Looking for a Gemini alternative?
Gemini 2 — MacPaw’s duplicate finder, not Google’s AI — does one thing very well: finding duplicate files on a Mac. Here is where Vaulith differs, stated honestly.
The short version
- Choose Vaulith if duplicates are only part of the problem — it also cleans caches, grades photos, and protects sensitive documents.
- Choose Gemini if all you need is duplicate cleanup on a Mac — it does that one job beautifully.
Download Vaulith free — run a scan and see what it finds beyond duplicates. 500 MB/month free, no credit card.
Side by side
| Vaulith | Gemini 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A full disk cleaner: duplicates, developer and app caches, large files, photo quality, and sensitive-document protection. | A dedicated duplicate & similar-file finder — that’s its whole, well-executed job. |
| 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. | Not its job — Gemini finds duplicates; there’s no grade of your Mac and no published scoring math (macpaw.com/gemini, checked August 2026). |
| Platforms | macOS 13+ and Windows 10/11 — one license, up to 3 devices. | macOS only. |
| Where analysis runs & network calls during a scan | Fully on-device, and a scan adds no new outbound connections. Run the check yourself. | Not stated on the product page (macpaw.com/gemini). MacPaw’s privacy policy (macpaw.com/policy) describes analytics events and synced user content. |
| Duplicate detection | Byte-exact (SHA-256) duplicates for every file type, plus visually similar photos. One copy is always kept. | Excellent exact and similar detection with smart selection — its specialty, refined over years. |
| Beyond duplicates | The gigabytes duplicates can’t explain: Xcode DerivedData, npm, pip, Homebrew caches, large files — each safety-verified first. | Out of scope by design — Gemini finds duplicates, not caches, logs, or system junk. |
| Photo intelligence | Grades photo quality — blurry, dark, overexposed — and marks a photo of a document (a passport shot as IMG_4021.jpg) Protected. |
Finds duplicate and similar photos, with tight Photos-library integration; quality grading isn’t the focus. |
| Deletion safety | Your files: restorable Quarantine, then OS Trash. Caches: straight to Trash. Never a hard delete — you review every file. | Removals go to the Trash by default — “bring them back in a click” (macpaw.com/gemini) — so they’re recoverable too. |
| Byte-accounting honesty | Clone-aware on APFS: the promised number can only under-promise, never inflate. | Clone-aware accounting isn’t advertised (macpaw.com/gemini). On APFS, deleting a cloned “duplicate” can free far less than its size. |
| Sensitive-file awareness | 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. | Not mentioned on the product page (macpaw.com/gemini). |
| Pay once? | Founding Member (lifetime license): $129 once — all v1.x updates, Mac and Windows, up to 3 devices.† Free tier: 500 MB/month. | Subscription — “starting at $1.95/month” on macpaw.com, $19.99/yr on the Mac App Store (July 2026). Also in Setapp. |
| Account requirement | None. Download, scan, and clean with no account, no email, no card. | Sold through MacPaw’s store and Setapp; the product page doesn’t state whether an account is required. |
| Your cleaning history online | Sign in and see every scan — dates, findings, and space recovered over time. | The MacPaw account handles licences and billing; it doesn’t show what a scan removed. |
| 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. |
† 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 features and pricing models as of July 2026. Gemini is a trademark of MacPaw; Vaulith is not affiliated with or endorsed by MacPaw. (And no relation to Google’s Gemini AI.)
The three differences that actually matter
1. Duplicates are the start, not the whole job
The big gigabytes hide where a duplicate finder never looks: Xcode DerivedData, npm / pip / Homebrew caches, stale logs, and forgotten installers. Vaulith cleans those too, each location safety-verified first.
2. Similarity, quality — and the photos that must never be touched
Vaulith recognises a photographed document — a passport or W-2 shot as IMG_4021.jpg — and marks it Protected. It also flags blurry, dark, and overexposed shots, all on your machine. Verify it yourself.
3. One license, both platforms, own it once
Gemini is Mac-only; Vaulith’s $129 Founding Member covers macOS and Windows on up to 3 devices. Fine print and the Pro subscription live on the pricing page.
Fair is fair: if duplicate cleanup on a Mac is all you need, Gemini does that one job with polish we respect. Buy the tool that fits the problem — we’d rather you pick the right one than regret ours.
See what duplicates can’t explain — 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