CleanMyMac alternatives, by what you need
It depends on the job. To see where space went, DaisyDisk. To deduplicate and nothing else, Hyperspace. If you like open source and cleaning from the terminal, Mole. For one app that manages storage with a framework built on each file’s life cycle and is optimized deeply for AI agents, getting space back without deleting, cleaning, organizing folders and doing it on its own inside the boundaries you set, Mint. We make Mint, so weigh our entry accordingly; every price below was read from the vendor on October 11, 2026.
At a glance
| App | Best for | Price | macOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mint | Keeping the Mac in order: space back without deleting, cleanup, folder organizing, Auto Care, an Ignore List and Undo | Free tier; $39.99 one-time | 14+ |
| DaisyDisk | Seeing where space went, deleting by hand | $9.99 one-time, 5 Macs | 10.13+ |
| Hyperspace | Deduplicating with APFS clones, nothing else | Free scan; $49.99 lifetime or $19.99 a year | 15+ |
| Mole | Free open-source terminal cleaner, plus a cheap app | CLI free; app $19 one-time, 2 Macs | 12+ CLI, 14+ app |
Mint
Mint sorts your disk by what you can do with it. Optimizable is space back with nothing deleted: duplicate and idle files are stored more efficiently and every file stays where it is. Safe to clean lists caches and build output with how each comes back. Yours is your own files, for you to decide. It also organizes folders by hand, on a schedule or as files arrive, frees memory, runs on its own with Auto Care, never touches what is on your Ignore List, keeps 90 days of Undo, and works from Raycast, the menu bar, the command line and MCP. It does not scan for malware.
DaisyDisk
The cheapest good way to see your disk. It does no automatic cleanup and deletes permanently, so it suits people who already know what their files are.
Hyperspace
Turns identical files into APFS clones so every file stays and the space comes back. It skips Library and cloud folders by default and needs macOS 15. Our side-by-side is linked below.
Mole
An open-source cleanup CLI (GPL-3.0) and a separate paid Mac app. It cleans caches, app leftovers, node_modules and, in preview, AI coding tool leftovers. A good fit if you like reading the code and cleaning from the terminal.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a Mac cleaner at all?
Not always. macOS clears many caches on its own. A cleaner helps most when you build software, run AI coding tools, or keep many copies of large files, because those grow faster than macOS tidies them.
What is the safest kind of cleanup?
Getting space back without deleting anything, so every file stays where it is. After that, caches that rebuild themselves.
Try the one that starts without deleting
Mint’s scan is free and shows what comes back before anything is removed.