files, CCleaner also offers other performance optimization tools to instantly free up Mac memory. For example, you can use the 'Startup' tool to change your Mac's startup programs and optimize your Mac's startup speed.

The built-in “Duplicate Finder” will also help free up extra space by removing duplicate files located in similar or different folders on your Mac.

CCleaner is available for free, but there's a professional version that costs $19.95. The free version has the essential tools you need to get your Mac's storage spick and span. Likewise, it has no limit on the quantity of junks you can clean from your Mac.

However, if you fancy advanced features like automatic erasure of browser history, real-time monitoring of junk files, and automatic updates, you'll need to upgrade to the professional version.

  • Price: $19.95 (1-year subscription).
  • Download: Available here.

OnyX is free and gets the job done, it's not the most beginner-friendly app to clean up your Mac. The app's functionalities, utilities, and settings aren't out in the open, so it'll take some getting used to. When you get a hang of it, however, cleaning your Mac becomes a breeze.

OnyX has a deep-cleaning Storage management tool. You’ll find this in the Applications tab of the app’s Utilities section. The tool will uninstall unsupported applications, remove TV programmes and shows you've already watched, and delete junk items and cache files — all in a bid to save as much disk space as it can.

You can use OnyX for free, forever. However, make sure you download a version that’s compatible with your Mac’s operating system from the developer’s website.

  • Price: Free.
  • Download: Available here.

DaisyDisk does away with all the fancy stuff and takes a straightforward approach towards junk removal.

At the click of a button, DaisyDisk will scan your entire Mac disk in less than a minute and categorize your data into an interactive, color-coded map. Data labels are also displayed at the top-right corner of the app for easy identification.

To preview the content of the category, click on a data label or its corresponding color on the map to preview the content of the category. If you find a suspiciously large file consuming your Mac’s storage, all you need to do is drag the file to the Delete queue located at the bottom-left corner of the app.

This is one of the best apps to perform a disk cleanup on Mac. The simplicity and disk-scanning speed are two of its highlight features.

The only downside is that DaisyDisk isn't beginner-friendly. It shows you things eating up your Mac's storage but it doesn't tell you which ones are junk files or malware. You'll have to find and delete them yourself.

  • Price: $9.95 (One-time payment).
  • Download: Available here.

Formerly known as Dr. Cleaner, Cleaner One Pro (developed by Trend Micro) is another reliable app to clean up your Mac, particularly if you have a lot of duplicate photos.

It deep-cleans your Mac's storage by removing junk files, duplicate files, similar photos, and so on. There’s also a 'Big Files' tool that lets you preview and delete big files (between 10MB and 500MB) consuming excessive disk space.

The Smart Scan feature will check for vulnerabilities affecting your Mac’s performance and suggest actions to get them fixed.

Cleaner One Pro also comes with a menu bar tool that displays a quick overview of your Mac's CPU usage, memory usage, network status in real-time.

  • Price: $14.95 (1-year subscription).
  • Download: Available here.

Avast is renowned for its antivirus software but its Cleanup tool for Mac is just as good.

The app will clean up your Mac by removing junk files, duplicate documents, and applications that you barely use.

Avast Cleanup uses a unique image-detection technology to scan your photo gallery for bad images that are under-exposure, over-exposed, or blurry.

Everything you need to declutter your Mac is clearly spelled out on the app's dashboard. There are no hidden tools or menus. Simply launch the app, grant it access to your Mac's disk, scan for unwanted files, and choose what you want to keep or delete.

You can download Avast Cleanup for free but there’s a catch: the trial version works in scan-only mode. To clean your Mac with the app, you’ll need to sign up for an Avast Cleanup Premium subscription; Avast may provide a 60-day subscription-free trial period.

Mac os x cleaner free
  • Price: $47.99 (1-year subscription).
  • Download: Available here.

This Mac system cleaner offers two main tools: a Disk Cleaner and a Duplicate Finder.

