Time Machine doesn’t just back up to external drives. Enable Time Machine on your MacBook and it will create “local snapshots,” too — potentially taking up over 100 GB of disk space on its internal storage. These local snapshots appear as “Backups” when you look at the visual overview of storage in the About Your Mac window.
- Free Up Space Mac
- Best Software To Free Up Space On Mac Laptop
- Best Program To Free Up Hard Drive Space Mac
- Free Up Disk Space Mac
- How To Clear Up Space On Mac
- Free Up Space On Macbook
What Is A Mac Cleaner App?
Mac Cleaners are dedicated utilities designed to scan, monitor, and manage your Mac machines from stray files that occupy unnecessary storage space & eventually slow down your computer. These include – caches, logs, duplicates, partial downloads, localization files, old backups, large/unused programs, and other residues. Using the Best Mac Cleaner Applications, you can keep an eye & eradicate these files & apps which may hog your memory & finally some cleaning appeals monitor for viruses & other vulnerabilities.
Cleaning your Mac regularly is an essential task as with time junk files accumulate on your Mac, making it slow. The junk files include unnecessary cache files, log files, temporary files, trash items, duplicate files, and more. Cleaning all this junk manually is time-consuming. Also, it doesn’t even guarantee accurate results. The best solution available to clean this junk is to use advanced apps to clean Mac. So wondering which are the best Mac cleaning software available in the market? Let’s discuss.
Top 3 Mac Cleaners and Optimizers
TuneupMyMac
| Best choice |
CleanMyMacX
| Best choice |
Ccleaner
| Best choice |
7 Best Mac Cleaning Apps 2020 (Free & Paid)
Mac cleaner software is capable of removing junk, optimizing disk storage and enhancing the performance of your Mac. Here, we have listed some of the best apps to clean your Mac. The list includes free and paid versions available in 2020.
List of Content
1. TuneupMyMac
Price: $49.95
Ratings: 4.9
Compatibility: OS X 10.7 or later
Free Version: Trial Available
Pros:- Offers one-click cleaning to save time
- Deletes confidential and sensitive data to keep your data security intact
- Compatible with older Mac versions as well as latest macOS
Your search for the best Mac cleaner ends today with TuneupMyMac. This advanced cleaner for Mac helps you deep scan your system storage to find and clean all junk effectively. You can use TuneupMyMac to optimize your system for better performance and seamless user experience. You can download its free version to explore various features of this powerful cleaning app for Mac. Read full review
Features of TuneupMyMac
- It offers 4 effective cleaning modules. These modules include cleaning, optimization, manual cleaning, and security features.
- Its file shredder feature helps you permanently delete secret files and folders.
- You can try its free version to explore various cleaning and optimization features.
2. CleanMyMac X
Price: $34.95
Ratings: 4.9
Compatibility: OS X 10.10 or later
Free Version: Trial Available
Pros:- Multi-language support
- One-click cleaning & optimization
- Protects against malware and online threats.
- Not compatible with older Mac versions.
- Free version only removes up to 500 MB of junk.
CleanMyMac X is next best Mac cleaner you should try in 2020. It helps you clean megatons of junk and makes your system run faster than ever. Technically, it removes the need to install dozens of cleaning and optimization software as it comes loaded with all necessary features. It works as a macOS cleaner, a malware remover, a performance monitor, Mac optimizer, and more. It chases junk in all corners of your macOS and helps you deep clean it to free up GBs of disk space.
Features of CleanMyMac X
- Helps you clean and fixes all performance issues in just one click to save time. For effective & safe cleaning, it always asks you for confirmation before deleting anything.
- Works as a malware remover and protects your online privacy.
- Comes with an app uninstaller and updater to keep all apps & programs up to date.
3. CCleaner for Mac
Price: $19.95
Ratings: 4.8
Compatibility: OS X 10.6 or later
Free Version: Available
Pros:- Offers real-time monitoring
- With scheduled cleaning helps you save time
- Automatic updates for complete cleaning
- Missing security features
- Fewer features compared to other leading Mac cleaner tools
CCleaner for Mac is all-in-one Mac optimizer that is designed to clean and optimize your system for better performance. It deep scans your system storage to find & clean junk even from the remotest corners of your Mac. It offers one-click cleaning to make your Mac run faster and smoother. To help you reduce clutter, it cleans Trash items, temporary files & folders, broken permission entries, and more.
