CleanMyMac X is the best Mac cleaning software. We had to use a number of Mac cleaning apps in order to find the best one. In the process, however, we had to set some reference points. We had used the following criteria to find the most effective tool for cleaning a Mac. Does the software have an intuitive and easy User Interface? Jan 27, 2018 Also Read: Best Mac Cleaner & Optimization Software. AVG PC TuneUp. Being one of the best free PC cleaner software for Windows, The PC Decrapifier not only helps you get rid of unnecessary apps and programs on your system but it is also useful to clean your startup process. It works on an intuitive and user-friendly interface to help you. Slack has quickly become the first name in business collaboration and messaging since it launched in 2013, and its free Mac app is the best way to keep in touch with your team. Bringing everything.
Is your Mac machine running a bit slowly? Does it hang up more often? MacBook, iMac, it doesn’t matter. Over time, the main drive of your machine accumulates all kinds of files that can slow down macOS, especially latest macOS version requires more disk storage and higher RAM (memory).
Reasons behind a slow Mac vary, so are solutions to tune it up. Just do a quick search in Apple Support Community, you’ll find tons of optimization tips — though many aren’t really that helpful.
In general, there are two ways to speed up a Mac:
- Upgrade hardware;
- Optimize macOS system.
If your Mac machine is struggling to meet the basic requirements for a newer macOS, you’ll benefit from the addition of RAM or solid-state drive (SSD).
If the slowdown is software or mac system related, a Mac optimizer app can help most of the time. Although we’d be realistic that it is unlikely that you’ll tune up your Mac with rocket speed.
In this review, we’ll show you the best Mac optimizer apps that can help clean, tune-up, and improve your Mac’s performance. Depending on the conditions of your computer e.g. new or old, storage space enough to not, your mileage may vary.
Quick Summary
Want to save time exploring? We understand. Here’s a recap of our recommendations:
- If your Mac is slow because the startup disk is almost full, get CleanMyMac to run a quick scan and remove those system junk and unnecessary files.
- For most Mac users especially those who aren’t tech-savvy, you’ll love what IObit MacBooster has to offers. It’s a one-stop Mac maintenance tool that can protect and tune up your Mac.
- If you just switched to Mac from a PC and prefer apps that are easy to use, CCleaner Pro is also a great option and it’s available for both macOS and Windows. You may also consider Stellar SpeedUp Mac as it all starts with one-click to scan and fix all found Mac issues.
Below, you’ll find our detailed reviews, but you can also click the links above to get your desired app and start optimizing your Mac right away.
Best Mac Optimization Software: What to Consider?
There is a wide range of Mac apps that claim to be able to speed up or make a Mac run faster, and usually, each of them has its own unique features. It’s really challenging to put them in comparison, so we review each Mac cleaner / speed app based on the following factors.
Security
The app should be free of malware or bundled apps. Although macOS is less prone to be infected with viruses or malware compared to Windows OS, it’s still worth paying attention to as this breaking news reported by WIRED:
“…while Apple has earned a strong reputation for security, a string of significant vulnerabilities in macOS and iOS have strained Apple’s safety net.”
Therefore, many people say macOS isn’t safe anymore (in our opinion, we’d add “that” before “safe”). We test this by running Mac security software to test whether the app contains malicious procedures. To be honest, we knocked out quite a few programs such as MacKeeper, which was reported by many Mac users for being hard to uninstall. Offensive software like that also hurt user experience.
App Quality
The app must deliver what it claims to offer, simple and fair! In our opinion, if a piece of software or app turns out to be different from what it claims to be — for example, fails to free up a decent amount of disk space, or improve the performance of our Macs (which show a bit age), then the value of getting such an app becomes little if not none at all.
Also, we prefer Mac apps that are light-weighted. That means even if a Mac tuneup app does a great job in helping reclaim tons of storage by clearing system junks, but at the cost of consuming a big portion of system resources while running in the background, we’d rather not to feature it in our best list.
macOS Compatibility
This is very straightforward. Apple pushes out a main yet new version of macOS once a year and to date, it’s High Sierra 10.13.3. If an app is unable to run smoothly under High Sierra, it’s definitely a problem. Because most Mac users will upgrade to the latest macOS sooner or later. According to ComputerWorld, 25% of all Mac users upgraded to 10.11 El Capitan in the first month, not to mention those who chose to upgrade on and from day 31.
If the developer of a Mac app fails to update the software in time, chances are the app has compatibility issues with the latest macOS version. Those who download and install it would have a hard time running it smoothly, let alone fixing potential Mac issues and optimizing your Mac’s performance.
Tech Support
Not all Mac users are tech-savvy. Those who just joined the Apple Mac family or switched from the PCs will take much time getting familiarized with Apple’s macOS operating system. When it comes to handling technical tasks such as diagnosing Mac system issues, removing junks, cleaning caches, uninstalling third-party apps, etc., novice users definitely need help along the way so it’s ideal that the app developer can offer prompt tech support.
