Free Mac Cleanup App

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• Free Mac Cleaner App
• Best Mac Cleanup App
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28 February 2021

Does your Mac feel a little slow and unresponsive?

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.

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.

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.

• 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.

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.

• 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?

Free Mac Cleaner App

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.

No matter which operating system you are using currently, but if you use it recklessly without taking into note of the storage capacity, at one point of time you are bound to run of your space. Now riveting the locus of discussion to Mac computers, you would face the same consequential aspects here also. Now deciding as to what to discard from your storage to avail some space for necessary components is quite a challenging task. And this is exactly where Mac cleaning software is required at their utmost.

Searching for large sized files, faulty files, app cache, duplicated items manually one after another would take all your day, thus this attempt is of no use when you want the result in a minute. However, the Mac cleaner software can do the same job in an instant without much hassle. So if you wish to explore a best free Mac cleaner app, then you have to continue with your reading down the lane.

Best Free Mac Cleaner #1: TunesBro CleanGeeker

When it comes to cleaning up the junk files, removing duplicated files, and optimizing the Mac to deliver speedy performance, 'CleanGeeker' can be a pretty good bet in optimizing macOS. Unlike every other Mac cleaning apps, it has got a stronghold of perfection which makes it more preferable than any everything else. There are many features built in it, such as remove duplicate files, junk files, large files, etc. It uses RAW algorithm which helps in deep scanning. You can uninstall apps and at the same time optimize or manage the system add-ons and extensions along with performance and CPU usage, etc. In fact the entire clean up is done in mere 3 steps which is hardly to be found with any other tools available on internet. Just download the tool and from the main tool screen, check out the tabs listed on the left hand side of the screen.

Take a look at : 4 Core Functions in CleanGeeker (Download it here)

Junk Clean:

The first core function that CleanGeeker offers is Junk Clean, this could clean up to 12 junk files or cache files on system and Apps. Including App cache, log files, language files, broken login items,Browser cache,Old backups,trash files and downloads, etc. CleanGeeker get rid of all the junk files and data that are slowing down you computer. With just one click, your PC will be cleaner and the performance of the system will be boosted.

Duplicate Finder:

The second feature that's provided in CleanGeeker is the Duplicates Finder. This feature will scan your entire Mac system and iTunes and will find all the duplicate data including music, videos, files, etc. and will give you the option to review them. Let's see how it locates and remove duplicate files on Mac.

Large Files Clean:

The third feature that I really loved about this tool is to find the largest and most old files in the system. After doing a quick scan with the program, I was able to find 27 GB of unused large and old files. CleanGeeker categorized them in a very well-mannered and I could sort them by size and could preview them individually. This feature is really remarkable considering I don't really have to manually glance upon every folder one by one.

App Uninstaller:

Another powerful feature that makes this Mac cleaner great is the uninstaller, this could completely remove unwanted apps that won't uninstall. What's more, it also can remove all files, settings, preference, folders that associated with the application without damaging the system.

CleanGeeker has a free version that allows you to clean your disk space up to 500MB, and The full version allows you to access all advanced features including Smart Scan, Junk Clean, Duplicate Finder, App Remover, File erase and others.

Best Free Mac Clener #2: CleanMyMac X

When it comes to removing malwares, junk files, monitoring system performance, there is scarcely any other software that can replace the CleanMyMac X, one of the best Mac cleaner out there. Without a doubt it can search every corner of your system to trace out duplicate, junk files, outdated caches, so that you can eliminate them. Besides, it can manage applications and files, it always askes for your permission before deleting any file and offers a due of Uninstaller and Updater, the former one to uninstall outdated apps, and the latter one to update it.

