Best Mac Performance Apps

Currently the top 4 best WiFi speed test apps that also have additional benefits to them are: NetSpot — pros and beginners alike can use this app to instantly check WiFi performance without much of a learning curve. Wifiner — a simple and straightforward software that'll help you analyze a single wireless network. The best personal finance apps provide several different features (email reminders, bill due dates, track subscriptions, shared wallets, etc.) for managing your overall finances. All the apps on our list are available on both iOS and Android, so you can enjoy no matter which smartphone giant you're partial to.

1. Best Mac Apps
2. Download Apps For Mac

Speaking of Windows, a clever app called CrossOver can run many Windows apps directly on M1 Mac computers without the need for Windows. Most apps can be found in versions specific to a Mac, an iPad or iPhone, though. Macbook cover and keyboard set. Apple allows most apps developed for an Intel Mac to run on the M1 with no issues and any slowdown is minimal. Most Mac apps that. Thankfully, the Mac App Store and the developer community offer several macOS apps to optimize your Mac and tune it to its potential. Every Mac owner aims for a consistently stable performance.

How to monitor your Mac's performance? How to tell that your computer works at its full? How to compare it to other machines with similar specifications? The answer: Mac benchmark tools.

Benchmarking can help you understand the performance of your Mac's software and hardware, including the disk speed, memory, and graphics card performance. This information is very useful as you can see the weak spots in your system that can be enhanced.

Luckily, there are many apps that can help you measure how various components of your Mac work. And in this article, we'll look at five tools that can help you test your Mac performance.

You'll know how they work and what they can measure. Plus, we'll tell you about a utility that cannot only help you monitor your Mac's performance but also improve its work and take it to a whole new level. So let's roll!

1. Blackmagic Disk Speed Test

As you have already understood from its name, the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test measures your hard drive performance, in particular, its reads/writes speeds. It was designed to help video editors to determine if their hard drives can handle various video files.

Blackmagic Disk Speed Test is extremely easy to use. It consists of a single window and a big Speed Test Start button. If you have a single hard drive, simply click the Start button and Blackmagic will test your hard drive and show the results.

If you have multiple hard drives, you need to choose which one you want to test. To do that, go the Blackmagic's settings by opening the File or Stress menus from its toolbar. Once you've chosen the hard drive, you may click Start to run a test.

If you are looking for a good hard drive speed test on Mac, feel free to use Blackmagic Disk Speed Test. It is free to download from the App Store, so take advantage of this tool whenever you need.

2. Geekbench

Geekbench is a useful app for measuring the CPU performance and memory speed on your Mac. It includes different tests that were designed to estimate how well your Mac can run everyday tasks.

To start the Macbook performance test, you need to install the app, launch it, choose your processor architecture and click Run Benchmarks.

When the test is completed, you can compare your results with other users. Don't miss this great opportunity, it is really useful to see whether users on the same computer get the similar results. This may suggest that there is a problem with your Mac and what you should really expect from your particular model and hardware.

You can try Geekbench for free, but if you want to get the full version, you need to buy it from the App store.

3. Cinebench

Cinebench is a platform used to test two things: CPU and graphics card performance. It may be interesting for you to know that Cinebench is based on MAXON's Cinema 4D animation software that is used for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in different popular movies, including Iron Man 3, Prometheus, and Oblivion.

You can use Cinebench to test:

• Main processor performance. Cinebench uses all your system's processing power to test how quickly your processor can render a complex 3D scene that contains more than 2,000 objects, a great number of shadows, sharp reflections, and more. And the higher number you get, the faster your processor.

• Graphics card performance. This test uses a 3D car scene that shows the car chase. And to test the capabilities of your graphics hardware, Cinebench uses a great variety of different effects and textures. Install android studio mac brew. The higher the numbers, the faster your graphics card is.

Cinebench is free to use, so if you need to run a CPU speed test on Mac or measure your graphics card performance, try it out.

4. Novabench

Novabench is a free tool that provides Mac benchmark test for your whole system, including CPU, RAM and graphics performance.

You can test your whole computer in minutes and even compare results with thousands of other systems. To run the Mac speed test, do the following:

1. Launch the app.
2. Click the Start Tests button. Novabench will start running different tests.
3. Wait 1-2 minutes for the tests to run. Don't use your computer during the tests.
4. Get the results of each test along with the Novabench score (the higher the number you've got, the better).

Once you've tested your computer performance, you can add results to your profile or keep them private. If you want to share results with others, click the Submit and Compare button.

Novabench is easy to use and provides a quick way to test Mac performance.

5. CleanMyMac X: For overall computer performance

While the apps mentioned above are designed to measure Mac performance, a utility like CleanMyMac X can also optimize your Mac and improve its efficiency.

CleanMyMac keeps you up-to-date on all the important stuff going on inside your Mac:

• processor load
• memory usage
• available disk space
• battery health

If there's a problem with your Mac, the app will let you know immediately and help you with the fix.

You get alerts when apps stop responding, disk temperature is high, the memory use is unusually heavy, and battery status is critical. With CleanMyMac X, you always know if your Mac is running well and can fix the problem as soon as it arises.

CleanMyMac also has the Maintenance module that gives you access to all Mac optimizing goodies: running maintenance scripts, repairing disk permissions, verifying startup disk, running Mail speedup, reindexing Spotlight.

All those things may sound a bit complex, but don't worry: CleanMyMac X is extremely easy to use. Just run a scan of your whole system and the app will tell you what should be removed to boost your Mac performance. The scanning and cleaning process requires just 2 clicks and less than 5 minutes. Impressive, right?

Good news, CleanMyMac X is free to download. So give it a try and boost your Mac's performance!

That's it. We hope our article was useful and you've chosen a Mac benchmark tool that works best for you. Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

These might also interest you:

Utilities • Updated on July.30, 2020

Editor's note: After retesting the latest versions of our picks, we've updated this guide to include Sensei as our new runner-up.