For example, we value developers that provide various channels for customers (and potential customers) to reach out to, those could include emails, online chat, social media, or even phone calls. We have therefore decided not to include several programs written by individual developers who are unable to provide a decent level of support.
Ease of Use
All software programs are designed for human beings, not machines. It’s important that the best Mac performance tuneup software should be fairly easy and simple to use. From user interfaces, interactive buttons, to explanatory text instructions, they must be clear and to the point.
Speaking of this, one main reason why our AnySoftwareTools team love Macs more than PCs is that macOS is much friendlier than Windows. We all are used to the awesome feeling of smooth navigation on our MacBooks, right? If a third-party Mac optimization software can’t live up to this principle, we’ll hesitate to recommend it unless it shows merits over other aspects.
Pricing
Well, pricing used to be the primary factor when we make decisions and it’s reasonable. Who wants to pay for commercial software given that a free option is available in the market. However, the truth is these days freeware or open-source are becoming rare. Plus, many times free apps just don’t cut it.
What do we mean? Well, we’ve tested a number of free Mac cleaner and optimizer apps, only to find that some aren’t compatible with High Sierra due to lack of update, while others are either confusing to use or very limited in terms of features. We’d rather not to say this, but it’s often tedious and frustrating to install a free app and remove it later on.
Best Mac Tune-up Software in 2019: Our Picks
All the apps recommended below are safe to download and use (in other words, they are free of virus or malware). They are also moderately easy to use with sleek interfaces and clear instructions. And we tested them on a High Sierra based MacBook Pro and they all turned out to be fully compatible with the latest macOS. Also, we chose them because they have a dedicated support team taking customer queries.
1. Best Mac Cleaner: CleanMyMac X
Most newer Mac machines (especially MacBooks) are now with small-volume flash storage starting from 256GB, that means your Mac will fill up quickly and run slowly after some time. What can you do? The answer seems oddly simple: clean up Mac drive. But the process isn’t as easy as it may sound. Often it takes hours if not days to find out what files taking up the major disk space.
That’s where CleanMyMac excels. It’s an intelligent app designed and developed by MacPaw, aiming to make your life easier. You can use the app to easily reclaim gigabytes of free storage space in just a few clicks. For example, scan and remove system/iTunes/Photo junk, identify large old files that are safe to delete, uninstall useless third-party apps in batch, etc.
One particular section we like about CleanMyMac is the “Maintenance” module, which is packed with 7 useful utilities that help fix various common Mac issues, such as speed up Mail, verify startup disk, repair disk permissions, flush DNS cache, etc. These maintenance tasks are usually for power users, but CleanMyMac makes it easy for us basic users to use as well.
There are also a handful of other super helpful utilities within the app, and it’s up to you to choose to use them or not. We believe CleanMyMac is the best Mac cleanup app out there and we highly recommend it to most of Mac users.
2. Best for Mac Maintenance: IObit MacBooster
What separates MacBooster from other Mac optimization software is its all-in-one concept. You’ll rarely see how one piece of software can achieve so much — protecting your Mac from virus and malware, cleaning Mac disk drive, optimizing Mac startup times, and others. Obviously, IObit wants to position the app as a one-stop maintenance tool for a Mac.
Once you install and run the app, the main interface shows “System Status: Unknown”. All you need to do is clicking the “Scan” button, within seconds or minutes you’ll see an overview report detailing the issues with your Mac system. Well, we have to point out though, that the software over exaggerates the seriousness of certain issues. For example, it detected 5751 issues under Privacy Protection but turned out those “issues” are actually browsing histories we feel okay to keep.
Nevertheless, we still think the app is valuable for many users. In particular, we like the Duplicate Finder feature — which can help you spot out tons of duplicate and similar items (especially pictures) that are safe for removal. And by doing so, you could free up much storage on your Mac. There are also several other great features like Photo Sweeper, Uninstaller, etc. The bottom line: MacBooster is probably the only yet most comprehensive Mac maintenance app you’ll need to keep your Mac secure and fast.
3. Best Cross-Platform Cleaning App: CCleaner Pro
For those of you who just switched to Mac, you probably have used CCleaner back in the PC days. CCleaner was so popular and Piriform claimed it had achieved millions of downloads. But its popularity perhaps has decreased a bit due to the malware hack happened in 2017 (read more from this Time report). Still, it’s a tool loved by many and CCleaner is definitely the number-one tool for cleaning a Windows PC.
Few Mac users actually know that the app is also now available for macOS. Clearly, Avast (who acquired Piriform) wants to replicate the success of CCleaner in the Mac market. CCleaner Free allows you to scan and clean your computer, while the Pro version offers additional real-time monitoring, automatic updates, and premium support.