Features of CCleaner for Mac
- Offers full customization to give you greater control over the cleaning process.
- Cleans browsing history, cache files and cookies to keep your online privacy intact.
- Additionally, it offers real-time monitoring, automatic updates, scheduled cleaning, and more.
4. IObit MacBooster 8
Price: $39.95
Ratings: 4.3
Compatibility: OS X 10.9 or later
Free Version: Trial Available
Pros:- Works as a best Mac cleaner and system protector
- Priority customer support
- Lite version is available
- No priority support with the basic version
- Hard to navigate through features.
IObit MacBooster 8 is a powerful cleaner for Mac that is meticulously designed to clean and protect your device. It helps you clean up to 20 types of junk files and effectively removes malware and virus threats. Its smart algorithms help you optimize Mac hard disk for an excellent performance boost. With smart security features, MacBooster helps you protect your data and system privacy. It works seamlessly to clean Mac even if you are using a smaller SSD or hard disk on your system.
Features of IObit MacBooster 8
- In addition to cleaning other junk, it also helps you find and remove duplicate files.
- Working as a startup optimization tool, it helps you speed up your boot process.
- Offers effective Internet security and malware protection.
5. EaseUS CleanGenius for Mac 5.0
Price: $35.34
Ratings: 4.0
Compatibility: OS X 10.7 or later
Free Version: Trial Available
Pros:- One-click cleaning to save time.ation
- Works as a duplicate file finder, app uninstaller, and more.
- Keeps privacy & security intact.
- Compatibility issues with latest macOS versions.
- Limited features in comparison to its competitors.
If you are using older Mac OS X 10.7 or later version, then EaseUS CleanGenius is one of the best cleaning software for Mac. It is designed to work tirelessly to keep your system clean of junk and helps you free up tons of disk space effortlessly. The best part is, it also works as a security and privacy protector. Its smart security features keep your system safe against malware and online threats. Read full review
Features of EaseUS CleanGenius for Mac
- Being one of the best Mac cleaning utility, it helps you speed up your Mac in a few clicks.
- Offers features like duplicate file cleaner and app uninstaller to keep your system in good shape.
- Protects you against malware and online security threats.
6. Avira Optimizer for macOS
Price: Free
Ratings: 4.0
Compatibility: OS X 10.12 or later
Free Version: Available
Pros:- On-demand privacy and storage optimization.
- Schedule cleanup option.
- One-click cleaning
- Lacks on batch cleaning functionality
- Offers limited features
Being one of the best Mac cleaning software, Avira Optimizer for macOS brings effortless cleaning and Mac optimization. It is a state-of-the-art solution that offers on-demand privacy and storage optimization. You can use this powerful Mac cleaner to make room for more files with a single click. It not only helps you clean up GBs of disk space, but it also improves overall Mac performance. This efficient Mac cleaner tool is trusted by millions of users around the world.
Features of Avira Optimizer for macOS
- For efficient cleaning and protection, it offers on-demand privacy and storage optimization.
- Allows you to schedule cleanup to save time.
- Offers one-click cleaning and optimization for effective results.
7. AVG Cleaner for Mac
Price: Free
Ratings: 4.3
Compatibility: OS X 10.8 or later
Free Version: Available
Pros:- Helps you deep clean hidden clutter.
- Works on an interactive interface.
- Cleans & protects Mac from a single dashboard
Free Up Space Mac
Cons:- Doesn’t suit to advanced users.
- Hard to navigate through features.
AVG Cleaner for Mac is the best free Mac cleaner that gives you the detailed information of all junk files. For better control, it allows you to select files for deletion. You can even keep them if you want. You can preview these files before you delete them to avoid accidental deletion. You can use this advanced Mac optimization tool to delete cache files, log files, leftover junk, temporary files, duplicate files and more. It deep scans your Mac for effective cleaning.