Like many of you, I shifted from Windows to macOS to get superior performance and smooth experience. However, I had this false idea that Mac devices don't need cleaning or maintenance as such. Of course, that didn't last long.

As I started using my Mac for resource-intensive tasks and more apps, it started becoming somewhat slow. It took me, however, a few months to understand why Macs also need cleaning and performance-boosting. Wondering why?

Just like Windows, macOS also generates temporary/junk files over time. Now, if you use your Mac for simple tasks like web browsing or checking email, this won't be a problem. However, if you are into jobs like video editing, software testing or development, the junk file can slow down your Mac.

The other problem is that these files may take up a lot of space from your Mac. Of course, this isn't ideal for your Mac storage, either. As you keep installing and using more apps, you have to face space crunch on your MacBook, iMac, or iMac Pro.

And, this article we'll walk you through the essentials — and even some great third party Mac cleaner apps — to clean up invisible clutter and tune up your Mac beyond its limits.

Shortcuts:

• Our Pick: CleanMyMac X
• Runner-Up: Sensei
• The Paid Competition: CCleaner Professional, Macbooster, Intego Mac Washing Machine, DaisyDisk, Disk Doctor
• The Free Competition: AppCleaner, OnyX

Background

Starting with macOS Sierra, Apple offered an elegant space-clearing solution feature, Optimized Storage.

Optimized Storage in macOS Sierra and later can save space by storing your content in the cloud and making it available on demand. To make room for more storage, it automatically saves files, photos, movies, and email attachments to the cloud.

Each file stays right where you last saved it, and downloads when you open it. Files that you've used recently remain on your Mac, along with optimized versions of your photos.

This feature helps you deal with junk content like duplicates, old email attachments, and downloads. It helps you to automatically examine these — and delete them or move them to iCloud. As a result, you get more free space on your hard drive, but several gigabytes of cloud storage taken up, which you could've used for other things.

Also, extra iCloud storage space from Apple isn't cheap. Once you cross the 5GB limit, you have to pay Apple a monthly fee. This could be anywhere between a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. And, trust me, it's way easy to cross the limit if you use multiple devices from Apple.

Do you know what's even worse? This method doesn't sound practical for those with a subpar connection at home/office. What if you stored something important on iCloud and cannot download it because you do not have an internet connection?

Mac Clean-up & Performance Tune-up

Personally speaking, I didn't find Optimized Storage as an appropriate solution for me. I'm sure many of you can relate, mainly if you deal with a lot of data.

And, this is where Mac cleanup and performance tune-up software come in. Here's how they work:

• Dedicated tools to clean Mac help you to free up space on your Mac. Because this works better than what we saw in Optimized Storage, you can get more free space.
• Deleting junk and temporary files from your Mac can speed up the machine. You can enjoy a smooth macOS experience without messing with important macOS files. This also contributes toa better multitasking experience, among other
• Speed-booster apps for Macwill help you with sensitive tasks like RAM boost, cache clearing, and Disk Permission management. A dedicated tool helps you in dealing with these confusing tasks. The best part is that you can unleash the real power of your Mac.
• Most Mac maintenance tools often come with Security modules that scan your Mac for potential threats. So, you can easily remove adware and other dangerous elements with ease. This provides a safer, secure experience on and off the web.
• You don't have to pay for this extra storage space, since you are making the best out of your existing Mac. This is, of course, better than getting a portable SSD/HDD or iCloud upgrades. You also ensure better speed here.

Here's what I think.

When you're a professional, you may not have enough time to keep track of storage space and the speed of your Mac. Instead, you need a quick and easy way to deal with everything. In the end, everyone wants the first fastest Mac.

Well, that's why I decided to check out Mac cleaner software in the first place.

What Makes a Good Mac Cleaner App

Here are a few things we asked ourselves before considering a Mac cleaning app for this coverage.

• Is the app intuitive and easy to use?
• Is the app secure? Does it ensure safety while tampering with significant parts of the Mac?
• Does it notifyyou about the potential issues on your device?
• Does it offer features to clean junk files, trash, unused, and copiesin different system sections?
• Does it make smart decisions and work efficiently?
• Does it check your Mac's overall health?
• Is it priced reasonably with respect to the powerful features/functionalities we get?
• Is it compatible with the latest version of macOS?
• Is the app available in different languages to be used by people from different countries?

And guess what? We have chosen 9 Mac cleaner software and performance tune-up tools that checked the most important boxes.

Disclosure: We sometimes use affiliate links which means that, at zero cost to you, we may earn a commission if you buy something through our links.

Our Pick: CleanMyMac X

After testing multiple Mac cleaning and speed-up software for several weeks, CleanMyMac X undoubtedly made it to the top position. We believe it's the best solution you have at cleaning and tuning up your Mac experience to something better.

CleanMyMac X is an all-in-one Mac cleaner and performance tune-up software available for macOS devices. This popular tool comes from MacPaw, one of the trusted developers in the industry right now.

For now, let's see how good CleanMyMac X is at cleaning and speeding up your Mac. Do keep in mind that what follows is an insight-filled review of CleanMyMac X on macOS Catalina.

#1 Super-Easy Mac Cleaning

You don't have to be a macOS ninja to use CleanMyMac X. I mean, I started using CleanMyMac X when Mac was a new platform to me. And, with the later versions, the tool has become more intuitive.

Regardless of your expertise with macOS, CleanMyMac X can help you clean up junk and make it faster. You don't have to make sensible decisions if you are unsure. Instead, this Mac cleaning app uses algorithms to understand what's best for your Mac. So, via a simple Smart Scan button, you can not only clean your Mac but also anything and everything that is wrong.

