CleanMyMac
Also known as: CleanMyMac X, CleanMyMac Classic
Active · Website · Store listing
Flagship commercial Mac maintenance suite from MacPaw (Kyiv, Ukraine): junk and system cleanup, app uninstaller with leftover removal, disk-space visualization ('Space Lens'), malware removal (Moonlock engine), startup and optimization tools, and a third-party app updater, in a heavily design-polished GUI. First released in 2008 and long the best-known paid Mac cleaner; distributed as a notarized direct download, on the Mac App Store (consumer and business SKUs), and through MacPaw's own Setapp subscription.
- Platforms
- Interface
- Tech stack
- Closed-source native Swift macOS app with a privileged helper for system-level cleaning; Mac App Store SKUs are sandboxed; official open-source 'CleanMyMac CLI' companion on GitHub
- Features
- Dev-junk cleaning
- Not a focus
- Development
- Company team · original author still leadsMacPaw Way Ltd (Kyiv, Ukraine; offices in Boston and Cork), founded 2008 by CEO Oleksandr Kosovan; 300+ staff and ~$90M revenue (2024). Original founder still leads.
- License
- ProprietaryProprietary trialware
- Price
- SubscriptionFree trial with limited cleanup; subscription (~$35/yr) or one-time license (~$90) per Mac; also included with MacPaw's Setapp subscription; separate business multi-license SKU on the App Store
- Launched
- first_release_at
- First release
- Domain registered
- (macpaw.com)
- Last seen alive
Checks
Mechanical checks derived from the fields above. Each row is one fact; "not yet checked" means exactly that, not a failure. There is no composite score; read them together.
| Track record | about 18 years |
|---|---|
| Source published | Partially |
| Release signing | Notarized |
| Security contact | Yes |
| Reproducible builds | Not yet checked |
| Telemetry | Not yet checked |
| Runs elevated | Only when needed |
| Auto-update channel | Signed |
| Recent activity | Last seen yesterday |
- macpaw.com/.well-known/security.txt verified 2026-11-02; MacPaw also runs the Moonlock security research division
- Direct-download builds are signed and Apple-notarized; App Store SKUs are sandboxed by Apple
- Only the companion 'CleanMyMac CLI' is open source (github.com/MacPaw/cleanmymac-cli); the app itself is closed
- Privileged helper prompted on demand for system-level cleaning; built-in signed updater
Relations
- same author Gemini 2 (MacPaw's duplicate-file finder; also cataloged)
- same author Setapp (MacPaw's own Mac-app subscription service; CleanMyMac is distributed through it)
- same author The Unarchiver (long-running free macOS archive tool acquired by MacPaw in 2017)
Research notes
- AV-vendor scrutiny history: for years several antivirus vendors classified CleanMyMac as a PUP, feeling it could do more harm than good in inexperienced hands given the privileges it holds over files and macOS; Malwarebytes' stated position is that it never met enough of their PUP detection criteria but they do not recommend 'cleaning' apps on macOS in general (cache deletion mostly slows a Mac while caches rebuild). Most vendors have since dropped the classification as macOS hardened permission transparency and the app matured (see Sources).
- Origin: first released in 2008, initially coded by founder Oleksandr Kosovan as a student at Kyiv Polytechnic Institute; reported 5M+ users by 2018; major redesigns in 2015, 2018 ('X'), and 2024 - one of the longest-lived commercial cleaners and the reference product paid Mac cleaners position against.
- Distribution surface is unusually broad for the category: notarized direct DMG, two Mac App Store SKUs (consumer and 'for Business' multi-license), Homebrew casks including a separate Chinese edition (mycleanmymac.com), MacPaw's own Setapp bundle, and an official open-source companion CLI on GitHub.
- Design-forward positioning is its signature differentiator - iF Design Award 2020, Red Dot 2021, Webby nominee 2022 - a level of marketing polish unusual in the category and often imitated by weaker rivals.
- Developer focus: CleanMyMac remains MacPaw's flagship and main revenue source inside a portfolio (Setapp, Gemini, The Unarchiver, ClearVPN, CleanMyPhone, Eney AI) plus the Moonlock security division; MacPaw continued operating from Kyiv through Russia's 2022 invasion, most customers being in the US and EU.
Sources
| URL | Role | Status | Checked | Archive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| macpaw.com/cleanmymac | homepage | 200 | ||
| macpaw.com | other | 200 | ||
| apps.apple.com/us/app/cleanmymac-by-macpaw/id1339170533 | store_listing | 200 | ||
| apps.apple.com/us/app/cleanmymac-x-multi-license/id1632395174 | store_listing | 200 | ||
| formulae.brew.sh/cask/cleanmymac | other | 200 | ||
| github.com/MacPaw/cleanmymac-cli | repo | 200 | ||
| formulae.brew.sh/cask/cleanmymac-zh | other | 200 | ||
| forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/301486-vetting-cleanmymac/ | other | 403 | ||
| macpaw.com/news/introducing-new-cleanmymac | other | 200 | ||
| en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CleanMyMac | other | 200 |
Established alternatives
Related tools
Wrong, stale, or missing something? Flag this listing: corrections reach the site operator, not CleanMyMac's developer. Last reviewed .