Features of AVG Cleaner for Mac
- Helps you clean up hidden clutter in addition to other junk files. Here, it cleans downloaded file history, log files, uninstalls leftovers, cache, Trash contents, and more.
- Allows you to preview files before you delete them.
- With its AVG Zen network feature, you can remotely overview your Mac and control its performance.
Conclusion
The complex task of cleaning junk on your Mac and optimize it for better performance could be easily performed using best Mac cleaner tools. Here, we have tested & reviewed some of these best options. Do try them and share your experience in the comments below.
Frequently Asked Questions: Top Mac Cleanup Solutions (2020)
Q1. Are Mac Cleaners Worth It?
The short answer is Yes! Just like any other computer, your Mac machine requires some clean-up work done once in a while. Consider using a Mac Cleaner App when your Mac isn’t performing up to the mark. Scanning your machine with a legit Mac Cleaning Software can certainly help you restore the past performance. Also, having privacy & overall protection is an excellent reason one should consider before using a computer cleaning utility.
Q2. Is There Any Free Mac Cleaning App?
Yes, there are several free cleaning software for Mac, all claims to clean and optimize your Mac while only a few of them hold the potential to keep your Mac machine free from all the junk, viruses & other vulnerabilities. We suggest using TuneupMyMac free version that offers advanced cleaning methods to deep clean your computer & frees it from memory hogging resources for better performance & seamless user experience.
Q3. Does App Have A Mac Cleaner?
Well, yes, your macOS has a built-in Mac Cleaning Utility called Optimized Storage. It lets user’s free up storage space by making the system keep things in iCloud automatically. Though its capabilities are limited, you can use the Optimized Storage feature for basic system cleanup. For extra flashy features & through protection, you are required to switch to a dedicated Mac Cleaning Software.
Q4. How Often Should You Clean Your Mac?
Well, all the aforementioned Mac Cleaning Utilities are capable of cleaning & optimizing your Mac machine as an when required. However, it is equally important to take care of your MacBook externally. It would help if you gave your Mac machine a quick clean every two days using a microfibre cloth to keep it safe from low-dust environments.
Suggested Reads:
Best Software To Free Up Space On Mac Laptop
What is taking up space on my Mac?
There comes a time in every computer's life when it is full of files and programs, slowing it down so much that its owner searches for an article such as this in order to cure it of these ailments (before it gets thrown out the window!).
Worry not, you're in the right place. This article will take you through 8 steps which will free up space on your Mac - removing unneeded files and clearing space for the stuff you actually need.
No matter if you're tech savvy or not, anyone can use these tips to breathe new life into their Mac.
To find out how much space is available on your Mac:
- Open the Apple menu (the Apple icon in the top-left corner of your screen).
- Click 'About this Mac'.
- Click 'Storage'.
This overview will show what categories are taking up the most space, as well as how much space is available on your Mac.
The 8 sections below address the biggest culprits of space-hogging on your Mac and how to clean them up.
Jump straight to:
1. Mac OS Storage Management
The first port of call when making space on your Mac is to see what tools your Mac offers you for such a task.
If your Mac is running macOS Sierra or later, it has great built-in tools for managing files and optimizing storage. To access these tools, click the apple icon in the top-left corner of your screen > About this Mac > Storage > Manage…
As you can see this is also how to check storage on Mac. The tool shows a breakdown of the storage space taken up on your Mac by media such as Apps, Books, Photos and others.
Let's have a look at each tool to see how it can help:
- Store in iCloud: Quickly store files (Documents, Photos and Messages) from your Mac in iCloud. When considering how to clear space on Mac, getting rid of files quickly springs to mind- However, if you need to keep the files, you can just move them to an external hard drive, or into iCloud!Enabling this option will allow your Mac to automatically save space when it’s needed.This is great as you’ll be able to access your files on any device using your Apple ID. However, if you have a large number of files, you’ll need to purchase more storage space than your allotted free amount (5GB)- obviously, depending on the amount of space you need, this can quickly become an expensive option.
- Optimize Storage: For those who download and watch lots of movies and TV, this option can save you a lot of space and a lot of time. Enabling this option will allow your Mac to automatically remove such files (which can be HUGE depending on their length and quality) once you have watched them.
