CleanMyMac X review

For years, MacPaw’s CleanMyMac X has been a good multi-purpose utility for the macOS operating system, and its bright, friendly user interface lends easy access to several handy utilities to clear up disk space, protect user privacy, optimize performance, update applications, uninstall software, and help prevent malware and adware. And while handy and worth keeping around, version 4.15.3, continues to suffer from the same overreach we mentioned previously when reviewing this software.

Compare CleanMyMac to other Mac cleaner solutions – visit our round up of the Best Mac Cleaner software.

What’s good

Similar to past versions, CleanMyMac X 4.15.3 is as easy to download and install as ever, and it’s simple to either purchase the software for $34.95 for one Mac (usually $34.95), $54.95 for 2 Macs (usually $79.90), or $79.95 for 5 Macs (usually $199.75), or set up a seven-day trial in which MacPaw keeps your credit or debit card number on file. Once installed, simply assign permissions, allow the software and its modules to access various sections of your hard drive, and you’re off.

The catch-all utility offers an assortment of modules with its core focus centered around identifying and cleaning out gigabytes upon gigabytes of unused system garbage. The modules are Smart Scan, System Junk, Mail Attachments, Trash Bins, Malware Removal, Privacy, Optimization, Maintenance, Uninstaller, Updater, Extensions, Space Lens, Large & Old Files, and Shredder. Each module performs various tasks.

The Smart Scan is the overarching umbrella feature, hunting down extraneous files that can be deleted to clear drive space, performing a quick malware scan, and executing a speed test to look into optimization functions, such as freeing up RAM or quickly clearing system caches.

The other modules perform the functions they’re named after and offer a good level of customization. Still, CleanMyMac X’s standout features remain file cleanup, malware removal, privacy cleanup, easy access to system extensions, the app uninstaller, and the Large & Old Files locator, which helps hunt down multi-gigabyte files you forgot to delete and offers a quick means of deleting them to recover drive space.

The modules themselves generally live up to their purpose, and it’s handy to be able to do a general search for data that’s consuming large parts of your hard drive as well as drill down and enable or disable specific system-level extensions as needed. CleanMyMac X runs a handy set of maintenance scripts, such as clearing the DNS cache and repairing file permissions, which help to keep things in order.

CleanMyMac X is routinely updated (in the 4.15 update in February 2024 the security components got a major update) and is well cared for by its developer. CleanMyMac X gained a handy Menu Bar item in version 4.11 that brought useful information, such as drive capacities, CPU speeds, system temperature, system load, and network activity readouts. This received a substantial update in 2023, bringing additional information such as your laptop’s battery, temperature, and health, your hard drive’s capacity and overall health, your free RAM capacity, and your CPU load and hardware temperature are on hand and readily accessible.

The Space Lens feature that arrived with the 2023 update, and the Large & Old Files module, offer a quick and handy view as to what’s consuming the majority of your hard drive space, and it was easy to pick off large, forgotten multi-gigabyte video files as well as gigabytes upon gigabytes of unused language and cache files with the System Junk module. Click on the CleanMyMac X icon in the Menu Bar to access useful information such as remaining battery life, bandwidth, CPU load, and connected device information. It’s exceptionally easy to see what’s gobbling up the most space on your Mac’s hard drive. The features are well-integrated.

To its credit, CleanMyMac X offers some nice surprises, and I was able to recover more than 30GB of drive space as the program found unused files and disk images galore via my iCloud storage. Other features such as the Disk Lens and Uninstaller offered a clear view as to which folders were consuming the most drive space and a quick means of removing applications. 

What’s not so good

Unfortunately, it’s the same sticking points that I’ve mentioned in the past that seem to haunt CleanMyMacX 4.15. With Mac utilities, a multifaceted approach that offers several base functions can be excellent. But the danger is that the developer overextends themselves trying to be everything to everyone, and the result is that some features aren’t as good as others, making you wonder about the value of the total app. This is unfortunately the case with CleanMyMac X.

CleanMyMac X has a couple of modules that are the app’s greatest hurdles: the Malware removal module and the Updater function. Both are well-intentioned and focused, but unfortunately, they don’t work as well as we hoped.

Malware protection remains a mixed bag, and while the app works well with macOS’ Gatekeeper function in working to prevent malware installation on your Mac, it’s still possible to install a good amount of questionable software. Yes, the Malware Removal module was able to detect and quarantine several threats (such as OSX.EvilEgg, DazzleSpy, and parts of the AdWind malware), but it left segments of AdWind installed in tests, as well as missed the questionable WaveBrowser, a mock version of Adobe Flash Player Install Manager, Adobe album and the infamous MacSecurity app, which had to be removed with another application. This was disappointing considering MacPaw’s well-marketed and hyped use of the Moonlock Engine for this purpose.

Other foibles within the Malware Removal module include the fact that while it’s easy to select for external volumes to be scanned upon mounting, there’s no clear display as to this happening, or an easy option to select a target volume and begin a scan, which would be a handy user interface option. For some better antivirus options, if that is what you are after read our round-up of the Best Antivirus for Mac.

If the Malware Removal module needs improvements, the Updater module is in even rougher shape. This section of the software feels as if almost nothing has been done with it, and the only update it was able to detect and install was a small screenshot AI update through Apple’s App Store. These scans missed significant app updates to critical programs such as GitHub, Slack, Google Chrome, Adobe Reader, VirtualBox, and others, and one wonders how it can be so hard to add support for these developers for the module to find and locate free updates that the developers would want the users to have in the first place?

Verdict

CleanMyMac X (version 4.15.3 at the time we updated this review) offers a good suite of utilities, but unless a major new version or upgrade is en route, MacPaw seems to be making the same mistakes again. Despite the company’s use of the Moonlock Engine for its Malware Removal module, it still left significant chunks of malware behind and this is concerning. The rough state of the Updater module once again leads one to consider the MacUpdater, which is $9.76 for an individual user, is tightly focused on its task, and has become my standby for locating just about every software update I could dream of for my Macs. 

I don’t think MacPaw is ill-intentioned in its efforts by any stretch of the imagination and its customer service has always been responsive, but I do think it’s wandering into the same issues that any company has when it tries to make a Swiss Army knife of an application suite and keeps adding to its feature base. Some features invariably become better than others, and unless there’s a major new version or update that comes out, it seems as if these issues may not be fixed in short order. CleanMyMac X runs well, does its chief job of recovering space on a Mac superbly, and is available at a good price, but without a significant overhaul for its Malware Removal and Updater modules, it won’t be able to deliver on the vast amount it promises.