Cloud & legacy cleaners vs. the cleaner you can verify
This table runs in both directions: where we win, and where each competitor beats us. Every competitor cell cites that company’s own live page.
The matrix
| Vaulith | CleanMyMac1 | Gemini2 | DaisyDisk3 | CCleaner for Mac4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where analysis runs | 100% on-device. Even the AI talks only to Ollama on your own machine. | Not stated on the product page. | Not stated on the product page. | Page states “DaisyDisk doesn’t collect or transmit anything and doesn’t track you.” | Not stated on the product page. |
| A grade you can audit | Every whole-machine scan earns a letter Report Card (A+–F) — computed on-device, never uploaded, with the scoring math published. The first fix it suggests is always the free one. | No grade or published scoring math on the page. | No grade or published scoring math on the page. | No grade or published scoring math on the page. | No grade or published scoring math on the page. |
| Network behavior — can you check it? | Yes. A 60-second copy-paste test, a documented expected-traffic list, and a standing public invitation to disprove the central claim. | No verification method offered on the page. | No verification method offered on the page. | Asserted (“doesn’t collect or transmit anything”), but no user-runnable verification method offered on the page. | No verification method offered on the page. |
| What happens on a wrong deletion | Removals go to a restorable Quarantine, then your OS Trash. No code path permanently deletes — test it. | Not stated on the product page. | “Gemini moves duplicates to the Trash and lets you bring them back in a click” — a genuine safety net, stated on the page. | Their own comparison table lists “Files deleted permanently” as the durability benefit; no undo mechanism mentioned on the page. | No recovery story stated on the product page. |
| Byte-accounting honesty | Clone-honest: the promised figure can only shrink, never overstate. Pinned rule: promised ≤ actual. | No clone-aware accounting mentioned on the page. | No clone-aware accounting mentioned on the page. | Advertises “typically recovered: 10–100 GB +”3; no clone-aware accounting mentioned on the page. | No clone-aware accounting mentioned on the page. |
| Sensitive-file awareness | Flags sensitive-looking files (tax, ID, medical, legal, financial) on every scan and excludes them from bulk deletion. | No sensitive-file protection advertised on the page. | No sensitive-file protection advertised on the page. | No sensitive-file protection advertised on the page. | Advertises removing sensitive browsing data (history, cookies); no protection of your sensitive documents advertised. |
| Account requirement | None until purchase. Download, scan, and clean free — no account, no email, no card. | Not stated on the product page. | Not stated on the product page. | Not stated on the product page. | Not stated on the product page. |
| Price integrity | $0 free tier · Vaulith Pro $29/yr or $3.99/mo ($47.88/yr) · Founding Member $129 once.† Annual totals always shown — a signed pledge. | Page leads with “Starting at $3.33/month”; billed total and commitment term not stated on the page.1 | Page leads with “Starting at $1.95/month”; license terms not stated on the page.2 | The category’s fairness standard: $9.99 one-time, up to 5 Macs, 30-day money-back, free trial — stated plainly on the page. | No dollar prices stated on the product page — “Free Download” and “Buy Now” buttons only. |
| Platforms | macOS 13+ (Universal) and Windows 10/11 — one license covers both, up to 3 devices. | macOS only. | macOS only. | macOS only. | macOS and Windows (separate products). |
† 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).
“Not stated on the product page” means exactly that — the cited page, as fetched on August 12, 2026, doesn’t answer the question. It is not a claim about what the product secretly does.
Where they beat us — honestly
A one-sided table would be an ad. Here is the other direction:
- CleanMyMac wins on breadth. Its “Smart Care” does five jobs in one — deep clean, threat scan, speed boost, updates, decluttering1. Vaulith does none of the malware, updater, or tune-up work. If you want one suite for everything, pick CleanMyMac.
- DaisyDisk wins on speed and looks. Its page claims a 15-second scan3, and its sunburst map is the best way to see a disk. Its license terms are the fairest in the category.
- Gemini wins on duplicate-finder polish. A refined single-purpose tool with an easy Trash-based undo, stated right on the page2.
- CCleaner wins on familiarity and reach. A long-established brand with a free tier on both Windows and Mac4.
Vaulith is newer and narrower. Our one edge: every claim ships with the test that would disprove it — the claims ledger. Nobody else in the table competes for that.
Don’t take the table’s word for it either
A table is still just a claim. Download Vaulith free — no account — and run the 60-second network test yourself.
Verify it yourself Download free1. CleanMyMac product page — macpaw.com/cleanmymac, fetched August 12, 2026. Quotes: “Starting at $3.33/month”; “Smart Care is your Mac optimization routine that performs five tasks in one.”
2. Gemini product page — macpaw.com/gemini, fetched August 12, 2026. Quotes: “Starting at $1.95/month”; “Gemini moves duplicates to the Trash and lets you bring them back in a click.”
3. DaisyDisk product page — daisydiskapp.com, fetched August 12, 2026. Quotes: “$9.99” one-time, “use on up to 5 personal Macs,” “30-days money back guarantee,” “DaisyDisk 15 sec” vs “macOS Finder 6 min average,” “typically recovered: 10–100 GB +,” “files deleted permanently,” “DaisyDisk doesn’t collect or transmit anything and doesn’t track you.”
4. CCleaner for Mac product page — ccleaner.com/ccleaner-mac, fetched August 12, 2026. Observations: free tier feature table; “Free Download” / “Buy Now” buttons with no dollar amounts on the page; “automatically remove browsing history, cookies, and sensitive data.”
Vaulith column facts are our own product claims — each falsifiable one is catalogued with its disproving test on the claims ledger, and prices follow the Honest Pricing Pledge.