Read more: How to Find and Delete Duplicate Photos on a Mac

Price: $39.95

Best Free Mac Cleaner #3: Drive Genius

As the name suggests, this is really a genius Mac cleaning tool to all Mac related problems, especially the clearance of junk files. Have you ever wondered what impedes the usual system performance? Well with all the space occupied, what you are left for the MacOS to carry out operation is very minimal, which drags along all the troubles. Now Drive Genius is crafted by a company which is expert if data recovery. So how does it work exactly? It cleverly does a physical check within the drives to track the issues, like duplicate files and then move them to trash or replace them.

Price: Standard License: $79 and Professional License: $299

Also read: How to Clear System, Apps Caches on Macbook Pro/Air/iMac

Best Free Mac Cleaner #4: MacCleanse

If you are searching for an all-in-one solution, then go with MacCleanse. This free Mac cleaner program offers several files erasing options such as cleaning cookies, cache, browsing history, logs, etc. You will be surprised to see how much space you could get by erasing these files. MacCleanse also enable to preview all the contents generated by any app like if you play a game and it creates around 300MBs of cache data then you should be able to preview it and it will give you a better option to erase them. Moreover, this Mac cleaner software shows each and every information about any file before erasing. And let me remind you that erasing any data with this tool is permanent and even the best hackers won't be able to recover them ever.

Price: $49.95

Best Free Mac Cleaner #5. AppCleaner

Well the easiest approach to delete a file is to move to the trash, but still few extra files are left behind, thus AppCleaner is the best option to follow up on such an occasion. Once installed, it can delete every such extra file that is unnecessarily taking a lot of space keeping only the useful one.

The usage of this Mac Cleaner app is very easy, simple drag the apps that you wish to uninstall into the window of AppCleaner and all the associated files will be automatically uninstalled. All the uninstalled files will be sent to the trash, and you can check them to be sure before deleting them permanently.

Price: Free

Best Free Mac Cleaner #6. AVG Cleaner for Mac

AVG Cleaner for Mac has 2 main functions with a cool user interface. Firstly, it can be used as a Disk Cleaner which means it can scan the entire system and remove all the garbage files from the PC. Even if any files or data or cache/cookies are detected by the software, you will have the option to diminish them from the system. You can simply preview all these data and clean them with one click.

Secondly, this powerful Mac Cleaner has the Duplicate file finder facility which means you can scan the entire system and find out all the duplicate files and documents. Deleting duplicates could save hundreds of GBs especially if you have 2 identical large files. AVG cleaner is a very simple tool that does exactly what it supposed to.

Related reading: 3 Ways to Find and Remove Duplicate Photos on Mac Computer

Best Free Mac Cleaner #7. OnyX

OnyX is one of the best Mac cleaner apps available online. There are many features available with this program starting from disabling startup programs to finding duplicates and killing them. It even helps to optimize the hard disks and is able to clear browser cache, cookies, browsing histories and other unnecessary log files. Uninstalling apps and software is also possible along with indexing all the files in a single database index.

Best Mac Cleanup App

You must be thinking that you can do all these with Terminal. Well, you can but you would have to remember complex commands. With OnyX Mac Cleaner, you get to do all the above activities without having to remember a single command. However be careful not to delete files or features that are important unknowingly.

Conclusion

After a careful evaluation and testing + experimenting with 7 Mac cleaning apps, we have found that CleanGeeker is the best software among them, as it is offering a marvelous combination of essential specifications with an impressive user interface. It's the easiest tool to remove any kind of junk files from the system as well as those heavy unnecessary language files, which takes up a lot of space.

Moreover, uninstalling program and apps with this tool is phenomenal as it also erases every single data file generated by the app. But that's not all, it also enable to organize the startup programs that may slow down the PC by disabling them. It also helps to boost the browser speed by erasing cache, cookies, malicious extensions and plugins. Also, just like any other duplicate file finders, this program helps to locate and remove the duplicate items from the computer.

While using MacOS heavily, keeping a fre Mac Cleaner app installed in your system is not a bad idea. You can choose any of the aforementioned software as per your suitability and choice. But you need to flush your system with these software at least once in every week to keep the machine fit for better performance.

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