#2 Comprehensive Maintenance

CleanMyMac X can very well be the most comprehensive Mac cleaner/optimizer out there. Split into sections like Cleanup, Protection, Speed, Applications, and Files, you can find so many features inside.

All these features work towards a single goal: a cleaner, faster Mac. For instance, in the Speed section, the CleanMyMac X modules let you manage launch agents and login items on your Mac. Similarly, the modules in the Applications section allow you to safely and effectively remove applications, huge files, and unwanted stuff from your device. All these help you in speeding up the Mac and improving the overall speed.

#3 Powerful Utilities

Another thing I loved about CleanMyMac X is that it doesn't restrict itself. For instance, the tool comes with many utilities such as Space Lens and App Updater.

Space Lens, for example, allows you to understand how your Mac uses the storage space. Ssdreporter 1 5 5 x 4. You can find out the biggest directories and huge files. This helps you in making quick decisions. App Updater can help you in updating all the apps you have on your Mac. So, even if you installed an app from non-App Store sources, it becomes easy.

#4 Smart Cleaning Notifications

Ideally, you should open up CleanMyMac X and run the cleaning/boosting modules once in a while. Though, if you don't, the app can notify you.

These notifications come in two ways: the main app and the CleanMyMac X menu bar widget. The menu bar widget notifies you when the RAM is full or when the CPU usage is so high. You also get prompts regarding frequent cleaning sessions. It's impressive that this tool can keep your Mac clean and safe, even if you forget to do that.

#5 Customizable Performance

I always love a customizable tool, and CleanMyMac X isn't an exception. You can control how CleanMyMac X scans your Mac and deals with the results.

For instance, you can exclude apps, folders, or other spaces by being scanned at all. You also get options to control how certain elements look on the interface. More importantly, you need not follow whatever CleanMyMac X tells you to do blindly. For instance, if you don't want to remove every kind of junk from your Mac, you can decide to exempt something.

#6 Effective Speed-up

This is the reason why I have been recommending CleanMyMac X to all my friends and family — and, now, to you guys too.

A simple scan and cleaning with CleanMyMac X can change the way you use your Mac. You get to enjoy the same speed you see when you open up a Mac for the first time. It happens because the cleaning algorithms that CleanMyMac X use are pretty advanced. Similarly, you get some extreme options like Disk Permissions Manager and Spotlight Re-indexing to boost the speed even further.

#7 Great Support

Compared to other Mac cleaner software we have tried before, the after-sale support from MacPaw is surely the best.

First of all, the developer offers frequent updates to the tool. In most cases, any bug you see in one release will be fixed in a few weeks, maximum. Also, there is no scarcity of learning resources through the support guides. So, even if you are entirely new to macOS, the guides from MacPaw will help you make the best out of CleanMyMac X.

We did have a look at the best things about CleanMyMac X, but here are a few areas that we think may use some improvement.

• The developers can consider some additional options like duplicate file remover inside CleanMyMac X. Since duplicate files cause storage space crunch and slow-down, it seems like a great move.
• CleanMyMac X comes with a malware detection module, but it's not entirely adequate. We'd love to see some improvements in this area.

Do these impact CleanMyMac X as a Mac cleaner? NO. Can such improvements make CleanMyMac X perfect over time? YES.

• Easy-to-use Interface
• Versatile cleaning options
• Comprehensive coverage
• Completely safe to use
• Reasonable pricing

• Could get more utilities
• Security module needs work

CleanMyMac X is currently available for macOS 10.10 or later. It works fine with macOS Catalina as well. We had tested this Mac cleaner software for this review on Catalina.

The pricing plans of CleanMyMac X begin at $34.95. If you want multiple licenses, you have to pay further. However, considering the features inside the tool, the single-license price seems quite reasonable.

How to play mobile games on mac. By the way, you can get CleanMyMac X via a Setapp subscription as well.

CleanMyMac X works on macOS 10.10 and later, including the newly released macOS 10.15 Catalina. A free trial version is available for download.

Runner-Up: Sensei

Although not as comprehensive as CleanMyMac X, Sensei offers a unified platform to monitor and manage your Mac with ease. This is why we recommend this new-generation Mac performance tool as the runner-up in this list. Of course, you don't get as many cleaning options as you see in the top pick.

Sensei is a powerful Mac tune-up software that helps you improve the speed and reliability of your Mac. You can use Sensei to monitor, analyze, benchmark, and improve different aspects of your Mac, such as Storage, Thermal Dashboard, and Battery Consumption.

Here are a few reasons why we recommend Sensei as a great app to speed up your Mac.

#1 Impressive Dashboard

We think the superb dashboard on Sensei deserves another round of applause. This dashboard can simply be the only place you should look to understand how your Mac works.

You get to see which apps are consuming resources and how your fans are running. Similarly, there are ways to track the health, capacity, and performance of multiple elements like storage, graphics, and battery. By the way, Sensei also has a menu-bar interface that you can customize. Unfortunately, that's only the level of customization you get.

#2 A Well-Curated Cleaning Package

We already told you that Sensei isn't as comprehensive as CleanMyMac X. However, the options available in the Sensei package are just excellent on any day.

We are talking about the essential modules like application uninstaller and junk file cleaner. When combined with the in-depth data Sensei provides, these tools can change the way you use your Mac. For instance, you can easily explore different categories and clean different types of content from your Mac SSD/HDD. It's nice to clean your entire Mac from a single space.

#3 Advanced Monitoring

Compared to other Mac cleaning apps out there, Sensei brings a more comprehensive approach. It gives you so much information about your Mac that you can make the right decisions.

For instance, using Sensei, you can track the storage space, temperature, graphics performance, cooling, and many other aspects of the device. Sensei will be the best choice if you want to know if your MacBook Pro fans are dysfunctional, for instance. Similarly, Sensei can give you advanced data on sections like battery and SSD health.