- Empty Trash Automatically: Similar to the above, enabling this option allows the automatic removal of files, saving you time and space without having to keep on top of it manually. This will remove items in your Trash after 30 days of them being there. Be aware that once files have been removed from your Trash, you will not be able to retrieve them.Side note: Many points in this article will advise the removal of unwanted files from your Mac. However, these files are not completely removed from your computer until you empty the Trash (the space is not regained until they are removed from Trash). You can manually empty it by clicking the Trash Can icon in your dock, then clicking 'Empty'.
- Reduce Clutter: Find large and unused files on your Mac and delete them from your system. You’ll need to delete them manually, but it’s well worth it if you can remove files that you do not use.Navigate to files that you don't need using the 'Large Files' or 'Downloads' sorters, then hit 'Delete...'. Note that this action will bypass sending the item to Trash, so it's permanent.
If you're finding unwanted files using the 'File Browser' tab, you'll need to right-click > 'Move To Trash'.
2. Find Duplicate Files Mac
The quickest way to free up space on your Mac is to automatically remove files that you don’t need. Without realizing it, you can accumulate gigabytes worth of duplicate files and folders on your computer.
The problem is that it can take so much time to find and delete these duplicates that people do not bother to do it even if they want to.
Luckily, you can use an app like Duplicate Sweeper to do this for you.
Duplicate Sweeper: Easily scan your Mac for duplicate files and photos. You can then select and remove duplicates based on your preferences. In this way you can keep your newest version of files and remove all duplicates with a click of a button.
In the example below, I was able to remove over 6000 files with one-click. This freed up 2.3 GB of space on my MacBook. Imagine manually going through and comparing 6000 files without Duplicate Sweeper... it would have taken forever!
For more information about Duplicate Sweeper, or to download the free trial:
Duplicate Sweeper homepageTry Duplicate Sweeper free ▼
Receive an email with a link so you can download the free trial on your computer:
Note: We respect your privacy. We won't share your Email address with anyone else, or send you spam.
3. Unused Apps- Uninstall Programs on Mac
Best Program To Free Up Hard Drive Space Mac
One of the biggest areas you should consider when looking at how to free up space on Mac is your Apps. Maybe unsurprisingly, apps on your Mac can be some of the largest files on your computer. Removing apps that you don’t use can free up a huge amount of space. Let’s list your apps by their files size:
Open Finder, then open the Applications section. Display the items as a list (using the button with 4 horizontal lines), then click the ‘Size’ header to reorder your applications by size. You can then work down the list and decide which applications you don’t use. Simply drag an application from the list into the Trash Can on your Dock to remove them.
Remember that you’ll need to empty your Trash Can to completely remove the applications from your Mac.
4. Clean up media and downloads
The quality of media like photo and video is constantly improving. Unfortunately, this usually means that the corresponding files are bigger than they used to be.
For this reason, your saved media could be a great place to free up some of that precious storage on your Mac.
Open Finder and look through your Pictures, Movies and Music folders. If there is media there that you don't want, select it and move it to Trash to get rid of later. If you prefer to delete this media from the associated apps like Photos and iMovie, see how to empty their trash.
Free Up Disk Space Mac
It is also recommended to check your Downloads file for unwanted files too.
This folder can receive copious amounts of files downloaded from multiple sources. Many of these files you may have only needed to read or use once.
You can get to your Downloads folder by opening a Finder window and clicking the 'Downloads' header.
Again, select whatever files you don't need, then right-click > Move to Trash/Bin.
Extra: Zipped / Archived files
If you receive a zipped file (with the .zip extension), opening it will unzip the file or folder and create the files in a non-zipped form.
This will create files that you can use, but it will not remove the (now unneeded) zip file. If you've already unzipped, you can delete the .zip file.
How To Clear Up Space On Mac
On the flip side, you can use file archiving to compress files or folders that you don't use regularly.
Say you have a folder of documents that you only need to save for safekeeping; right-click the folder in Finder and click 'Compress [file/folder name]'. This will compress the files and create a .zip file.
Don't forget to delete the original, uncompressed folder in order to save the space!
