CleanMyMac X vs. MacCleaner Pro: Which is the Best Mac Cleaner?

MacCleaner Pro and CleanMyMac X are two popular Mac cleanup tools. With the variety of specific advantages, options, and solutions for macOS cleaning, it’s a highly complex business choosing the best app to clean your Mac that will fit your particular needs.

To help you choose the best Mac cleaner according to your needs, we decided to share a detailed comparative review of the two apps with all their key features, pros, and cons. 

CleanMyMac X review

CleanMyMac X is a Mac system cleaner with a beautiful design updated in 2018. The app has a smart interface with a dark background, showing different cleaning options in the left-hand main bar. It provides a wide range of useful features that allow you to conduct a complex review of your Mac’s storage usage and the system’s performance.

The app can help you to clear junk files, mail attachments and all Trash bins. You can uninstall apps, find the apps that should be updated, and manage extensions of apps. In the Speed section, CleanMyMac X allows you to manage login items, free up RAM, re-index Mail or Spotlight and run some more tasks that can help to increase your Mac’s performance. 

The process of macOS scanning is usually quite quick, although it depends on the amount of occupied storage, the volume of junk stuff, applications and user files stored on your disk.  Usually, it takes less than a minute for the app to provide you with the list of items recommended for deletion. The only disadvantage is that you need to scan each task separately, which is not convenient when you want to analyze the whole hard drive and find the reasons for a slow Mac.

However, CleanMyMac X provides a great useful feature Smart Scan – the quick but complex macOS scanning that looks out for junk and malware and provides tips for optimizing the system’s speed.

Important note!

What is important to note is that, when you click to remove files, CleanMyMac X does not display any notifications or explanations while running the task. Thus, it is possible to delete something important by mistake, especially if that refers to old and big files - sometimes you might even accidentally delete your old photos or important documents. So, when using CleanMyMac X from MacPaw, you should be careful when running any task.

CleanMyMac X pricing policy

CleanMyMac X costs $89.95 for new users. It is also possible to pay by subscription at $39.95 per year for one device. Different pricing solutions are also provided for purchasing the pack license for 2 and 5 Macs, which is useful for team purchases. Also, there is a limited version of CleanMyMac X that can be used for starting your acquaintance with the app. 

MacCleaner Pro review

Now, let’s move on to MacCleaner Pro from Nektony. MacCleaner Pro is an efficient macOS cleaner that starts the Mac cleaning process with control over the selected files, apps, and Mac speedup tasks. MacCleaner Pro provides also additional professional tools, helping to solve different system tasks, such as speeding it up, clearing junk files and managing bulky content.

Once you launch MacCleaner Pro, it automatically starts scanning your hard drive and analyzing your disk space usage. In less than a minute you will see what is taking up your disk space, including the files in the “Other” category. Thus, you don’t need to set each option one by one. Just run MacCleaner Pro and in a short moment, you will receive full-fledged feedback. Then you can clean up junk, optimize Mac’s performance and manage storage with just a few clicks. 

The app can clear cache, logs, downloads, language resources, email attachments and other types of junk stuff. Also, the program provides the option of disc space optimization, showing what is occupying significant disk space and providing a list of files recommended for deletion. 

MacCleaner Pro includes special programs that you can run separately for a deep Mac cleanup. With the additional tools, you can find and remove duplicate photos, music, video and any other type of duplicates. In case you need to take control of your apps, startup programs, extensions and leftovers of removed apps, you can use an advanced tool - App Cleaner & Uninstaller.

Another great advantage is the ability to manage your hidden files and folders with Funter - a built-in app that shows you the list of all data hidden on your hard drive that you cannot find with Spotlight. You can, therefore, clear up space from files you probably haven’t known about. You can also hide files and folders and then bring them back when you need them. 

MacCleaner Pro pricing policy 

MacCleaner Pro has a great price: for now, it costs only $34.95 and it is a one-time payment. No subscription. And it is for the whole bundle of apps that can clear up every hidden corner of your macOS system. It is also possible to start using the app for free, so in case you wanted to find a free Mac cleaner app to try whether it will work for your system, MacCleaner Pro provides you with the ability to evaluate the strengths of the app. 

Safety

MacCleaner Pro is developed by Nektony, a trusted company operating since 2011. The program is distributed directly on the developer’s website. Some of the apps from the software bundle are available on the App Store. 

What makes MacCleaner Pro safe is that it always shows a confirmation window before running selected tasks and deleting selected items. There you can see the files chosen for deletion, and decide whether to let the app delete them or not. The Pro tools from the bundle have the option of restoring removed files.

CleanMyMac X vs. MacCleaner Pro

To sum up

Both MacCleaner Pro and CleanMyMac X can help to clean up and speed up the macOS system, both of them are safe and they have a great smart design.

The difference is that CleanMyMac X provides such additional features as personalized cleaning tips, shredder and malware detection, MacCleaner Pro can find and remove duplicate files and similar photos, merge similar folders, operate hidden files.

Thus, the two macOS cleaners we reviewed have a series of distinctions that make them more or less suitable for the needs of a particular user. 

Written by Shola Mercy

A Mac software expert with over 3 years of experience in applying solutions to Mac software issues. My speciality is ensuring an easy-switch from Windows to macOS for new Mac users.