This is my review of MacPaw’s Clean My Mac for 2025. This is the update of Clean My Mac X that I’ve reviewed before. MacPaw calls this software a 5 in 1 solution for keeping your Mac in top shape. In my review I’ll share my experience and tell you more about the functionality. I’ve installed Clean My Mac on my 2022 Mac Studio with 512GB SSD, 32GB ram and the base model M1 Max processor running Sequoia 15.3.1.
What is Clean My Mac?
Clean My Mac is an all in one software solution to keep your Mac clean and healthy. The software is able to remove old data or files that are no longer needed, scan for malware or other problems, install app updates and can keep your memory free by closing apps.
The software offers a great looking interface that is clean, colourful and easy to use. It is designed beautifully and with a lot of care. Even the sounds it makes are well designed and add to the feeling you’ve bought a high quality piece of software.
Costs
Clean My Mac is available as a monthly subscription for €9,95 per month or a yearly subscription for €39,95. And if you don’t like subscriptions you have the option to buy a lifetime licence for €119,95. You also have the option to buy extra subscriptions for 2 or 5 systems and get a discount.
Clean My Mac modules
The software has the following main modules:
- Cleanup
- Protection
- Performance
- Applications
- My Clutter
You can select these modules individually from the main menu of you can use the Smart Care option that runs all analyses and offers to fix all the problems it has found in one go. In the next chapters I’ll try to explain what all modules do and how this improves your Macs performance.
Cleanup
As the name suggests this module cleans up unneeded files that take up space on your main drive. In my case I’ve got a 512GB SSD that I only use to store my software. My data is stored on other drives. But as you know SSD’s perform better when they have as much free space as possible. Cleanup can delete the obvious files in the trash. But it also looks for old log files, language files you don’t use, email attachments that are also stored online and much more you normally don’t think about. Apparently it can even delete Xcode junk for the programmers under us (not me!).
The first time I ran the Cleanup it found 22GB of files that could safely be deleted. On a drive that was filled with about 300GB of files that is a lot of extra free room.
Protection
The Protection module scans for malware and other harmful software. This isn’t a full replacement for a virus scanner, but it is always good to have an extra pair of eyes that keep your system safe. It uses what the people at MacPaw call the Moonlock Engine. A fancy name for a smart scanning system that uses online databases to find threats. It also runs in the background to keep you safe.
When running a scan you have the option to choose a quick, balanced or deep scan. With the ‘Moonlock Engine’ running in the background I’ve never noticed any problems with performance. It’s just there but it don’t notice it.
Performance
The Performance module of Clean My Mac focuses on keeping your Mac running as smoothly as possible. It does that by clearing caches, freeing up RAM, repairing disk permissions and suggesting to re-indexing spotlight. While I had the feeling my Studio was still every bit as fast as the first day I got it, running the Performance scan did improve my system more than I expected. The Mail app was a lot faster and opening apps was a lot snappier.
Applications
Applications helps you to keep your apps up to date and to ease the management of your installed apps. The scan looks for apps that can be updated. The Applications module can also help in removing apps and making sure that all leftover files and installation remnants are also removed.
My Clutter
My Clutter looks a little like the Cleanup, but in stead of focusing on system files this is more focused on your personal files. It looks for duplicate files, images and downloaded files. It gives you a good overview of what it has found and what options you have to remove files. Of course you’re always in control of what you choose to remove.
Installing and using Clean My Mac
Installing Clean My Mac is a breeze. Just download it and install it like any app. After installation you do have to give the app permission to access certain drives and perform tasks. You can easily check what permission it needs and why.
Running the app is easy and very straightforward. When you open it you start in the Smart Care tab with one big button with ‘scan’ on it. Click that and the system will do a first scan in all categories mentioned above. When it is finished you get a scorecard from each module with the improvements it can realise. You are in control which actions you want the software to perform. Of course you also have the option to select specific modules if you want to control the scans it performs.
The interface
Clean My Mac has two main interfaces; the app main menu that opens with the Smart Care module and the separate modules. Here you can perform actions and use the software to improve your system.
But you als get a smaller health monitor tab that opens by clicking the app icon in the task bar. This gives you a quick overview of your systems status. It tells you about the Moonlock protection status, how your CPU, Ram and Wifi are doing and what devices are connected. If you are on a MacBook it also informs you about your battery status. Clicking a tile will open up more information about it.
In the bottom of the Health status you get suggestions for the next scan or improvements you can do.
Using Clean My Mac
When I reviewed the old version of Clean My Mac X on my old system I was impressed by the results. I had the feeling my Mac went from 85% of its potential back to 100%. And I’m happy to tell you that the new Clean My Mac does at least as good as the older version. It just improves on the already good and simple interface of the old version. The new Clean My Mac is even easier to use. This makes that the software is also a good option for people that aren’t too tech savvy, you don’t need any special skills or knowledge about computers or Macs to enjoy the benefits Clean My Mac can offer.
Conclusion
After my first run of the Smart Care option I’ve managed to clean up more than 20GB of old files and sped up my system by a big margin. You just don’t feel that your system is getting gradually slower over time, but you will feel the improvements right away. I keep wondering what kind of magic Clean My Mac is.
If you are a very experienced Mac used you might argue that a lot of what Clean My Mac does for you could also be done by hand. And you’d be right; except for the Moonlock Engines protection it is possible to do many tasks by yourself. You can clean up files and logs you don’t need, you can clear caches and free up RAM by closing apps and more. But the thing is; you need a lot of time and effort to get to the point where Clean My Mac brings you in just a few clicks. That convenience is worth every penny of the cost of the software. And that is why I would recommend Clean My Mac to all Mac users, no matter if you are a beginner or a professional.
My suggestion would be to start with the monthly subscription and try what Clean My Mac can do for you. I’m quite sure you will be impressed and in that case the €119,95 life time subscription seems like a very good deal for a piece of well made software that will improve your Mac-experience by this much.