5. Delete iTunes backups
Depending on the number of files, photos, messages etc that you have stored on your iPhone, iPod or iPad, it’s backup on your Mac can be huge.
Keeping backups of your devices is a good idea. If something was to happen to your device, your data can be restored to it (or another device) using your backup. However, these backup files can be massive, and you may never need them! For this reason, consider backing up your devices to iCloud instead – freeing up space on your Mac.
To set your device to backup to iCloud, go to Settings > (your name) > iCloud > iCloud Backup.
To initiate a backup, connect your device to a power source and also to a Wi-Fi network. Lastly, ensure that your device screen is locked and that you have enough free space in iCloud to store the backup.
To initiate a backup, connect your device to a power source and also to a Wi-Fi network. Lastly, ensure that your device screen is locked and that you have enough free space in iCloud to store the backup.
![Space Space](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126389971/381901438.jpg)
How to delete backups on Mac - You can also delete the backups which you already have stored on your Mac. To do this, open iTunes and go to iTunes > Preferences > Devices. If you don’t need the backups in the list, select and delete them!
Find out: where are iTunes backups stored?
Alternatively, if you don’t want to use iCloud for backing up your data, or if you only need certain data from your backups, you could use iBackup Extractor. This handy tool allows you to access and browse your backups, and extract any important photos, messages etc. that you need. You can save this data to your computer, then delete the backup from iTunes as seen above!
6. How to Delete Temporary Files on Mac
Some of the most common questions asked are 'how to clear cache on mac' and 'how to delete cookies on mac'. Well, let's answer those for you!
Temporary and cache are files that are stored locally in order to speed up processes. For example, images from a website that you visited can be cached, so that when you visit the page again, you don’t have to wait to download the images again, they are simply pulled in from the cache. That’s great for processes that you use regularly, but without care, your temporary and cached files can build up and eat away at your Mac’s performance.
Let’s see how to clear cache on mac – Open Finder > Go > hold ‘option’ and click ‘Library’ > Caches. Select and delete any cache files and folders that you don’t need to save space!
7. Taking out the Trash
Deleting files on your Mac usually only moves them to your Trash Can (or Bin).
This is great, because if you 'delete' something by accident, you can restore it to its original location - no harm done.
However, if you are culling files on your Mac to make space, you may wonder why you are not gaining storage after clicking delete.
To permanently delete files from the Mac, you'll need to empty your Trash Can. To do this, simply click the Trash Can (or Bin) icon in your Dock.
Here, you can review or restore files in your Trash/Bin.
To permanently delete all the files in your bin, click Empty. You'll be asked if you're sure, and to confirm the permanent deletion of the files.
Deleting files from Photos, iMovie and Mail apps...
Generally, you'll be able to use the steps above to permanently delete files. However, some apps have their own way to manage 'deleted' files.
As such, you'll need to empty trash cans in individual apps to ensure that files are fully deleted.
An example of this can be seen in the Photos app:
Click the 'Recently Deleted' header to access the trash in the Photos app.
After 'deleting' photos from the app, the files can remain in this section for up to 40 days before being automatically deleted.
Free Up Space On Macbook
If you are sure you'd like to permanently delete these photos, click 'Delete All' to remove them from your hard drive.
You can use similar steps to empty trash for other apps like iMovie and Mail.
8. Move files into external storage
The majority of the methods above cover how to delete unwanted files to gain space. But what you if want to keep your files?
![Software Software](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126389971/673161732.jpg)
If you need more space on your Mac, but deleting your files is not an option, you may want to consider investing in external storage.
You can purchase external storage drives pretty cheap nowadays.
The way this works is that you connect your external drive with your Mac via USB cable. The drive then pops up as a Location on your Mac:
You can then drag files from your Mac onto your external drive, or cut/paste them into specific folders on your drive.
Takeaways
These are the most effective steps to make the most of the available space on your Mac in our experience.
There's a lot of information above, but this is not an exhaustive list of everything you can do to clear space on your Mac. We hope that you now have the tools that you need to breathe new life into your Mac or MacBook.
Happy spring cleaning!
Publisher: Wide Angle Software