CleanMyMac Reviews

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Editor's Rating
Overall
Features
Price
Customer Service

Positives

• User-friendly client
• Deep, effective cleaning options
• Fast, consistent scan results
• Versatile, user-oriented customer support
• Clever pricing policy
• 30-day money back guarantee

Negatives

• No startup optimizer
• Limited free version

Since its foundation in 2009, Ukraine-based company MacPaw has become one of the leaders of the computer optimization market – and it has done so for very good reasons. The prime reason for their success is CleanMyMac – the subject of our review – which was followed by the development of various other Mac optimization apps and Setapp, a subscription service for Mac apps. MacPaw’s CleanMyMac optimization tool not only includes a simple and straightforward client, but it is also powerful. With the software you can delve deep into your computer, searching for and removing those pesky junk files, unwanted pictures, lurking mail attachments and so on in a matter of seconds. Furthermore, CleanMyMac includes such extras as extension and privacy management, extra maintenance options and a shredder for deleting anything you don’t want on your Mac anymore. And if that wasn’t enough, all of this is available for very reasonable prices either alone or as part of software bundles.

Video Introduction

Features

As is the case for a lot of modern software, CleanMyMac is very simple and easy to use. After launching the program, the most important (and default) option is Smart Cleanup, which pops up with a huge “Scan” button at the bottom that also remains there when accessing other optimization features. Aside from this default feature, the software consists of six other cleaning options and five other general maintenance tools, with which you can remove junk data and unnecessary files to help make your computer perform better in every aspect.

No matter which feature you choose the program will guide you through the various steps, stopping to let you know when your input is needed. This way CleanMyMac guarantees that you won’t delete any necessary items, and help you to perform maintenance tasks and run the privacy and extensions module. And as a nice touch, the program always shows the computer’s current state and “health”.

Cleaning

The unlimited scanning process is very reliable, searching through your system folder, photos, iTunes folder, mail attachments and large or old files finding the exact same problems to be resolved during each test we conducted. The only thing that left us questioning the software was the fact that the duration of the each scan varied significantly every time we performed the scan, resulting in an average of 50 seconds. There are two other grave problems: the impact on the CPU usage and the addition of files that shouldn’t be on the safe list. In the former case the CPU usage can increase up to 30–40%, while in the latter case the program assumes that files in Dropbox, iCloud, or OneDrive should be removed as well. Thankfully it’s possible to decide the fate of these scanned files, unless you have the free version of CleanMyMac which only allows 500MB of data to be removed.

However, compared to the scanning – which is the most important step – the cleaning process happens much quicker: on our test computer, unnecessary files were deleted in less than 30 seconds. Keep in mind, though, that unless you install Helper, the deletion of certain system junk files will fail and that there are no restore points to go back should something go wrong.

Utilities

As for the other, non-cleaning features of CleanMyMac, there isn’t much else to say aside from the fact that they all work as fast and as effectively as the cleaning features – maybe even slightly better. Even though the software lacks a startup optimizer and a duplicate removal option, there is still a trustworthy uninstaller and the shredder with which you can effortlessly remove anything you no longer want on your Mac without leaving a single trace of it behind. Besides these two features, CleanMyMac also provides an intelligent extension management module, that can toggle on or off or remove any extension, and the privacy tab which can return your Mac’s search history to a ‘clean slate’. And unlike many similar solutions, the memory optimization feature can be found on the dashboard, a separate screen where it is possible to track how much free disk space is available, the status of your Mac’s battery (in case of MacBooks) and the CPU usage.

However, the most complete feature is Maintenance where multiple tasks can be performed, either simultaneously or separately. Here you can run maintenance scripts, flush your DNS cache, speed up your mail (and therefore improve your email inbox performance), reindex Spotlight, repair disk permissions and verify the startup disk.

Pricing

If you are not choosing the free version of CleanMyMac, which limits you to cleaning only 500MB of data from your Mac, there is also the option to pick the software with one or multiple licenses, purchase it via bundles containing other MacPaw solutions or via certain special offers. Whichever option you choose, you can pay with Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover cards, PayPal, Amazon Pay, wire transfer, check or money order. MacPaw also offers a 30-day money back guarantee on all its products if they are purchased directly from the company’s store.

If you just want CleanMyMac, you can upgrade your older version of the software with a 50% discount, get a new license for $39.95 or buy up to five licenses for $89.95 with which you can save an astonishing $109.80 from the original $199.75 price (55% off). However, there are other bundles as well: you can get MacPaw’s entire Mac maintenance package with CleanMyMac 3, Gemini 2 and Hider 2 for $62.95, the Space Saving Bundle for $53.95 (with CleanMyMac and Gemini), or the Universal Cleaning Bundle with CleanMyMac and CleanMyPC for $67.95.

Customer Service

Although the choice of traditional contact methods is pretty meager (only consisting of an email form and a general phone number), MacPaw pays great attention to customer feedback and aids CleanMyMac users as much as possible. This is noticeable in their constantly updated Facebook and Twitter profiles, where most of the available coupons and discounts are announced. The company also maintains an FAQ with the most important questions answered, as well as detailed video tutorials, a knowledge base and, quite surprisingly, a 54-page manual in PDF format available for free. On top of that, the company has dedicated pages for customer suggestions that might make the software even better and for license retrieval should you have accidentally lost it.

Bottom Line

CleanMyMac is the ultimate proof of why MacPaw and its other solutions, especially CleanMyPC, are true market leaders. For a relatively affordable price, which can be further reduced by buying more licenses or opting for MacPaw bundles, you can get access to a very simple, straightforward Mac optimization tool capable of performing all the tasks users would expect from such programs.

Although the software doesn’t include restore points, the duration of the scans are pretty inconsistent and sometimes it deems cloud storage files unnecessary, these negatives are easily compensated by everything else it achieves. CleanMyMac can search deep inside your hard drives and wipe away everything that might slow down your computer, regardless of the type of file you need to deal with. This program can also aid you in a faster and, more importantly, safer web surfing experience, making CleanMyMac a must for devoted Mac users.