#4 Benchmark, Stats and More

When it comes to aspects like storage and performance, Sensei doubles as a benchmarking suite and a tool for advanced statistics.

For instance, you can use Sensei to understand the current performance of your SSD and analyze the stats in a better way. There is also an option to see the current health and temperature of the drive. Going a step further, Sensei can notify you before the disk falls into some kind of trouble. So, on any day, Sensei is a great way to keep your Mac on a check.

So, these are the areas that we think Sensei can improve.

• We strongly believe Sensei could have included more options to improve the performance. As you may have seen, more than half of the app focuses on statisticsand analysis. It's also one of the reasons why Sensei cannot compete face to face with something like CleanMyMac X.
• The lack of customization is a problem, indeed. This puts the user in a tough position of making the call. That is, the user has to decide which files they delete and which they don't. We also think Sensei must offer extra assistance while analyzing the scan results.

Despite these, if you are looking for a simple way to manage junk/huge files and a lot of methods to analyze data, Sensei seems to be a great deal.

• Low footprint
• Excellent statistics
• In-depth analysis
• SSD Trimming
• Affordable pricing

• Limited compatibility
• Lacks customizability

Best Mac Apps

Sensei is available for macOS 10.15 Catalina and later. You heard that right. Best format for external drive mac. You can't run Sensei on old Macs.

Coming to the pricing, you can get either the yearly subscription for $29 or the Lifetime license for $59. In both cases, you get future updates, which is excellent.

As you can see, Sensei is pretty inexpensive than our top pick, but you miss some features.

The Competition: Paid Mac Cleaner Software

For years, the standard in PC cleaner software has been CCleaner. Now, Mac users can benefit from the experience that the Piriform developers bring to the table. CCleaner Professional is quick and easy to use the program, which speeds up your Mac and secures it. Although CCleaner has a free version, there are only two basic features aimed at a faster Mac and Privacy Protection.

At the premium level with a price of $24.95, you have Automatic Browser Cleaning, Real-time Monitoring, Automatic Updating, and what they call ‘Priority Support.' There are 3 tabs – Cleaner, Tools, and Options. These three cleaning options inside CCleaner can help you remove junk files, trash files, unused data, unwanted files, and software

Though CCleaner Professional has many helpful features, it lacks some options. For instance, it always stays as a simple tool for cleaning temporary files and internet cache.

MacBooster from IObit is a powerful Mac maintenance tool for cleaning up Mac computers and offers proper functionality for its class. MacBooster and CleanMyMac X have quite similar functionality, offering users several cleaning options and tools: system cleanup, finding duplicates, deleting large files, uninstalling applications, protecting your Mac from virus and malware, etc.

Start by clicking Clean and Boost, for example, and four sections – Internet Security, System Cleanup, System Optimization, and Disk Clean – are scanned for errors, threats, and redundant files. After a quick review, you can simply click the Fix button and proceed. We also liked MacBooster's performance boost tool, which shuts down low-level services to speed up your Mac further.

If you're a power user looking to deep-clean your Mac, give the 14-day trial a whirl. After that, it requires a $2.49/month subscription.

Intego Mac Washing Machine is a Mac cleaner that makes it easy to get rid of junk files that slow down your Mac. It comes with three separate but complementary functions. It scans for unused or obsolete files that can be deleted, it identifies duplicate files, and it lets you manage your desktop. Through the app's intuitive interface, you can quickly access all features and have your Mac running more smoothly in no time.

Overall, the Intego Mac Washing Machine app is elegant. It's worth checking out if you are looking for an app that helps you organize your storage drives and removes unnecessary files. But there is no quick-look support for files preview, and the trial version of this app can only complete the preliminary steps of each function. Once again, you will notice a lack of options.

Download Apps For Mac

You get to see what each phase of the scanning process looks like, but to get any real functionality, you'll have to pay $29.99 for an unrestricted license.

DaisyDisk is a beautiful yet different disk space analyzer that scans the drives on your Mac and gives you a visual overview of what's eating up space on your Mac. It displays files in a pinwheel-shaped disk map, letting you quickly locate and clean up large files. You can use the built-in QuickLook preview to see what you might want to get rid of (you can also reveal in Finder to take a closer look).

There's a collection drawer where you can stage files (or entire segments) for trash. Once you've browsed through and collected things you don't need, a single click clears them out. DaisyDisk is available for just $9.99 from the Mac App Store as well as from their website (standalone edition). The standalone version from their site offers some additional features since it is not bound by Apple's sandboxing rules.

We like DaisyDisk's design with its circular visualizations! But it's important to note that DaisyDisk does not warn you if you delete something sensitive to the system. So, please use DaisyDisk carefully.

Disk Doctor is developed in the UK and was awarded the ‘Mac Gem' award by MacWorld in 2013. The app focuses on disk cleanup only. It scans and removes application caches, browser logs , iTunes temp caches and other unnecessary files from your hard drive. The interface is very simple and professional as well as easy to use.

The limitation of Disk Doctor is that the utility is designed to work only with your Mac's boot volume. You can't scan an external volume and free up disk space on it. Similarly, you miss features like app uninstaller and cache manager. On the bright side, you get an interactive way to manage different elements and remove them with ease.

Disk Doctor Pro could use a few improvements and additional features, but at its current price of just $9.99, it's worth having around.

The Competition: Free Alternatives

AppCleaner is a small and simple utility that helps you uninstall macOS apps completely. Sure, the Mac makes it a lot easier to get rid of unwanted software than Windows, but a thorough cleaning is another affair. Often apps will leave behind configuration files, cache folders, and other remnants that occupy disk space. This is where AppCleaner comes in.

AppCleaner does a serviceable job of locating all the files associated with the app and provides an index so that you know just how much space they're taking up. Once you've got them all accounted for, click the Delete button and delete them forever. As you can guess, there are no additional features in this package. You can remove the apps, and that's it.

