MacClearings vs GrandPerspective

What each app is for

GrandPerspective, by Erwin Bonsma, draws a treemap of a folder or a whole volume: every file is a rectangle whose area matches its size. It is free and open source under the GNU GPL, its first release was more than 20 years ago, and it had several releases in 2026, most recently 3.8.1 in September. You can color files by name, extension, type, folder, depth, size or dates, and set up filters that mask items, narrow the view or leave them out of a scan. Scans can be saved and reloaded, and exported as an image or text. It can analyze Time Machine backups and scan cloud folders without downloading the files. There are no cleanup rules, and it doesn't try to have any.

MacClearings is a disk analyzer and cleaner arranged around three questions. Why is my disk full? is Breakdown, Map and Find. Make room is Suggestions, Duplicates, Applications and Compress. What changed is History. Its Map draws a treemap or a sunburst, so the picture will be familiar. What it adds is a sentence about what you are looking at.

Where GrandPerspective is the better choice

• It's free and open source. The source is public, so anyone can check what it does. The $2.99 Mac App Store version is the same app; its site says the fee covers Apple's developer membership and supports development.
• Control over the picture. Color schemes, palettes, filters on name, path, size, type and hard links, saved filters, several views, and export. MacClearings' Map has fewer settings.
• Time Machine and cloud folders. It can analyze Time Machine backups, counting hard links, and scan cloud folders without downloading them.
• Saved scans. You can save a scan and open it later, or export it.
• Older Macs. Version 3.8 needs macOS 14, and 3.7.2 is still offered for macOS 11 to 13. MacClearings needs macOS 15.
• Languages. The app is translated into 10 languages besides English.
• Enough on its own. If you want to see where the space went and decide everything yourself, a free treemap may be all you need.

Where MacClearings is the better choice

• Explanations. The field guide covers about 220 folders: what each is, which app made it, whether it comes back, and what happens without it. It appears in the Map's inspector, in tooltips, in Find and in Suggestions.
• System Data, named. GrandPerspective's help explains space the scan can't account for in general terms and suggests Full Disk Access. MacClearings' Breakdown starts from what macOS reports and names System Data, purgeable space, local snapshots and swap, explaining each in plain words. Whatever it can't see is shown as a number with the reasons.
• Suggestions. 28 rules cover caches, logs, developer data, old downloads, iPhone and iPad backups and Mail attachments, each with a plain explanation. Items are checked for you only when they are safe to lose and won't come straight back, so app and browser caches start unchecked.
• The rest of the job. Duplicates that always keep one copy of every file, an uninstaller that finds an app's support files, video and photo compression, and developer rules for Xcode, package managers, editors and build folders. More on the developer page.
• A review list and Undo. Everything staged appears in one list before it moves, and History keeps Undo for each cleanup and Put Back for each item.
• Space that lasts. Each cleaned place is measured again after a day, a week and a month, so you can see how much stayed free.

What happens to the files you remove

GrandPerspective. Removing files is a setting. Its Preferences can turn deletion off, allow single files only, or allow whole folders, and can ask for confirmation first. The help says that deleting a folder moves the entire folder to the Trash, including files the view doesn't show, such as filtered or masked files and files created since the scan. It doesn't say separately how single files are handled. There is no staging list, and no in-app undo is documented.

MacClearings. Checked items wait in the Cleanup tray, which remembers them between launches. Review & Clean Up lists every staged item with its size, and only Move to Trash in that list moves anything. Right before moving, each item is checked again: if it has gone, changed since it was measured, is open in an app, or is now protected, it is skipped and you are told why. The rest goes to the Trash, and History records where each item went. The safety page has the full rules.

DaisyDisk vs GrandPerspective

If you're choosing between these two disk maps, the differences are easy to state. GrandPerspective is free and open source and draws a treemap. DaisyDisk costs $9.99 for up to 5 personal Macs, as of October 2026, and draws a sunburst. DaisyDisk can scan Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and Box accounts, and its stand-alone edition can explain hidden space and purge purgeable space. The biggest practical difference is removal: GrandPerspective's help says deleted folders go to the Trash, while DaisyDisk's guide says it removes files permanently and can't bring them back. Neither suggests what to remove. MacClearings draws both a treemap and a sunburst, adds explanations and suggestions, and moves everything to the Trash with Undo.

Price

GrandPerspective is free from SourceForge, where donations are welcome, or $2.99 on the Mac App Store.

MacClearings costs $25 once, or $12.50 for the first 25 buyers, with one license key and a 30-day refund window. It is closed source. Details are on the pricing page.

Moving over from GrandPerspective

Nothing needs to move, and saved GrandPerspective scans don't carry over. MacClearings can save its own scan snapshots in History and compare them later to see what grew. Give it Full Disk Access if you want everything measured; without it, macOS hides some folders, and MacClearings says what it couldn't see.