4 Alternatives to CCleaner: The Battle of The Optimum One

Taking a Mac as a workstation, it's a must that piles of downloaded items like images, documents, numbers, presentations, videos, and audio accumulate on it. As time passes, you forget these files lying on the hard drive and they just grow bigger and bigger, eating up a whopping of space and resulting in a sluggish running speed for Mac.

In this scenario, it's a must to install a Mac disk optimizer to gather and remove all junk from the hard drive. As a result, incomparable performance will return.

However, when you look at the top-ranked Mac optimizer, CCleaner, you may be shocked by its high annual lifetime price or worry about security issues, as malware hacked its official website in 2017.

Take it easy, numerous Mac cleaners are filled with Mac cleaners market with different features and strengths, and it's easy to pick up a perfect CCleaner alternative to speed up your Mac's performance. This post also compares 4 top-recommended alternatives to CCleaner so you choose the optimum one.

1. iBoysoft DiskGeeker

iBoysoft DiskGeeker is a powerful Mac disk space analyzer that has received numerous commendations and prizes from its users. Once downloaded and installed, it thoroughly scans the hard drive for all files and folders and then presents them with a visual table. The larger the file's space, the bigger the view section will be. Therefore, you can clearly see which folder is consuming the most space and remove it to free up Macintosh HD space as much as possible.

No matter what file accumulates on your Mac, including system cache, user logs, application cache, downloads, app packages, extensions, third-party drivers, launch helpers, support files, etc., iBoysoft DiskGeeker lists with file names, modified dates, and sizes for you to select which files should be cleaned to free up the space of the system drive, improve Mac performance, and reduce the system crash risk.

#Best Alternative to CCleaner#Perfect Mac Disk Optimizer #Disk Cleaner for Mac Sequoia#Mac Disk Cleaner

How to use iBoysoft DiskGeeker to clean junk on Mac:

Step 1: Free download and install iBoysoft DiskGeeker on your Mac.

Step 2: Select a volume from the startup disk usually labeled as macOS - Data, macOS, or Macintosh HD, or Macintosh HD - Data.

Step 3: Click "Clean Junk" from the toolbar.

Step 3: Select a folder from the left panel and select the files/folders you want to delete.

Step 4: Click "Clean" and then click "Ok". You will fail to clean certain files if you don't have permission to do so.

Our Overall User Experience

Once you download and install iBoysoft DiskGeeker on Mac, we can let it scan the whole hard drive directly. It scans the hard drive bit by bit and sector by sector for every single file, including the hidden files on Mac, in a fast and stable manner.

Then we access the folder it gives, including UserCache, UserLog, Trash, Downloads, and UserAppCache with the memory it takes up in the bracket, to clean the useless files. It will ask you to confirm before the clean since the files can't be recovered.

What amazes me the most is that it not only includes the disk cleaning feature, but also the functions to read/write BitLocker encrypted drive and NTFS drive on Mac, encrypt and unlock disks by using FileVault or BitLocker, prevent virus attacks via setting USB Defender, and more.

Full Review

With this software, you can clean junk files on a Mac hard drive with ease. Just click the Junk Clean button, and then it gathers all files and presents you the scanning result, you can click each folder to tootle on the files you don't desire, and then click the Clean button to confirm your action.

After that, iBoysoft DiskGeeker returns to a super-fast machine with incomparable performance and running speed.

Surprised by the junk clean feature of iBoysoft DiskGeeker? Then share it with more people!

2. CleanMyJunk

CleanMyJunk is a Mac junk cleaning software. With just one click, you can quickly scan and remove junk files, including system logs, Xcode cache, system junk, temporary files in the Trash, browser cache, cache files generated by applications, logs & cache files generated by QQ, WeChat, WhatsApp, web cache files, etc.

With this software installed on your MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iMac, Mac Studio, Mac Pro, and other Mac lineups, you will never worry about the issue of your Mac running slow due to too many useless files and junk accumulating. 

#Best Mac Disk Cleaner#Mac Disk Optimizer #Disk Cleaner for M4 Mac#Mac Sequoia Disk Cleaner

How to use CleanMyJunk on Mac to remove junk:

Step 1: Download and open CleanMyJunk on your Mac machine.

Step 2: Click the "Quick scan" button to begin the file scanning.

Step 3: Wait for this tool to end the scanning.

Step 4: Check the junk scanned by this software, which is toggled on by default for cleaning. If you want to keep certain files, toggle them off. Then, click Clean to start the junk cleaning process.

Our Overall Use Experience

This handy Mac junk cleaner works fast in scanning for useless files hiding on the partition, volume, or hard drives, and then toggle on the files it regards as junk for cleaning. If you want to remove the files from the will-be-removed list, you need to uncheck them manually, which takes a few seconds. 