The former will scan the nook and cranny of your Mac for hidden files (application caches, junk files, unnecessary downloads, and so on) taking up disk space. The Duplicate Finder, on the other hand, will dig out identical files and folders.

The overall disk cleaning process is simple and effortless. The Duplicate Finder supports a drag-and-drop functionality that lets you find duplicate files in specific folders on your Mac. Simply drag the folder to the Duplicate Finder section and leave the rest to the AVG Cleaner.

  • Price: Free.
  • Download: Available here.

Disk Doctor is one of the few junk cleaners that removes a wide variety of unnecessary files from your Mac: application caches, message attachments, temporary files, application leftovers, partial or uncompleted downloads, application log files — you name it.

The app automatically scans your disk and groups unneeded files into 20 different categories. You can preview the files and choose what to keep and what to delete.

The app ships with a light interface by default but you can switch to a dark theme if you want. Disk Doctor is strictly a paid app; it costs $2.99 and is available on the App Store.

We advise that you download and use the Free Demo version of the app before making a purchase. That way, you can easily decide if it’s worth the investment or not.

We should mention that the Free Demo version only allows you to scan your drive. You cannot use it to remove junk or optimize your Mac's storage.

  • Price: $2.99 (One-time payment).
  • Download: Available here.

Think of MacCleaner Pro as a full-fledged file manager with disk cleaning and system optimization capabilities.

On the app’s dashboard, you’ll find an overview of your Mac’s storage color-coded into several file types and categories: system files, duplicate files, applications, documents, movies, and so on. Click on any of the categories to view the items occupying significant disk space.

In addition to removing junk files, there are additional tools that can help you fix issues affecting your Mac’s performance. The Speedup Tool, for example, will rebuild the Spotlight index, disabling startup apps, and free up RAM.

The built-in App Cleaner will also reset malfunctioning apps, manage browser extensions, remove unwanted/unused applications and delete their leftover files.

MacCleaner Pro’s junk cleaner and system optimization tools are available to all users. On the other hand, you’ll need to purchase the app to use pro tools like the duplicate finder, app uninstaller, and disk analyzer.

  • Price: $44.99 (One-time payment).
  • Download: Available here.

FAQ

What is the best Mac cleaning software in the market?

MacKeeper does a pretty good job. It is lightweight and you need not have any technical knowledge to use it. The interface is easy to understand and you can swiftly find junk files at the click of a button. It also comes with performance-optimization features that allows you to monitor your Mac.s memory and other resource-intensive processes in real-time.

Do Mac cleaners really work and won't slow down my Mac?

Yes, cleaning software really does help to declutter your Mac. We tested all ten applications in this article and they performed brilliantly. A cleaning software may consume CPU resources and slow down your Mac if it’s registered as a Login Item — an app that opens automatically when you boot up your Mac.

We should also mention that Mac cleaners will not slow down your Mac while scanning for junk files. If a Mac cleaner slows down your Mac's speed or performance, you may have too many apps open and running in the background. Close apps that you aren't using and try again.

Are Mac cleaner apps safe to use?

Mac cleaner apps from trusted developers are safe to use.

However, some malicious Mac cleaning software has a history of stealing users' data. Therefore, make sure you perform your due diligence and only use cleaners from reputable software companies.

List of best Mac cleaner software that will help you boost your Mac speed. Select the top Mac cleaner tool from the list.

Apple has some of the best state-of-the-art features. One of them is a solid-state drive which allows you to access your files faster, but the only dropback is not much storage space.

Most SSD has storage of 128GB or 256GB and most of the time you might get the error to clean storage. For that, you need the best Mac cleaner software.

In this article, we are going to talk about some of the best free Mac cleaner software and also some paid Mac cleaners with advanced features.

Recommended: Best PC Cleaner Software

Best Mac Cleaner Software [Free or Paid]

Contents

  • 1 Best Mac Cleaner Software [Free or Paid]

Apple’s Macintosh came with pretty much every single tool you need. The operating system is very advanced and everything is automated, so the user doesn’t need to do anything.

