Best Alternative to CleanMyMacX

I’ve never know an app that hasn’t come under severe criticism.

Having followed discussions on CMM (and used the app myself), I am aware of two genuine criticisms:

  • You can do everything the app does manually, for free. This is true, but requires significant knowledge and some work. The app may not add anything much, but it is convenient

  • The app can cause problems by moving/removing critical files. This does happen occasionally, although I’m aware of only a few instances. It’s always advisable to make sure you have backups before allowing an app to delete what may be critical files.

I am also aware of a number of unfounded/unevidenced criticisms.

  • Confusion between CMM and MacCleaner - which is notorious malware
  • Unfounded assertions that “MacPaw cannot be trusted”

I stopped using CMM when it became CMMX and the price went way up. I use Onyx for most things and AppZapper on the occasions I want to delete an app

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Clearing out your cache folder isn’t that hard.

I agree that clearing out the cache folder isn’t that hard for MPU but CMMX does more than clearing system and user cache. It combines many scripts and utilities under one roof with the click of one button and that is convenient for many. I’ve used it for years (and OnyX before that) with no issues.

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Anybody can clear their cache. It’s not that hard.

Gotcha. To be clear, I’m not arguing that it’s hard at all. I’m saying that these all-in-one apps do more than just clearing cache. It’s not hard for me to clear cache manually but it’s more convenient for me to use the app because I’m already using it for other utilities. That might not be your experience, or anyone else’s and that’s fine. :slight_smile:

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As I’m sure you know, CMM does a lot more than that.

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THANK YOU! For years I was thinking that CleanMyMac was bad couldn’t figure out why. I was confusing it with MacCleaner!

Unfortunately for MacPaw (always liked the name) being distrustful forced me into figuring out how to do my own maintenance and now I don’t need it.

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I have a Setapp subscription which allows me to use CleanMyMac on one Mac.

However, I prefer Sensei of late. It’s beautiful and feature packed. It’s not free but does have a one time purchase option.

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+1 for Sensei. Great and intuitive user interface. Similar to iStat Menus but with ability to tweak.

Though CleanMyMac X is very good at what it does, you need to carefully watch what you do (like with Onyx). It it easy to mess things up.