Of course, we have included AppCleaner as a limited alternative only. It cannot be compared to CleanMyMac X or Sensei on any day. Clear disk 2 12 x 12. But, if you can't spend at all, AppCleaner helps you with the baby steps.

OnyX is another free multifunctional utility that can verify your Mac's startup disk, run a variety of system scripts for cleaning tasks manually and rebuilding your Mac. The developer offers specific OnyX versions for every major version of macOS. When a new version of macOS comes out, you have to revisit the OnyX site and grab the latest release. Every version is free and very small. So, you don't waste space.

It's handy for deleting caches, removing redundant and excessive files and folders, rebuilding databases and indexes, and making your machine run more smoothly and with added disk space. Just be careful playing with these settings. They're helpful and can improve your Mac's performance, but if you don't know what a given setting is supposed to do, you're probably best off not changing it.

We think it's excellent for tech-savvy and experienced Mac users to take significantly more time to get around and find what you need, then learn how to use it, but the result pays.

Additional Tips To Clean Your Mac Further

Keep the macOS desktop clean: Many people use Desktop as their primary destination for files. But this could be tricky. Each of these files adds pressure to the system. When there are too many items on the screen, you'll start seeing slow-downs on Mac. So, you have to keep the desktop clean and minimal with fewer icons and applications. Menumate 1 3.

Grab some external storage: It is no mystery what is filling up your storage – files. To prevent your data from clogging up the system, you might consider saving your less-used files to a location away from your computer. An external drive will be ideal. You can even use apps like Get Backup Pro to enable the syncing process.

Restart regularly: Restarting your Mac regularly is an excellent way to clean up the Mac and improve the overall performance of the device. It works because the restart process can help your Mac in rejuvenating and cleaning some caches and temporary files.

Stay current with macOS: Apple releases new versions of OS X as free upgrades, so there is no reason not to keep current. New versions of macOS contain performance improvements that often use more system resources. Also, you get features like Optimize Storage.

5. CleanMyMac X: For overall computer performance

While the apps mentioned above are designed to measure Mac performance, a utility like CleanMyMac X can also optimize your Mac and improve its efficiency.

CleanMyMac keeps you up-to-date on all the important stuff going on inside your Mac:

• processor load
• memory usage
• available disk space
• battery health

If there's a problem with your Mac, the app will let you know immediately and help you with the fix.

You get alerts when apps stop responding, disk temperature is high, the memory use is unusually heavy, and battery status is critical. With CleanMyMac X, you always know if your Mac is running well and can fix the problem as soon as it arises.

CleanMyMac also has the Maintenance module that gives you access to all Mac optimizing goodies: running maintenance scripts, repairing disk permissions, verifying startup disk, running Mail speedup, reindexing Spotlight.

All those things may sound a bit complex, but don't worry: CleanMyMac X is extremely easy to use. Just run a scan of your whole system and the app will tell you what should be removed to boost your Mac performance. The scanning and cleaning process requires just 2 clicks and less than 5 minutes. Impressive, right?

Good news, CleanMyMac X is free to download. So give it a try and boost your Mac's performance!

That's it. We hope our article was useful and you've chosen a Mac benchmark tool that works best for you. Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

These might also interest you:

Utilities • Updated on July.30, 2020

Editor's note: After retesting the latest versions of our picks, we've updated this guide to include Sensei as our new runner-up.

Like many of you, I shifted from Windows to macOS to get superior performance and smooth experience. However, I had this false idea that Mac devices don't need cleaning or maintenance as such. Of course, that didn't last long.

As I started using my Mac for resource-intensive tasks and more apps, it started becoming somewhat slow. It took me, however, a few months to understand why Macs also need cleaning and performance-boosting. Wondering why?

Just like Windows, macOS also generates temporary/junk files over time. Now, if you use your Mac for simple tasks like web browsing or checking email, this won't be a problem. However, if you are into jobs like video editing, software testing or development, the junk file can slow down your Mac.

The other problem is that these files may take up a lot of space from your Mac. Of course, this isn't ideal for your Mac storage, either. As you keep installing and using more apps, you have to face space crunch on your MacBook, iMac, or iMac Pro.

And, this article we'll walk you through the essentials — and even some great third party Mac cleaner apps — to clean up invisible clutter and tune up your Mac beyond its limits.

Shortcuts:

• Our Pick: CleanMyMac X
• Runner-Up: Sensei
• The Paid Competition: CCleaner Professional, Macbooster, Intego Mac Washing Machine, DaisyDisk, Disk Doctor
• The Free Competition: AppCleaner, OnyX

Background

Starting with macOS Sierra, Apple offered an elegant space-clearing solution feature, Optimized Storage.

Optimized Storage in macOS Sierra and later can save space by storing your content in the cloud and making it available on demand. To make room for more storage, it automatically saves files, photos, movies, and email attachments to the cloud.

Each file stays right where you last saved it, and downloads when you open it. Files that you've used recently remain on your Mac, along with optimized versions of your photos.

This feature helps you deal with junk content like duplicates, old email attachments, and downloads. It helps you to automatically examine these — and delete them or move them to iCloud. As a result, you get more free space on your hard drive, but several gigabytes of cloud storage taken up, which you could've used for other things.

Also, extra iCloud storage space from Apple isn't cheap. Once you cross the 5GB limit, you have to pay Apple a monthly fee. This could be anywhere between a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. And, trust me, it's way easy to cross the limit if you use multiple devices from Apple.

Do you know what's even worse? This method doesn't sound practical for those with a subpar connection at home/office. What if you stored something important on iCloud and cannot download it because you do not have an internet connection?

Mac Clean-up & Performance Tune-up

Personally speaking, I didn't find Optimized Storage as an appropriate solution for me. I'm sure many of you can relate, mainly if you deal with a lot of data.