However, they lack a good cleaner, a Mac cleaner which can remove the system junk, old redundant files, olds OS backup and more.

We have compiled a list of best Mac cleaner which has good reviews, easy system interface and all in one cleaning capability.

#1. MacBooster Mac Cleaner Software

This Mac cleaner is a utility tool that can clean up 20 types of junk files from your Mac. It also helps you improve the performance of your Mac and keep the malware and viruses away. It can boost your Mac by optimizing the hard disk.

It has the ability to search deep into your Mac SSD and clean out the system junk file, large files, and duplicate files as well. It has a turbo boost, memory clean and startup optimization tool to speed up the Mac. Also, it can protect your Mac from viruses, Malware and help you protect your privacy.

#2. CleanMyMac X Mac Cleaner Software

Website: https://cleanmymac.com/

One of the most reputable Mac cleaner which helps you manages your space. It has a one-click optimization program that helps you clean up your Mac in just one click. This tool is simple and sophisticated and doesn’t require many directions to run the advanced Mac cleaner.

This tool is also an advanced Mac cleaner virus as well. Mac doesn’t have much of a virus problem but they can too infect with malware and ransomware. This tool can take care of this problem. This best Mac cleaner also clears the ram, uninstall apps and more. It will improve your Mac performance.

#3. Gemini 2 Mac Cleaner Software

Website: https://macpaw.com/gemini

Gemini 2 is basically the duplicate finder allowing you to free up GB of storage as well s organize your files. It effectively and rapidly scans all corners of your Mac. Subsequently, it removes the unnecessary copies. Whether the file type is doc, image, music, etc., it can work on all.

Free Mac Disk Cleaner

After the scan completes, you can easily discard the duplicates through a single click. Moreover, you can go through the results to ascertain that nothing significant gets removed.

In case you deleted something accidentally, it is easy to recover with one click. To make sure such cases do not happen again, you can remove specific folders and files from the scan.

#4. Disk Drill Mac Cleaner Software

Website: https://www.cleverfiles.com/

Disk Drill is essentially a data recovery software and also works as a Mac file cleaner tool. The dual functionalities and high efficiency make it popular in the market. It includes an unlimited free cleanup module letting you effortlessly recognize and visualize those files that occupy excess space.

Instantly, you can get rid of unnecessary files. If you are concerned that some important files can come between the junk files, it is possible to filter the scan results. You can filter based on file type, file size, keywords, and different other criteria. Moreover, you can manually validate that the files you decide to delete are actually useless.

It comes with infinite Mac clean-up tools. For ease of use, the user interface is made intuitive. The software is frequently updated.

#5. iMobie MacClean Software

Website: https://www.imobie.com/macclean/

MacClean is a reliable and efficient tool when it comes to restoring your Mac Pc. As an alternative to clearing out all junk files at once, MacClean provides 5 different cleanup options. The names of these options are System Junk, Malicious Cookies, Internet Junk, Privacy Issues, and Security Issues.

Mostly, you will use the first option since it discards system and user junk. It also discards needles development files. To get rid of the duplicate files, you can choose among Cleanup Tools under utilities. Besides, this software includes a duplicate finder. There are multiple methods to discard junk files from your Mac PC.

Free Mac Disk Cleaner

#6. Dr. Cleaner Mac Cleaner Software

Disk Cleaner For Mac Free

Website: https://dr-cleaner.en.softonic.com/mac

One of the best Mac cleaner software is also free on iTunes as well. This all-in-one tool can help you clean up all the junk in your Mac and speed up the performance too. it can clean all the catch files, clean browser catch, clean the trash and remove anything left behind after uninstalling an app.

One of the most positive reviews of freeware Mac cleaner has also other tools too. one of them is Mac Memory Optimizer and this tool will help you clean all the unwanted processes and make you available the free memory. It can speed up your process and your Mac would run smoother.

