DaisyDisk alternatives for 2026

Why people look for a DaisyDisk alternative

DaisyDisk is a focused disk analyzer: an interactive sunburst, a collector you drag files into, and a careful account of hidden space. It costs $9.99 for up to five Macs. People who move on usually want one of four things.

• A way back. DaisyDisk deletes permanently instead of moving files to the Trash, so the space is free the moment you confirm. That's deliberate. Its guide also says it can't restore what it deleted and points you to backups and recovery tools. You get five seconds to cancel.
• More than a map. DaisyDisk doesn't suggest what can go, has no duplicate finder (its FAQ says that would be a separate app) and documents no uninstaller. Its home page argues that cleaner apps are the wrong fix and that you should find and remove large files yourself.
• Something free. The trial has no time limit, but deleting stays locked until you buy.
• The App Store edition's limits. The App Store copy is sandboxed. It can detect hidden space but not reveal it, and it can't purge purgeable space or estimate and delete local snapshots.

When DaisyDisk is still the right choice

If you want an inexpensive visual map that covers five Macs, runs on macOS 10.13 and later, and can scan Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and Box, stay with DaisyDisk. If you'd rather files be gone the moment you confirm, its permanent deletion is the behavior you want. And its stand-alone edition already explains purgeable space, other APFS volumes and local snapshots.

How we chose

Every pick draws or lists your disk so you can see what's large, and every one had a release in 2025 or 2026. Two are free. Three are paid and add cleanup on top of the map, for people who want DaisyDisk's view plus help deciding what to remove. For each we noted the price and what happens to removed files, as of October 22, 2026, from the vendor's own pages.

We make MacClearings, so read that section knowing who wrote it. For a row-by-row table, see MacClearings vs DaisyDisk.

MacClearings

We make MacClearings; it's a one-person app by Chris Williams.

It covers DaisyDisk's job with a Map of any folder as a sunburst or treemap, with zoom, Quick Look and Reveal in Finder. Then it adds the parts DaisyDisk leaves out on purpose: Suggestions with 28 rules, Duplicates that always keeps one copy of every file, and an Applications view that uninstalls apps with their support files. Breakdown explains System Data and purgeable space, and shows what it can't see as a number instead of hiding it. The field guide's 220 or so entries appear in the Map's inspector and tooltips: what a folder is, which app made it, and whether it comes back.

DaisyDisk makes the point that caches cleared by cleaner apps come back. We think that's right, so MacClearings never checks app or browser caches for you, and History measures each cleaned place again after 1, 7 and 30 days to show how much space stayed free.

• Price: $25 once, or $12.50 for the first 25 buyers. DaisyDisk costs less. See pricing.
• Requirements: macOS 15 or later, Apple silicon and Intel. Direct download, signed and notarized.
• Privacy: no account and no analytics in the app.
• Removed files: only ever moved to the Trash, after you review them. History has Undo for each cleanup and Put Back for single items. This is the trade-off against DaisyDisk: MacClearings never empties the Trash, so the space returns when you empty it yourself. More on the safety page.

It isn't for you if you're on macOS 14 or earlier, or if you need to scan cloud drives.

GrandPerspective

GrandPerspective is the free choice if you want a picture of your disk without paying for one. It draws a treemap: each file is a rectangle whose area matches its size. You can color by type, folder, age or size, filter what's shown, save scans and reload them, and analyze Time Machine backups. Version 3.8.1 came out on September 13, 2026.

• Price: free and open source under the GPL, from SourceForge. The same app is $2.99 on the Mac App Store, where the fee supports development.
• Requirements: macOS 14 or later for 3.8. Version 3.7.2 is offered for macOS 11 to 13.
• Removed files: deleting is a preference. You can turn it off, allow single files only, or allow folders too, with an optional confirmation. Its help says a deleted folder moves to the Trash. There's no staged review list and no documented in-app undo.

OmniDiskSweeper

OmniDiskSweeper from The Omni Group skips the chart. It lists everything on a drive in Finder-style columns, largest first, so you can drill down to whatever is big and open it or move it to the Trash. It handles network volumes and can run as root to size folders your account can't read.

• Price: free.
• Requirements: macOS 11 or later. Version 1.16 came out on September 12, 2025.
• Removed files: moved to the Trash by default since version 1.10 in 2018. Holding Option deletes immediately, skipping the Trash. There's no separate review step and no in-app undo.

DiskBuddy

DiskBuddy shows one scan eight ways, including a sunburst and a treemap, and adds a cleanup list, a duplicate finder, an uninstaller, a system monitor and video and image compression. One license covers the Mac and Windows versions.

• Price: $19 for the first 400 copies, then $49. The page showed 37 of 400 left on October 22, 2026. One Mac at a time.
• Requirements: macOS 14 or later, or Windows 10 and 11.
• Removed files: moved to the Trash by default, with Undo for the whole cleanup and Put back later from its activity view. Permanent deletion is a separate option with its own warning. Items that apps rebuild, caches included, start ticked.
• Privacy: no account or analytics in the app, per its policy. The license check sends the key, a random install ID and the Mac's name.

Mole for Mac

Mole for Mac's Analyze tool draws a disk treemap with Move to Trash and Reveal in Finder, and protected folders can't be moved. Around it sit Clean (with a System Data group), Software for uninstalling, Optimize and a live Status monitor.

• Price: $19 once, and the license activates 2 Macs. Each paid tool works twice before you buy.
• Requirements: macOS 14 or later.
• Removed files: Analyze and uninstalls use the Trash. Cache cleanup is permanent by default unless you change a setting. There's no undo command. Its free command-line version has a terminal disk explorer, mo analyze, that also moves items to the Trash after you confirm.