And, this is where Mac cleanup and performance tune-up software come in. Here's how they work:

• Dedicated tools to clean Mac help you to free up space on your Mac. Because this works better than what we saw in Optimized Storage, you can get more free space.
• Deleting junk and temporary files from your Mac can speed up the machine. You can enjoy a smooth macOS experience without messing with important macOS files. This also contributes toa better multitasking experience, among other
• Speed-booster apps for Macwill help you with sensitive tasks like RAM boost, cache clearing, and Disk Permission management. A dedicated tool helps you in dealing with these confusing tasks. The best part is that you can unleash the real power of your Mac.
• Most Mac maintenance tools often come with Security modules that scan your Mac for potential threats. So, you can easily remove adware and other dangerous elements with ease. This provides a safer, secure experience on and off the web.
• You don't have to pay for this extra storage space, since you are making the best out of your existing Mac. This is, of course, better than getting a portable SSD/HDD or iCloud upgrades. You also ensure better speed here.

Here's what I think.

When you're a professional, you may not have enough time to keep track of storage space and the speed of your Mac. Instead, you need a quick and easy way to deal with everything. In the end, everyone wants the first fastest Mac.

Well, that's why I decided to check out Mac cleaner software in the first place.

What Makes a Good Mac Cleaner App

Here are a few things we asked ourselves before considering a Mac cleaning app for this coverage.

• Is the app intuitive and easy to use?
• Is the app secure? Does it ensure safety while tampering with significant parts of the Mac?
• Does it notifyyou about the potential issues on your device?
• Does it offer features to clean junk files, trash, unused, and copiesin different system sections?
• Does it make smart decisions and work efficiently?
• Does it check your Mac's overall health?
• Is it priced reasonably with respect to the powerful features/functionalities we get?
• Is it compatible with the latest version of macOS?
• Is the app available in different languages to be used by people from different countries?

And guess what? We have chosen 9 Mac cleaner software and performance tune-up tools that checked the most important boxes.

Disclosure: We sometimes use affiliate links which means that, at zero cost to you, we may earn a commission if you buy something through our links.

Our Pick: CleanMyMac X

After testing multiple Mac cleaning and speed-up software for several weeks, CleanMyMac X undoubtedly made it to the top position. We believe it's the best solution you have at cleaning and tuning up your Mac experience to something better.

CleanMyMac X is an all-in-one Mac cleaner and performance tune-up software available for macOS devices. This popular tool comes from MacPaw, one of the trusted developers in the industry right now.

For now, let's see how good CleanMyMac X is at cleaning and speeding up your Mac. Do keep in mind that what follows is an insight-filled review of CleanMyMac X on macOS Catalina.

#1 Super-Easy Mac Cleaning

You don't have to be a macOS ninja to use CleanMyMac X. I mean, I started using CleanMyMac X when Mac was a new platform to me. And, with the later versions, the tool has become more intuitive.

Regardless of your expertise with macOS, CleanMyMac X can help you clean up junk and make it faster. You don't have to make sensible decisions if you are unsure. Instead, this Mac cleaning app uses algorithms to understand what's best for your Mac. So, via a simple Smart Scan button, you can not only clean your Mac but also anything and everything that is wrong.

#2 Comprehensive Maintenance

CleanMyMac X can very well be the most comprehensive Mac cleaner/optimizer out there. Split into sections like Cleanup, Protection, Speed, Applications, and Files, you can find so many features inside.

All these features work towards a single goal: a cleaner, faster Mac. For instance, in the Speed section, the CleanMyMac X modules let you manage launch agents and login items on your Mac. Similarly, the modules in the Applications section allow you to safely and effectively remove applications, huge files, and unwanted stuff from your device. All these help you in speeding up the Mac and improving the overall speed.

#3 Powerful Utilities

Another thing I loved about CleanMyMac X is that it doesn't restrict itself. For instance, the tool comes with many utilities such as Space Lens and App Updater.

Space Lens, for example, allows you to understand how your Mac uses the storage space. Ssdreporter 1 5 5 x 4. You can find out the biggest directories and huge files. This helps you in making quick decisions. App Updater can help you in updating all the apps you have on your Mac. So, even if you installed an app from non-App Store sources, it becomes easy.

#4 Smart Cleaning Notifications

Ideally, you should open up CleanMyMac X and run the cleaning/boosting modules once in a while. Though, if you don't, the app can notify you.

These notifications come in two ways: the main app and the CleanMyMac X menu bar widget. The menu bar widget notifies you when the RAM is full or when the CPU usage is so high. You also get prompts regarding frequent cleaning sessions. It's impressive that this tool can keep your Mac clean and safe, even if you forget to do that.

#5 Customizable Performance

I always love a customizable tool, and CleanMyMac X isn't an exception. You can control how CleanMyMac X scans your Mac and deals with the results.

For instance, you can exclude apps, folders, or other spaces by being scanned at all. You also get options to control how certain elements look on the interface. More importantly, you need not follow whatever CleanMyMac X tells you to do blindly. For instance, if you don't want to remove every kind of junk from your Mac, you can decide to exempt something.

#6 Effective Speed-up

This is the reason why I have been recommending CleanMyMac X to all my friends and family — and, now, to you guys too.

A simple scan and cleaning with CleanMyMac X can change the way you use your Mac. You get to enjoy the same speed you see when you open up a Mac for the first time. It happens because the cleaning algorithms that CleanMyMac X use are pretty advanced. Similarly, you get some extreme options like Disk Permissions Manager and Spotlight Re-indexing to boost the speed even further.

#7 Great Support

Compared to other Mac cleaner software we have tried before, the after-sale support from MacPaw is surely the best.

First of all, the developer offers frequent updates to the tool. In most cases, any bug you see in one release will be fixed in a few weeks, maximum. Also, there is no scarcity of learning resources through the support guides. So, even if you are entirely new to macOS, the guides from MacPaw will help you make the best out of CleanMyMac X.