#7. CCleaner Mac Cleaner Software

Website: https://www.ccleaner.com/ccleaner-mac

No matter the OS, CCleaner is best everywhere when it came to cleaning. This is a free Mac cleaner tool that helps you clean out all the unnecessary files in your SSD. CC Cleaner for Mac is useful when you want to delete the web browsing history and catches it with just one click.

This tool also has many other features like uninstall the app and remove it from the startup. You can also wipe out the whole drive as well. This is one of the best free Mac cleaners so far which is useful in many ways.

#8. Drive Genius Mac Cleaner Software

Website: https://www.prosofteng.com/drive-genius-mac-protection-software/

This is more than just Mac cleaner but it goes way beyond that. It has all the features of cleaning your Mac and gets rid of those unwanted files in your system. It can also repartition your hard drive to make it more efficient. Drive Genius also finds duplicate files, clone files, large files and much more.

It has also a built-in security feature that can take care of all the antivirus systems. It has malware check tools; Bootwell tools which help you with booting of your system, check, repair and rebuild facility is also available in this tool. Also, it will help you with speeding up the system by defragmenting and system performance checks.

#9. DaisyDisk

What Is The Best Free Disk Cleaner

Website: https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/30689/daisydisk

Who could have thought that Mac cleaner could be this much beautiful? One of the best looking cleaning apps for Mac also has one of the best interfaces which even a new user understands and operates. It can help you determine the whole space optimization of your drive and let you delete anything.

It has many other features as well and also many positive reviews too. Once you click the scan, it will show you the color full graph of your hard disk and all the large files are in different colors as well. It can also give you real-time information about mounted disks on your Mac. You can preview your file before deleting it and all of this is happening at lightning speed.

#10. OnyX Mac Cleaner Software

Website: https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html

This is one of the best free Mac cleaner software out there. First, it’s a free tool and it has lots of positive reviews as well. This Free Mac cleaner is a multifunction utility tool that can help you clean up the browsing catch, system junk and optimize the speed of your Mac.

It is also known as one of the best Mac cleaning tools for professionals as it has a little difficult UI than others. Also, you need to download this tool specific to your OS, otherwise, it won’t work. This Best Mac Cleaner tool has lots of functions to read the guidance before using it.

#11. Trend Micro Cleaner One Pro

Website: https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/forHome/products/cleaner-one-mac.html

If you are looking for Mac cleaner software that can free up your disk space and do some other advanced tasks, then cleaner one pro by TrendMicro is the name you can check.

This tool can visualize, manage and free up your disk space in one click. It takes few seconds to remove all unnecessary files from your Mac. In addition, it can manage all the apps on your Mac and keep your device up to date all the time.

If you are not sure what’s causing high disk space usage, you can find it using this software. Also, it recommends what to do next if you are completely blank about what to do next. The toolbar will monitor your Network Usage, CPU Usage, and Memory Usage while scanning and deleting Junk Files. It means you have complete control of your Mac with one click.

It can clean junk files, including temporary files and hidden leftover files. Cleaner one pro, delete all the big files that consume your disk space, and free the storage space. It also removes duplicate files and similar photos. The disk map feature analyzes your storage usage and gives you a visual and interactive map of usage.

The file shredder feature gives you 100% privacy protection. It erases all the hidden leftover files from trash and deleted apps. In short, it will make them unrecoverable by applying the Secure Erase Setting.

I also like its application manager function. The software manages startup apps and services and speeds up the boot time. As a result, it will enhance the performance of your system.

It can view and manage app and remove them if it finds apps unwanted. There is an option of batch removal of multiple apps as well. Cleaner One Pro charges $14.99/device with a 1-year subscription plan. If you are looking for up to 5 devices, the charges are $29.99 with a 1-year subscription plan.

Conclusion

We hope that after reading this article on the best Mac cleaner software, you might find the solution to your problems. There are many tools in this list that are free to use and can be upgraded for better performance and others are freeware. If you need any more help regarding Mac cleaner, you can ask us in the comment section.

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