Two different kinds of app
CleanMyMac, made by MacPaw, is an all-in-one Mac maintenance suite. Alongside cleaning up disk space, it scans for malware, manages memory and CPU load, uninstalls and updates apps, and finds clutter such as duplicate photos. Its Smart Care routine runs several of these in one go.
dux is a disk usage analyzer with safe cleanup. It shows where your space goes, explains what is safe to remove, and moves anything you choose to the Trash with Undo. It does not try to speed up your Mac, protect it from malware or update your apps.
So this is not really a feature race. If you want one app that looks after many parts of your Mac, CleanMyMac is designed for that. If your problem is disk space, and you want to understand it before you clean, dux is designed for that.
This comparison is written by the makers of dux. We have stuck to what MacPaw publishes about CleanMyMac, and we say where it is the better choice.
At a glance
| dux | CleanMyMac | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Disk space and safe cleanup | Cleanup, protection, performance, apps |
| Storage map | Sunburst and treemap | Space Lens |
| Junk and caches | Ranked suggestions with safety levels | Junk cleanup and Smart Care |
| Duplicates | Files, by content | Duplicate and similar photos |
| Cloud folders | Download state per account, remove downloads | Large cloud files and local copies |
| Malware scanning | No | Yes |
| Memory and CPU tools | No | Yes |
| App uninstaller and updater | No | Yes |
| Price | Free; Pro €29 once or €9 a year | Subscription, from $3.33 a month billed yearly |
| Requires | macOS 15 or later | macOS 11 or later |
CleanMyMac details come from macpaw.com in October 2026. MacPaw offers plans for one, two or five Macs and a free trial. Prices change and vary by region, so check both sites before you buy.
Scope: one job or many
CleanMyMac’s strength is breadth. One app, one routine, and your Mac gets a general tidy up: junk, malware check, updates, memory. For people who would rather not think about maintenance at all, that is a real convenience.
dux goes deep on one thing. It scans a disk or folder, counts real space on disk (hard links once, APFS clones as shared storage, cloud files that are online only as using no space), and turns the result into suggestions ranked by the space they really free. Each one comes with a plain explanation and a safety level: Safe, Review or Risky. It also keeps a history of scans, so you can see which folders grew since last time.
Neither approach is better in general. A suite saves you from installing several apps. A focused tool is easier to understand and leaves the rest of your Mac alone.
How cleanups work
CleanMyMac is built around quick routines. Smart Care is designed to run several tasks with one click, and you can open the details of each task before you run it.
dux is built around looking first. Safe suggestions can be ticked for you, but nothing is removed until you confirm a review sheet that lists the paths and what will happen to each one. Files go to the Trash, or a duplicate is replaced with an APFS clone. Every cleanup is logged in Activity, and cleanups that moved files to the Trash can be undone while the files are still there. The few actions that cannot be undone, such as running Xcode’s own simulator cleanup, say so before you confirm.
Subscriptions and pricing
CleanMyMac is sold as a subscription. In October 2026 MacPaw lists plans for one, two and five Macs, starting from $3.33 a month for one Mac when billed yearly, with monthly billing also available. It is also included in the Setapp subscription. MacPaw has offered other license options in the past, so check its store for what is available in your region.
dux is free with no time limit and no account: scanning, every view, suggestions, duplicates, cloud download removal, cleanup with review and Undo. Pro adds bulk cleanups, clones for duplicates, full history, scheduled scans, the menu bar extra and automation. You can buy Pro once for €29 or yearly for €9, on up to five Macs, and the free app keeps working if you stop paying. Business licenses for managed Macs are priced per Mac. See pricing.
Privacy
dux works entirely on your Mac. It has no account, sends no analytics and uploads nothing. Scans and history stay in your home folder, its logs go to the macOS unified log, and scanning never opens cloud files that are online only, so it never triggers a download.
CleanMyMac does more, and some of that work, such as checking your apps for updates and keeping malware detection current, needs to reach online services by its nature. MacPaw describes how it handles data in its Trust Center and privacy policy. If privacy matters to you, read those before you install any system utility, including ours.
Permissions
Both apps work best with Full Disk Access, because macOS protects folders such as Mail, Messages and the Trash. dux works without it too: it marks the folders it could not read as unknown, never as zero, and explains inline how to grant access. It never asks with a popup. The Mac App Store build of dux uses the folders you choose instead of Full Disk Access.
Who each one suits
CleanMyMac is a good choice if you:
- want one app for cleanup, malware checks, app updates and memory;
- prefer a routine that handles things for you;
- want to clean up duplicate and similar photos;
- already use Setapp, where it is included;
- use a Mac that cannot run macOS 15.
dux is a good choice if you:
- mainly want to know where your disk space went;
- want to understand what is safe before anything is removed;
- want cleanups to go to the Trash with Undo;
- have several cloud accounts, old cloud folders or developer clutter;
- would rather not have another subscription.
Some people use both: a suite for general upkeep and dux when the disk is full and they want to see exactly why.