We did have a look at the best things about CleanMyMac X, but here are a few areas that we think may use some improvement.

• The developers can consider some additional options like duplicate file remover inside CleanMyMac X. Since duplicate files cause storage space crunch and slow-down, it seems like a great move.
• CleanMyMac X comes with a malware detection module, but it's not entirely adequate. We'd love to see some improvements in this area.

Do these impact CleanMyMac X as a Mac cleaner? NO. Can such improvements make CleanMyMac X perfect over time? YES.

• Easy-to-use Interface
• Versatile cleaning options
• Comprehensive coverage
• Completely safe to use
• Reasonable pricing

• Could get more utilities
• Security module needs work

CleanMyMac X is currently available for macOS 10.10 or later. It works fine with macOS Catalina as well. We had tested this Mac cleaner software for this review on Catalina.

The pricing plans of CleanMyMac X begin at $34.95. If you want multiple licenses, you have to pay further. However, considering the features inside the tool, the single-license price seems quite reasonable.

How to play mobile games on mac. By the way, you can get CleanMyMac X via a Setapp subscription as well.

CleanMyMac X works on macOS 10.10 and later, including the newly released macOS 10.15 Catalina. A free trial version is available for download.

Runner-Up: Sensei

Although not as comprehensive as CleanMyMac X, Sensei offers a unified platform to monitor and manage your Mac with ease. This is why we recommend this new-generation Mac performance tool as the runner-up in this list. Of course, you don't get as many cleaning options as you see in the top pick.

Sensei is a powerful Mac tune-up software that helps you improve the speed and reliability of your Mac. You can use Sensei to monitor, analyze, benchmark, and improve different aspects of your Mac, such as Storage, Thermal Dashboard, and Battery Consumption.

Here are a few reasons why we recommend Sensei as a great app to speed up your Mac.

#1 Impressive Dashboard

We think the superb dashboard on Sensei deserves another round of applause. This dashboard can simply be the only place you should look to understand how your Mac works.

You get to see which apps are consuming resources and how your fans are running. Similarly, there are ways to track the health, capacity, and performance of multiple elements like storage, graphics, and battery. By the way, Sensei also has a menu-bar interface that you can customize. Unfortunately, that's only the level of customization you get.

#2 A Well-Curated Cleaning Package

We already told you that Sensei isn't as comprehensive as CleanMyMac X. However, the options available in the Sensei package are just excellent on any day.

We are talking about the essential modules like application uninstaller and junk file cleaner. When combined with the in-depth data Sensei provides, these tools can change the way you use your Mac. For instance, you can easily explore different categories and clean different types of content from your Mac SSD/HDD. It's nice to clean your entire Mac from a single space.

#3 Advanced Monitoring

Compared to other Mac cleaning apps out there, Sensei brings a more comprehensive approach. It gives you so much information about your Mac that you can make the right decisions.

For instance, using Sensei, you can track the storage space, temperature, graphics performance, cooling, and many other aspects of the device. Sensei will be the best choice if you want to know if your MacBook Pro fans are dysfunctional, for instance. Similarly, Sensei can give you advanced data on sections like battery and SSD health.

#4 Benchmark, Stats and More

When it comes to aspects like storage and performance, Sensei doubles as a benchmarking suite and a tool for advanced statistics.

For instance, you can use Sensei to understand the current performance of your SSD and analyze the stats in a better way. There is also an option to see the current health and temperature of the drive. Going a step further, Sensei can notify you before the disk falls into some kind of trouble. So, on any day, Sensei is a great way to keep your Mac on a check.

So, these are the areas that we think Sensei can improve.

• We strongly believe Sensei could have included more options to improve the performance. As you may have seen, more than half of the app focuses on statisticsand analysis. It's also one of the reasons why Sensei cannot compete face to face with something like CleanMyMac X.
• The lack of customization is a problem, indeed. This puts the user in a tough position of making the call. That is, the user has to decide which files they delete and which they don't. We also think Sensei must offer extra assistance while analyzing the scan results.

Despite these, if you are looking for a simple way to manage junk/huge files and a lot of methods to analyze data, Sensei seems to be a great deal.

• Low footprint
• Excellent statistics
• In-depth analysis
• SSD Trimming
• Affordable pricing

• Limited compatibility
• Lacks customizability

Best Mac Apps

Sensei is available for macOS 10.15 Catalina and later. You heard that right. Best format for external drive mac. You can't run Sensei on old Macs.

Coming to the pricing, you can get either the yearly subscription for $29 or the Lifetime license for $59. In both cases, you get future updates, which is excellent.

As you can see, Sensei is pretty inexpensive than our top pick, but you miss some features.

The Competition: Paid Mac Cleaner Software

For years, the standard in PC cleaner software has been CCleaner. Now, Mac users can benefit from the experience that the Piriform developers bring to the table. CCleaner Professional is quick and easy to use the program, which speeds up your Mac and secures it. Although CCleaner has a free version, there are only two basic features aimed at a faster Mac and Privacy Protection.

At the premium level with a price of $24.95, you have Automatic Browser Cleaning, Real-time Monitoring, Automatic Updating, and what they call ‘Priority Support.' There are 3 tabs – Cleaner, Tools, and Options. These three cleaning options inside CCleaner can help you remove junk files, trash files, unused data, unwanted files, and software

Though CCleaner Professional has many helpful features, it lacks some options. For instance, it always stays as a simple tool for cleaning temporary files and internet cache.

MacBooster from IObit is a powerful Mac maintenance tool for cleaning up Mac computers and offers proper functionality for its class. MacBooster and CleanMyMac X have quite similar functionality, offering users several cleaning options and tools: system cleanup, finding duplicates, deleting large files, uninstalling applications, protecting your Mac from virus and malware, etc.

