While Macs are great machines, they aren't perfect. From time to time, your Mac might need some maintenance to run at its best.
One of these maintenance tasks is to clean your system of junk files. If you've had a Mac for a long time, you probably have lots of files and folders to sort through. This can be stressful, which is where a cleanup tool comes in handy.
Let's look at some of the best cleaning and optimization tools for Mac computers. Before you check these out, note that Mac cleaning apps aren't necessary in many cases.
1. CleanMyMac X
CleanMyMac X is one of the best and popular Mac cleaners available around. This application has both cleanup software and antimalware software. Both of these combine to keep your Mac computer free of unneeded files and other clutter.
CleanMyMac X has a Smart Scan feature that does a thorough sweep of your Mac computer, detecting the number of junk files (such as system logs and user cache files) and their locations. In addition to checking for malware on your computer, it also optimizes RAM usage.
Plus, the software has an Apple notarization badge. This means that Apple checked the software and discovered that it has no malicious content. Thus, you need not fear for the safety of your computer while using CleanMyMac X.
Despite these features and benefits, this app isn't perfect. The first drawback is that the software is not free; you'll need to pay for an annual subscription or lifetime license to take full advantage. The free version only allows you to clean about 500MB of junk files from your Mac .
Download: CleanMyMac X (from $39.95/year)
2. Smart Mac Care
Smart Mac Care is another effective cleaning and optimization software. It's a product of Systweak Software and works on Mac computers running OS X 10.9 or later.
The scan features of this tool allow it to remove bits of junk files from your computer. You'll find a Junk Scan, Privacy Scan, Malware Scan, and many others. Through these scans, the software discovers unneeded files for deletion, helps resolve privacy issues, and fishes out malware.
Smart Mac Care has a beautiful user interface that makes using the software a breeze. It allows you to control the cleanup and optimization process with just a few clicks.
Download: Smart Mac Care ($69.95)
3. Drive Genius
More than a cleanup tool, Drive Genius is also a monitoring/optimization tool. Drive Genius possesses features that allow you to run diagnostics on your Mac's storage drive. Apart from that, the software can scan for malicious content and securely erase files. Most importantly, the software will detect corrupted files on your Mac’s drive.
Drive Genius has a DiskPulse feature. With this, you can run an extensive scan on your internal drive, receiving information on its status. For instance, you'll be notified if your drive is about to fail. While DiskPulse takes a long time to complete, the results are usually worth the wait. They could save you from a dead drive and lost files.
Of course, this software is not without its drawback. Its free version only allows you to use a small portion of the features available, including DiskPulse. And while the latest version (Drive Genius 6) works with macOS 10.12 Sierra and above, Drive Genius 5 isn't supported on macOS Catalina.
Download: Drive Genius (from $79/year)
4. TuneUpMyMac
Here's another tool developed by Systweak Software. While it bears some graphical and interface resemblances to other tools from the same developer, its functionality is different.
TuneUpMyMac is primarily a cleanup tool. It has four different modules (Cleaning, Optimization, Security, and Manual Cleaning) to clean and optimize your Mac. These modules allow it to clean duplicate files, junk files, temporary files, caches, and many others.
However, there are some discouraging reports around TuneUpMyMac. These include allegations that the software tricks users into buying the premium version. Many antivirus programs have detected this as malicious.
Download: TuneUpMyMac ($69.95)
5. Gemini 2
Gemini 2 is another powerful cleanup tool; its major strength is detecting duplicate files and helping to organize them. This software can detect, list, and delete duplicate files on your Mac computer within minutes, helping you free up gigabytes of storage space.
The duplicate checker scans through all folders and files, regardless of the data type. This means that whether you have duplicate photos, music, or documents, it will find them during the scan.
Once you see the scan results, you can select the duplicates you want to delete and what you need to keep. If you delete a copy by mistake, you can always recover it with a click. Moreover, you can select files and folders you want to exclude during the duplicate scan.
There are a few cons of Gemini. First, it's not free, like many tools of this type. Also, it has an "achievement" feature that seems out of place. It seeks to gamify the process of ridding your Mac computer of duplicate files, but is not really needed and comes off as cheesy.
Download: Gemini 2 (from $19.95/year)
6. CCleaner
CCleaner is a well-known multi-purpose cleaning tool that works on macOS, Windows, and Android devices. It identifies unwanted and junk files on your Mac computer, deleting them to help you free up space.
It also optimizes your Mac's performance by reducing the workload on the RAM. It does this by removing startup and background apps that run on your system. It also helps youy uninstall applications you no longer use.
Despite these benefits, there are some downsides to the use of this cleanup software. We've documented the issues with CCleaner before, and while it's cleaned up its act, the software is far from as necessary as it once was.
On the plus side, CCleaner offers most of its features for free. The Pro version is really only necessary if you want automatic updates and background monitoring.
Download: CCleaner (Free, premium version available)
Keep Your Mac Running Smoothly
If you choose to use Mac cleaning apps, now you know which ones are the best. And while most of them aren't free, you may find the convenience of automatic file cleaning worth the cost.
Meanwhile, don't forget that you can free up space on your Mac manually in many ways, too.