Which fits your needs?
DeepClean: Mac users who want explained cleanup categories and developer-cache coverage.
SquirrelDisk: People wanting a free open-source GUI across desktop systems and remote storage.
Features, pricing, and workflow
Scroll across to compare
| Feature | DeepClean | SquirrelDisk |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Mac users who want explained cleanup categories and developer-cache coverage. | People wanting a free open-source GUI across desktop systems and remote storage. |
| Visualization | Category and large-file lists with safety ratings | Sunburst, treemap, file list, and duplicates |
| Platforms and requirements | macOS 13+ | macOS, Windows, Linux |
| Pricing and editions | Free scan and first gigabyte of cleanup; unlimited cleanup listed at $39 once per Mac. | Free; AGPL-3.0 source published on GitHub. |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Native macOS UI | Yes | Cross-platform interface |
| Cleanup workflow | Select items for Trash; caution items require deliberate selection and acknowledgement. | Collector offers Trash, permanent removal, secure erase, or backup before deletion. |
| Reports and portability | Retain deletion history and important decisions separately. The product overview does not document importing its records into another analyzer. | The current overview does not establish an interoperable scan-report format. Preserve paths, duplicate decisions, and remote source settings separately. |
DeepClean: what stands out
A good fit for Mac users who want explained cleanup categories and developer-cache coverage.
DeepClean: strengths
- Safe/Review/Caution categories and item explanations
- Developer toolchain cleanup and content-matched duplicates
- Trash-first cleanup with deletion history
Considerations
- Unlimited cleanup requires a paid per-Mac license
- Category judgments still depend on your workflow
- Primarily category-based cleanup rather than a disk map
SquirrelDisk: what stands out
A good fit for people wanting a free open-source GUI across desktop systems and remote storage.
SquirrelDisk: strengths
- Live maps and a staged removal collector
- Content-based duplicate search
- SSH and rclone-backed cloud storage
Considerations
- Uses a cross-platform Rust interface rather than SwiftUI
- Permanent deletion and secure erase require deliberate review
- Cloud/SSH actions depend on provider and remote-system support
For a useful comparison on your own drive, match the scan root, access permissions, and size mode. Chart style changes how you explore the results; it does not by itself establish measurement accuracy.
Common questions
When should I choose DeepClean?
A good fit for Mac users who want explained cleanup categories and developer-cache coverage. Free scan and first gigabyte of cleanup; unlimited cleanup listed at $39 once per Mac.
When should I choose SquirrelDisk?
A good fit for people wanting a free open-source GUI across desktop systems and remote storage. Free; AGPL-3.0 source published on GitHub.
Will both apps show the same size?
Not necessarily. Match the scan root, permissions, exclusions, and logical/allocated-size mode. Hard links, APFS clones, snapshots, sparse files, and cloud placeholders can change totals. A reported size is not a guaranteed amount recovered after deletion.