Which fits your needs?
DaisyDisk: Mac users who want a sunburst, cloud connections, and snapshot tools.
Disk Xray: Mac users seeking an analyzer plus duplicate and photo cleanup tools.
Features, pricing, and workflow
Scroll across to compare
| Feature | DaisyDisk | Disk Xray |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Mac users who want a sunburst, cloud connections, and snapshot tools. | Mac users seeking an analyzer plus duplicate and photo cleanup tools. |
| Visualization | Sunburst and file list | Sorted folder breakdown and cleanup lists |
| Platforms and requirements | macOS | macOS 10.13+ (vendor requirements) |
| Pricing and editions | One-time license; free trial. Check vendor pricing and direct/App Store edition differences. | Free App Store download; full functionality via subscription or lifetime purchase. The subscription includes a seven-day trial. |
| Open source | No | No |
| Native macOS UI | Yes | Yes |
| Cleanup workflow | Collector stages items, then permanently removes them after confirmation and a cancellation countdown. It does not use macOS Trash. | Review each module’s action; ordinary cleanup and permanent shredding have different recovery implications. |
| Reports and portability | The cited overview does not establish a portable scan-report format. Preserve paths or screenshots and check the current manual before migrating. | The cited product page does not document scan export. Keep duplicate decisions and paths separately; hard-link accounting in NullDisk is not duplicate-content detection. |
DaisyDisk: what stands out
A good fit for Mac users who want a sunburst, cloud connections, and snapshot tools.
DaisyDisk: strengths
- Sunburst navigation with Quick Look previews
- Physical-size accounting for clones and hard links
- Cloud connections and macOS snapshot management
Considerations
- Mac app; no Windows or Linux desktop edition
- Full functionality requires a paid license after trial
- Some capabilities differ between direct and App Store editions
Disk Xray: what stands out
A good fit for Mac users seeking an analyzer plus duplicate and photo cleanup tools.
Disk Xray: strengths
- Size-sorted folder scanner
- Byte-by-byte duplicate checks and similar-picture search
- App uninstaller, disk cleaner, and optional file shredder
Considerations
- Six modules serve different cleanup tasks
- Shredder operations are permanent
- Vendor limits content overwriting to supported HDDs, excluding SSD/APFS/network drives
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 DaisyDisk?
A good fit for Mac users who want a sunburst, cloud connections, and snapshot tools. One-time license; free trial. Check vendor pricing and direct/App Store edition differences.
When should I choose Disk Xray?
A good fit for Mac users seeking an analyzer plus duplicate and photo cleanup tools. Free App Store download; full functionality via subscription or lifetime purchase. The subscription includes a seven-day trial.
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.