Which fits your needs?
SpacePeek: Finder users who want to inspect archives before extracting or deleting them.
SquirrelDisk: People wanting a free open-source GUI across desktop systems and remote storage.
Features, pricing, and workflow
Scroll across to compare
| Feature | SpacePeek | SquirrelDisk |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Finder users who want to inspect archives before extracting or deleting them. | People wanting a free open-source GUI across desktop systems and remote storage. |
| Visualization | Finder Quick Look folder/archive browser and size overview | Sunburst, treemap, file list, and duplicates |
| Platforms and requirements | macOS 14+ | macOS, Windows, Linux |
| Pricing and editions | Free previews; optional $3.99 one-time Pro purchase in the US App Store. | Free; AGPL-3.0 source published on GitHub. |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Native macOS UI | Yes | Cross-platform interface |
| Cleanup workflow | Inspection and copying; use Finder or a separate cleanup tool for removals. | Collector offers Trash, permanent removal, secure erase, or backup before deletion. |
| Reports and portability | SpacePeek previews existing folders and archives. Keep original archives and important paths; moving to NullDisk does not transfer Quick Look extension features. | The current overview does not establish an interoperable scan-report format. Preserve paths, duplicate decisions, and remote source settings separately. |
SpacePeek: what stands out
A good fit for Finder users who want to inspect archives before extracting or deleting them.
SpacePeek: strengths
- Preview and search folders plus ZIP, 7z, and RAR archives
- Folder-size overview without background indexing
- Pro adds deeper navigation and copying archive members
Considerations
- An inspection companion rather than a full-drive cleanup utility
- Free browsing stops after the first child level
- Pro archive copying is limited to 100 MiB per file
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 SpacePeek?
A good fit for Finder users who want to inspect archives before extracting or deleting them. Free previews; optional $3.99 one-time Pro purchase in the US App Store.
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.