Looking for a CleanMyMac alternative?
CleanMyMac is the best-known Mac cleaner, and it earned that. Here is where Vaulith differs — stated honestly, so you can pick the right tool.
The short version
- Choose Vaulith for on-device analysis you can verify, protected sensitive documents, Windows + macOS, and a pay-once option.
- Choose CleanMyMac for the broadest, most mature Mac maintenance suite — malware removal, app updater, years of polish.
Side by side
| Vaulith | CleanMyMac | |
|---|---|---|
| Platforms | macOS 13+ and Windows 10/11 | macOS only |
| A grade you can audit | Every whole-machine scan earns a letter Report Card (A+–F) for privacy and storage — computed on your device, never uploaded, and the scoring math is public. The first fix it suggests is always the free one. | No grade of your Mac’s privacy or storage, and no published scoring math (macpaw.com/cleanmymac, checked August 2026). |
| Sensitive-file protection | Every plan, even Free: files that read like tax returns, IDs, or medical records — including documents photographed with your camera and saved as JPEG or PNG — are marked Protected. | Reviewable cleanup with its own safety database; a sensitive-document classifier isn’t advertised. |
| Where analysis runs | Fully on-device. The core features need no AI; if you already run Ollama with a model, the app can use that local model for deeper photo analysis. It needs 12 GB of RAM. | Mature engine; the product page doesn’t say where analysis happens (macpaw.com/cleanmymac, checked August 2026). |
| Network calls during a scan | Signed out, a scan adds no new outbound connections — just one version check at launch. Run the check yourself. | Not addressed on the product page. MacPaw’s privacy policy (macpaw.com/policy) describes cleanup logs, analytics events, and synced user content. |
| Developer caches | A core focus: Xcode DerivedData, npm, pip, Homebrew — each location safety-verified before it’s ever offered. | General system-junk cleanup; developer-specific caches are not the product’s focus. |
| Deletion safety | Your files: restorable Quarantine, then OS Trash. Caches: straight to Trash. Never a hard delete — you review every file. | Reviewable cleanup with its own safety database. |
| Byte-accounting honesty | Clone-aware on APFS: the promised number can only under-promise, never inflate. | Advertises “5.5 GB of junk cleaned on the first scan” (macpaw.com/cleanmymac); clone-aware byte accounting isn’t documented. |
| Your cleaning history online | Sign in and see every scan — dates, findings, and space recovered over time. | The account page handles licences and billing; it doesn’t show your cleaning results. |
| What the cloud can store about you | Only numbers — never a file name. Our servers see counts and sizes, nothing else. Crash reports are path-scrubbed too. | Conventional account architecture; the privacy policy governs what is collected. |
| Pay once? | Yes. Founding Member (lifetime license): $129 once — every v1.x update, macOS and Windows, up to 3 devices.† | $119.95 one-time (All-in-One, 1 Mac) covers the current major version; new versions cost extra. Subscriptions from $19.95/yr. |
| Account requirement | None. Download, scan, and clean with no account, no email, no card. | The 7-day trial routes through MacPaw’s account portal; the page doesn’t state whether the app runs without one. |
| Free tier | Free forever — 500 MB cleanup/month, no credit card. | 7-day free trial with full functionality; no permanent free tier. |
| Extras | Duplicate & similar-photo detection, near-duplicate documents, large files, quarantine & restore. | Malware removal, app updater, menu-bar monitors, duplicate/similar-file removal (My Clutter), and a broader utility suite. |
† Founding offer: first 500 members or until October 11, 2026, whichever comes first; the lifetime price then becomes $179. Or Vaulith Pro: $29/yr billed once, or $3.99/mo ($47.88/yr).
Comparison reflects publicly documented pricing and features as of July 2026. CleanMyMac is a trademark of MacPaw; Vaulith is not affiliated with or endorsed by MacPaw.
Download Vaulith free — scan first, decide later. 500 MB/month free, no credit card.
The three differences that actually matter
1. Where your files go
Scanning, analysis, and deletion all run on your machine — and you can watch the network to prove it. Full detail: how your privacy works.
2. The gigabytes other cleaners leave behind
Developer caches like Xcode DerivedData often hold tens of gigabytes, and Vaulith treats them as the main event. See the DerivedData guide and the npm/pip/Homebrew guide.
3. What “pay once” actually means
CleanMyMac’s $119.95 one-time license covers the current major version; Vaulith’s $129 Founding Member covers every v1.x update on both platforms. Fine print and the Pro subscription live on the pricing page.
Fair is fair: CleanMyMac has a bigger feature set and years of polish. If that matters more to you, buy CleanMyMac — we’d rather you pick the right tool than regret ours.
Try the on-device approach — free
Scan free and clean 500 MB/month — no credit card, no cloud, everything recoverable. First-time subscriptions and the Lifetime license carry a 7-day money-back guarantee.
Download Vaulith free