It never makes itself burdensome for the hard drive space with its small package size (2.7 MB), occupying a little bit of space. Although small, it exerts a powerful cleaning function on any Mac machine.

Full Review

CleanMyJunk is smaller than CCleaner, which takes up a little space on the Mac hard drive and never worsens its performance. With a strong official team, it is safe and secure to use on the basis that it never ever collects and steals users' data.

It is suitable to place on any Mac lineups for launching to deal with piles accumulation of files at any time you need.

3. BleachBit

BleachBit deletes unnecessary files such as cache and cookies to enhance privacy and disk space efficiency on Mac, Linux, and Windows. It supports numerous applications including web browsers, office suites, and multimedia tools.

It's free and open-source software with very robust cleaning functionality, helping you clean system files and duplicate files in Finder, free caches, delete cookies, clear internet histories, shred temporary files, delete logs, discard junk, clean thousands of applications including Firefox, Adobe Flash, Google Chrome, Opera, and more.

#Free&Open-Source#Mac Disk Optimizer #Clean Cookies#Clean Internet History

How to use BleachBit to clean Mac junk:

Step 1: Install HomeBrew on your Mac. Skip this step if you have HomeBrew installed already.

Step 2: Install BleacnBit in HomeBrew by executing this command line:

brew install bleachbit

Step 3: Open Terminal on your Mac and launch BleachBit by typing and hitting Enter:

bleachbit

Step 4: Select cleaning options. The command line will present a list of cleaning options for different applications and system areas.

Step 5: Use the appropriate flags or keywords to choose which items you want to clean. 

Our Overall User Experience

BleachBit is a portable archive so it's unnecessary to install it, on top of that, you can even run it from a USB hard drive. It comes with a relatively simple interface and a handy clean function.

However, it stopped supporting macOS released after 2020, including macOS Big Sur, macOS Monterey, macOS Ventura, macOS Sonoma, and macOS Sequoial. Moreover, it has no install package so it's kind of a hard and tricky mission to use it on your Mac, let alone have to use it by terminal command lines.

Full Review

BleachBit is a wonderful free Mac disk cleaner that takes all junk and caches from Mac away with ease. While it's more suitable for advanced users who have some knowledge of terminal command lines. And if you're running macOS released after 2020, it's a pity that it offers no support. 

But if you're running a Mac with Mac OS X installed and have some understanding of commands, you can give this simple and handy software a try!

4. CleanMyMac

CleanMyMac is a macOS maintenance and optimization utility developed by MacPaw, first released in 2008. The software is designed to optimize system performance by removing unnecessary files and managing disk space on Mac products.

CleanMyMac offers features aimed at maintaining and optimizing macOS systems. It combines antivirus protection with tools for cleaning disk space, protecting user privacy, optimizing performance, updating applications, uninstalling software, and preventing malware and adware. The software's malware removal functionality is powered by MacPaw's proprietary Moonlock Engine.

It can clear unused system files, log files, and temporary files. On top of that, the software provides optimization tools such as maintenance scripts, disk repair functions, and options for resetting system indexes and databases.

#Mac Disk Cleaner#Mac Drive Optimizer #Clean System Database#Manage Disk Space

How to use CleanMyMac to remove junk:

Step 1: Download CleanMyMac and purchase the preferred CleanMyMac subscription.

Step 2: Open the app on your Mac.

Step 3: Go to My Clutter and click Scan > Review All Files > Large & Old Files.

Step 4: Select what to clean, and then click Remove.

Our Overall Use Experience:

CleanMyMac is quite wonderful in scanning for old and large files hiding on a Mac hard drive, and then it removes them all in one quickly after receiving your removal intention. However, it takes up larger hard drive space than it states (320MB), so If you have less space available, consider twice before downloading it since it generates user logs and caches for sure.

Moreover, its advanced features are available only through a subscription, which costs $39.95 for one year for one Mac.

Full Review:

CleanMyMac is a Mac-only software designed to help clean up your Mac in various ways, including uninstalling software, fixing permissions, removing files, and much more. With too many old and large files on the Mac hard drive, you can rely on it to restore a clean and good-performance machine. Want another tool? Check: CleanMyMac free alternatives.

Best Alternative to CCleaner comparison table

Final words

No matter what reason urges you to stop using CCleaner, it's never the end of the Mac disk cleaning mission. So, we select the 4 widely used alternatives to CCleaner and test them comprehensively, then users can pick one software that fits the most for further drive cleaning missions on the Mac machines.

If you're looking for a perfect CCleaner alternative, give the utilities a shot mentioned in this post!