Start by clicking Clean and Boost, for example, and four sections – Internet Security, System Cleanup, System Optimization, and Disk Clean – are scanned for errors, threats, and redundant files. After a quick review, you can simply click the Fix button and proceed. We also liked MacBooster's performance boost tool, which shuts down low-level services to speed up your Mac further.

If you're a power user looking to deep-clean your Mac, give the 14-day trial a whirl. After that, it requires a $2.49/month subscription.

Intego Mac Washing Machine is a Mac cleaner that makes it easy to get rid of junk files that slow down your Mac. It comes with three separate but complementary functions. It scans for unused or obsolete files that can be deleted, it identifies duplicate files, and it lets you manage your desktop. Through the app's intuitive interface, you can quickly access all features and have your Mac running more smoothly in no time.

Overall, the Intego Mac Washing Machine app is elegant. It's worth checking out if you are looking for an app that helps you organize your storage drives and removes unnecessary files. But there is no quick-look support for files preview, and the trial version of this app can only complete the preliminary steps of each function. Once again, you will notice a lack of options.

Download Apps For Mac

You get to see what each phase of the scanning process looks like, but to get any real functionality, you'll have to pay $29.99 for an unrestricted license.

DaisyDisk is a beautiful yet different disk space analyzer that scans the drives on your Mac and gives you a visual overview of what's eating up space on your Mac. It displays files in a pinwheel-shaped disk map, letting you quickly locate and clean up large files. You can use the built-in QuickLook preview to see what you might want to get rid of (you can also reveal in Finder to take a closer look).

There's a collection drawer where you can stage files (or entire segments) for trash. Once you've browsed through and collected things you don't need, a single click clears them out. DaisyDisk is available for just $9.99 from the Mac App Store as well as from their website (standalone edition). The standalone version from their site offers some additional features since it is not bound by Apple's sandboxing rules.

We like DaisyDisk's design with its circular visualizations! But it's important to note that DaisyDisk does not warn you if you delete something sensitive to the system. So, please use DaisyDisk carefully.

Disk Doctor is developed in the UK and was awarded the ‘Mac Gem' award by MacWorld in 2013. The app focuses on disk cleanup only. It scans and removes application caches, browser logs , iTunes temp caches and other unnecessary files from your hard drive. The interface is very simple and professional as well as easy to use.

The limitation of Disk Doctor is that the utility is designed to work only with your Mac's boot volume. You can't scan an external volume and free up disk space on it. Similarly, you miss features like app uninstaller and cache manager. On the bright side, you get an interactive way to manage different elements and remove them with ease.

Disk Doctor Pro could use a few improvements and additional features, but at its current price of just $9.99, it's worth having around.

The Competition: Free Alternatives

AppCleaner is a small and simple utility that helps you uninstall macOS apps completely. Sure, the Mac makes it a lot easier to get rid of unwanted software than Windows, but a thorough cleaning is another affair. Often apps will leave behind configuration files, cache folders, and other remnants that occupy disk space. This is where AppCleaner comes in.

AppCleaner does a serviceable job of locating all the files associated with the app and provides an index so that you know just how much space they're taking up. Once you've got them all accounted for, click the Delete button and delete them forever. As you can guess, there are no additional features in this package. You can remove the apps, and that's it.

Of course, we have included AppCleaner as a limited alternative only. It cannot be compared to CleanMyMac X or Sensei on any day. Clear disk 2 12 x 12. But, if you can't spend at all, AppCleaner helps you with the baby steps.

OnyX is another free multifunctional utility that can verify your Mac's startup disk, run a variety of system scripts for cleaning tasks manually and rebuilding your Mac. The developer offers specific OnyX versions for every major version of macOS. When a new version of macOS comes out, you have to revisit the OnyX site and grab the latest release. Every version is free and very small. So, you don't waste space.

It's handy for deleting caches, removing redundant and excessive files and folders, rebuilding databases and indexes, and making your machine run more smoothly and with added disk space. Just be careful playing with these settings. They're helpful and can improve your Mac's performance, but if you don't know what a given setting is supposed to do, you're probably best off not changing it.

We think it's excellent for tech-savvy and experienced Mac users to take significantly more time to get around and find what you need, then learn how to use it, but the result pays.

Additional Tips To Clean Your Mac Further

Keep the macOS desktop clean: Many people use Desktop as their primary destination for files. But this could be tricky. Each of these files adds pressure to the system. When there are too many items on the screen, you'll start seeing slow-downs on Mac. So, you have to keep the desktop clean and minimal with fewer icons and applications. Menumate 1 3.

Grab some external storage: It is no mystery what is filling up your storage – files. To prevent your data from clogging up the system, you might consider saving your less-used files to a location away from your computer. An external drive will be ideal. You can even use apps like Get Backup Pro to enable the syncing process.

Restart regularly: Restarting your Mac regularly is an excellent way to clean up the Mac and improve the overall performance of the device. It works because the restart process can help your Mac in rejuvenating and cleaning some caches and temporary files.

Stay current with macOS: Apple releases new versions of OS X as free upgrades, so there is no reason not to keep current. New versions of macOS contain performance improvements that often use more system resources. Also, you get features like Optimize Storage.

In Closing

Now, you've a handful of Mac cleaning software to choose from, with different customization that can help you accomplish your goals.

After carefully evaluating all the popular Mac cleaner solutions, we believe that CleanMyMac X beats them all in overall performance, ease of use, and flexibility. It should also be noted that CleanMyMac X is used by more than 5 Million Mac users across the globe. Just in case you didn't know, trustworthy websites like TheNextWeb and MacWorld recommend it.

However, if you are looking for something more specific, you can consider other options like Sensei. Then, again, it's always better to have a compilation of tools instead of installing different apps for each need.