Looking for a Gemini alternative?
Gemini 2 — MacPaw’s duplicate finder, not Google’s AI — is very good at exactly one thing: finding duplicate and similar files on a Mac, with a level of polish few utilities match. This page isn’t here to trash it. It’s here to explain, honestly, where Vaulith takes a different approach — and to help you pick the right tool, even if that turns out not to be us.
The short version
- Choose Vaulith if duplicates are only part of your problem — you also want the developer & app caches (Xcode DerivedData, npm, pip, Homebrew) that no duplicate finder touches, on-device AI that grades photo quality (not just similarity), a Windows PC covered by the same license, or the option to pay once — $99, all v1.x updates included.
- Choose Gemini if all you need is duplicate cleanup on a Mac — especially inside your Photos library — from a mature, focused tool that 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 & app caches, large files, and AI photo & document analysis. | A dedicated duplicate & similar-file finder — that’s its whole, well-executed job. |
| Platforms | macOS 13+ and Windows 10/11 — one license, up to 3 devices. | macOS only. |
| Duplicate detection | Byte-exact (SHA-256) and visually-similar duplicates — even with different names. One copy is always kept, automatically. | Excellent exact and similar detection with smart selection that learns which copies you keep — its specialty, refined over years. |
| Beyond duplicates | The gigabytes duplicates can’t explain: Xcode DerivedData, npm / pip / Homebrew caches, large & unused files, old documents — each location safety-verified before it’s ever offered. | Out of scope by design — Gemini finds duplicates, not caches, logs, or system junk. |
| Photo intelligence | On-device vision AI grades quality — blurry, dark, overexposed — and files with sensitive-looking names are flagged Protected, never suggested for deletion. | Finds duplicate and similar photos, with tight Photos-library integration; quality grading isn’t the focus. |
| Deletion safety | Quarantine-first, then the Trash — the engine physically has no code path that bypasses it. You review every file. | Removals go to the Trash by default, so they’re recoverable from there too. |
| Pay once? | $99 lifetime — includes all v1.x updates, Mac and Windows. Or $59/yr ($9.99 month-to-month), or a $6.99 one-time Deep Clean Pass. Free tier: 500 MB cleanup/month. | Subscription — advertised at “starting at $1.95/month” on macpaw.com and $19.99/yr on the Mac App Store (as of July 2026); see MacPaw’s store for any one-time options. Also included in Setapp. |
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
Deleting every duplicate on a typical disk frees a few gigabytes. The tens of gigabytes usually hide somewhere a duplicate finder never looks: Xcode DerivedData (often tens of gigabytes), npm / pip / Homebrew caches, stale logs, and forgotten installers. Vaulith treats duplicates as one module of a full cleanup — with each cache location safety-verified before it’s ever offered — so one scan covers what would otherwise take a duplicate finder plus a cache cleaner plus a large-file hunt.
2. Similarity vs quality — what the AI actually judges
Gemini answers “which of these photos are copies of each other?” Vaulith also answers a harder question: “which of these photos are bad?” Its on-device vision AI flags blurry, dark, and overexposed shots — and keeps your best one — while files with sensitive-looking names (tax, medical, ID, legal) are flagged Protected and never suggested for deletion. All of it runs locally through Ollama: your photos never leave your machine. If that claim sounds too convenient, verify it yourself with a network monitor.
3. One license, both platforms, own it once
Gemini is a Mac-only app. Vaulith’s $99 lifetime license covers macOS and Windows on up to 3 devices, with every v1.x update included — and there’s a $6.99 one-time Deep Clean Pass — every Pro feature for 30 days, no subscription — if you only need a one-off deep clean. If your desk has a Mac and a PC on it, that’s one purchase instead of two products.
Fair is fair: if duplicate cleanup on a Mac is genuinely all you need — especially inside your Photos library — Gemini does that one job with a polish and focus 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 your disk, see what’s reclaimable beyond the duplicates, and clean 500 MB/month free. No credit card, no cloud, everything recoverable. First-time subscriptions and the Lifetime license carry a 7-day money-back guarantee.
Download Vaulith free