4. Best Mac Tune-up App: Stellar SpeedUp Mac
Bill itself to be able to “increase the speed of your Mac by up to 25%”, Stellar SpeedUp Mac is another Mac performance app that strives to take a share in the crowded market. The app is well designed with clean interfaces and text instructions. To get started, all you have to do is clicking the “SpeedUp Now” located in the center, and select “Recommended Scan” to continue.
The app then shows you a list of files that are supposed to be deleted, though within the program this action is called “SpeedUp Now”. We found this a bit confusing as cleaning Mac junk files is one thing and speeding up the computer is another, not sure why Stellar Phoenix uses the words interchangeably.
That being said, it’s one of the easiest-to-use programs we’ve tested and some of you may actually like it even though it’s not the fully-packed or powerful optimization apps.
Any other Mac optimizer software that you feel we should include in this list, leave a comment and let us know.
Influenced by the startup culture in the Silicon Valley, Jessica loves building things from zero to one and is keen on following news related to the Big Five tech giants and many SaaS startups.
Cleaning up anything seems a very laborious task.
I remember how my mother used to bellow at me to clean my room.
But...
...I always had some lame excuse to keep this task at bay.
But unlike then, now it’s totally opposite with me.
Now that I use MacBook, I’m in constant scour for good cleaners for my device.
Keeping the computers and phones clean are not only important to free up space, but it also keeps them safe from Malware and viruses.
Read: Do You Need Virus Protection For Mac?
5 FREE Mac Cleaning Software
Being an Apple products aficionado, and to keep them in good condition, I’ve been using many cleaning apps for my iPhone and MacBook.
I’m listing some of the free Mac Cleaning Softwares and applications for you guys out there who have clogged up PCs and need some memory.
#1: AppCleaner
One of the easiest to use Cleaner of all is AppCleaner.
What you have to do in this application is to just to drag and drop the app that you want to uninstall.
AppCleaner waves its magic wand in two ways.
You can either drop the files manually into the app’s window
or...
...just use the smart delete feature of the app and it will automatically find the files or the data of the deleted files from the trash.
#2: Dr. Cleaner
If you want to speed up and optimize your Mac with just a click then this great app named Dr. Cleaner is just for you.
It cleans your Mac’s disk and frees up a lot of space thus enhancing its performance.
It not only deletes the unwanted files but also eradicates the cache files that are building over a period.
This app is a boon for the amateur Mac users and what else can one ask for but a free app and here you’re served with one.
#3: CCleaner
Want to give your Mac a new kick?
Then you should give a chance to CCleaner.
It’s an effective and simple to use app that makes the Macs fast without touching the privacy of your files.
In fact, it is designed to make the device more secure.
It has three elements - Cleaner, Tools and Options.
These elements remove the junk files, uninstall the programs and fixes or deletes the cookies respectively.
Its paid version has lots of other features
but...
if you just want the basics, then you should go for the free one.
#4: MacClean 3
Why do you let your pretty Mac get cluttered with junk?
MacClean 3 cleans and frees your Mac’s hard drive with zero effort.
It works on the rule of three - Select, Scan and Clean.
It deletes all types of junk, for instance, Internet Junk, System junk, Development Junk etc.
It provides 10 different tools to clean your Mac’s unwanted things totally.
#5: Magican
If you think that buying a Mac frees you from every responsibility of making efforts in maintaining it, then you’re wrong my friend.
Just because the device seems to be working fine doesn’t mean that it don’t need any repair or maintenance.
An optimizer tool, Magican cleans the hard drive of the device from every unnecessary caches and data.
It keeps a check on the status of the system by showing CPU usage and Disk info.
It goes deeply into the stats, which is according to me an efficient feature.
Best Paid Solutions
Now that we’ve discussed the things for freeloaders let me also tell you about the applications, which are paid
but...
...are favorite of Pro Mac users and in which people don’t hesitate while spending, or let me say investing.
#1: CleanMyMac 3
This is my personal favorite and I’d like my readers to give this app a chance.
CleanMyMac 3 cleans gigabytes from the system in a matter of seconds.
It has been a very successful app since much time and now can also be supported by OS X 10.10 Yosemite.
There are many features on the app that helps you to clean the whole system in one click or choosing options from cleaning photo, iTunes, trash or other junk.
It is available for $39.95 per Mac license and in my view the cost is worth this beauty.
You can read the detailed review of CleanMyMac 3 here.
#2: Gemini 2
Gemini 2, that doesn’t actually clean the device but deletes the duplicate or much similar looking files is already a favorite of many users.
Based on an exclusive algorithm, it scans and removes the files that are alike and unnecessary.
It just requires a simple process - Drag and Drop.
Available at $19.95, this app is definitely one of its kinds.
You can read the detailed review of Gemini 2 here.
Final Words
Mac App Uninstaller
I’m sure you also want your device to be absolutely cleaned and work without any lagging.
Best Cleaner App For Mac
So, go in the world of these awesome Mac Cleaner apps and get awestruck by their features.