Three different kinds of "cleaner"
Most "best Mac cleaner" lists mix three categories of tool that solve different problems:
- General system cleaners (CleanMyMac, MacCleaner Pro) — broad sweeps: system junk, mail attachments, malware scans, uninstallers.
- Disk visualizers (DaisyDisk, GrandPerspective, OmniDiskSweeper) — show you what's big; deciding what's safe is your job.
- Developer cache cleaners (DevCleaner) — know what DerivedData, a pnpm store or an Ollama model is, and what deleting it costs.
The comparison
| DevCleaner | CleanMyMac | DaisyDisk | OmniDiskSweeper | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | ~$40/yr or one-time | ~$10 one-time | Free |
| Category | Developer cache cleaner | General system cleaner | Disk visualizer | Disk visualizer |
| Knows dev toolchains | 22 (Xcode, Gradle, npm, pip, Cargo, AI tools…) | Xcode + generic caches | No — shows folders, you decide | No — shows folders, you decide |
| Safety model | Safe/Warning/Danger per category; risky items never pre-selected; credential files hard-protected; warns if app is running | Curated "safe to remove" rules | None — manual deletion | None — manual deletion |
| Lives in menu bar | Yes, with live reclaimable-space badge | Menu bar monitor in paid tiers | No | No |
| Auto-clean rules | Yes (threshold + age filter) | Partial (smart scan reminders) | No | No |
| Beyond dev caches | No — by design | Yes: uninstaller, malware, mail, photos | Yes: whole disk | Yes: whole disk |
When each tool is the right answer
Pick CleanMyMac if…
…you want one app for the whole machine — leftover app uninstalls, mail attachments, a malware check — and you're happy paying for it. It's polished and well-maintained. Its weakness for developers: it treats dev caches generically. It won't tell you that this 8 GB is superseded Gradle versions or that those files are an SPM checkout currently in use by a build.
Pick DaisyDisk (or free GrandPerspective) if…
…you want to see your disk. Visualizers are unbeatable for finding the surprise 60 GB video export
or a runaway log file. Their limitation is the opposite one: they show everything and know nothing. Deleting
from a visualizer is exactly how people nuke ~/Library/Application Support folders that held
their app sessions.
Pick DevCleaner if…
…your disk problem is the developer kind — and if you're reading this, it probably is. DevCleaner only does dev caches, which is why it can do them properly:
- 22 toolchain scanners: Xcode, Android Studio, JetBrains, Gradle, npm/Yarn/pnpm, Homebrew, pip, Cargo, Go, Maven, CocoaPods, Flutter, Unity, VS Code, plus AI tools (Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, Ollama, LM Studio and more).
- A safety model instead of a checkbox list: every category is rated Safe / Warning / Danger, dangerous items are never pre-selected, and files holding logins or sessions sit behind a hard deny-list the cleaner cannot cross.
- Workflow awareness: it warns when you're about to clean caches of an app that's running (deleting DerivedData mid-build is a classic foot-gun).
- Set-and-forget: a live menu-bar badge, background rescans, and optional auto-clean with an age filter.
- Free and tiny: 4 MB, no account, no personal data collected.
Honest bottom line: these tools stack rather than compete. A visualizer for the one-off surprises, DevCleaner for the recurring developer churn. A general cleaner on top is optional taste.
Try the developer one first — it's free
If 80% of your missing disk space is dev caches (run du -sh ~/Library/Developer and check),
start with the tool built for exactly that.
FAQ
- Do developers need CleanMyMac?
- Not for dev caches — its coverage there is shallow. It earns its price on the general-purpose side (uninstaller, malware scan, mail attachments) if you want those.
- Is DaisyDisk a cleaner?
- It's a visualizer: brilliant at showing you what's big, silent on what's safe. Pair it with knowledge — or with a tool that has the knowledge built in.
- What's the catch with DevCleaner being free?
- No catch. Manual scanning, Quick Clean and stale-project discovery are free forever. Pro is optional — it adds Auto Clean, Smart Triggers and Project Hibernation. The only network traffic is Sparkle update checks and an optional, anonymous bytes-freed counter you can switch off in Settings → Privacy.