Power Cleaner Studio vs CleanMyMac
All-in-one cleaner + optimizer + malware scanner. Heavy marketing, 29M+ downloads, iF Design Award. Built by MacPaw.
Power Cleaner Studio
macOS 14+ · native · sandboxed
$9 one-time
Family Sharing across Apple ID · refundable via Apple
Full Free tier · cleanup unlocks with the one-time purchase.
CleanMyMac
7-day free trial, then paid only
$3.35 / month subscription (~$40/yr ongoing)
As listed on cleanmymac.com
All-in-one cleaner + optimizer + malware scanner.
Where we win
- ✓One-time $9 instead of $40+/year forever
- ✓No 'speed up your Mac' theater — we surface what's heavy, you decide
- ✓MCP server for AI agents — first cleaner with this
- ✓Full Free tier (browse + monitor) instead of 7-day trial
- ✓Sandboxed Mac App Store build (CleanMyMac requires Full Disk Access)
Where CleanMyMac wins (honest)
- ◐Polished marketing site, large user base + reviews
- ◐Bundled malware scanner with 99.7% detection claim
- ◐Cloud storage analysis (iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive sizes)
- ◐Notarized + 30-day money-back
Feature-by-feature
Same features across both columns, no asterisks. ✓ = full, ◐ = partial, ✕ = no.
| Feature |
PCS
| CleanMyMac |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| One-time purchase (not subscription) | ✓ | ✕ |
| Free tier (forever, not just trial) | ✓ | ✕ |
| Family Sharing across Apple ID | ✓ | ✕ |
| Refund window | — Via Apple | — 30-day |
| Trust & privacy | ||
| Zero telemetry / analytics | ✓ | ✕ |
| Sandboxed (Mac App Store distribution) | ✓ | ◐ |
| Works without Full Disk Access | ✓ | ✕ |
| Open-source components | ✕ | ✕ |
| Fuzz-tested dangerous-path corpus | ✓ | ✕ |
| Cleanup | ||
| Junk / cache cleanup | ✓ | ✓ |
| Duplicate finder (SHA-256) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Similar photos (perceptual hash) | ✓ | ✓ |
| App uninstaller + leftover discovery | ✓ | ✓ |
| Curated rules for difficult apps (Adobe etc.) | — yes (15 apps) | ✓ |
| Xcode / Brew / Trash quick-cleanup recipes | — yes (Xcode / Brew / Trash) | ◐ |
| Monitoring | ||
| Live system CPU + RAM + per-process | ✓ | ◐ |
| Menu-bar HUD with sparklines | ✓ | ✓ |
| One-click quit a hungry app | ✓ | ✕ |
| Honest memory-pressure indicator | ✓ | ✕ |
| Disk usage treemap (DaisyDisk-style) | ✕ | ✓ |
| Safety | ||
| Cleanup goes to Trash (recoverable 30 days) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Refuses critical paths (/System, ~/.ssh, …) | — yes (DestructivePathPolicy) | ✓ |
| Review-before-delete sheet | ✓ | ✓ |
| Extras | ||
| MCP server for AI agents (Claude / ChatGPT) | ✓ | ✕ |
| Antivirus / malware scan | ✕ | ✓ |
| Bundled VPN | ✕ | ✕ |
| Ad-blocker | ✕ | ✕ |
| Command-line tool | — yes (pcs-mcp) | ✕ |
What CleanMyMac does that inspires our roadmap
We watch every alternative. Here's where CleanMyMac pushed our thinking:
- →Cloud storage analysis (size of iCloud / Dropbox / GDrive folders)
- →'Smart Care' one-tap multi-action recipe
- →Notification-center widget
See the changelog for what's shipping next.
Try Power Cleaner Studio
Free download — full scan + browse + Activity Monitor. $9 once for the cleanup actions.
Looking for another comparison? vs MacKeeper · vs CCleaner for Mac · vs Mole