Fresh Take on MacKeeper Alternatives: Top Products to Try 2025

MacKeeper has long been a popular choice for Mac cleaning and optimization, but it’s not without its drawbacks. Many users are put off by its expensive pricing, huge package, and inconsistent performance.

If you are hunting for a better option, you are in the right place. This article will walk you through the top MacKeeper alternatives, helping you find the perfect tool to keep your Mac running at its best.

Quick Takeaway for the Best MacKeeper Alternative

Since MacKeeper is a highly feature-rich product, there isn't a single complete replacement. Instead, the best approach is to choose tools based on the specific features you need. We have selected the most suitable alternatives to meet those needs.

MacKeeper vs Alternatives

Top 3 Mac Cleaner Alternatives to MacKeeper

While MacKeeper excels at cleaning, it has evolved into a full Mac maintenance suite with antivirus, performance boosts, and privacy protection. But if you just need a simple tool to free up space on your Mac, downloading and purchasing a large all-in-one app might not be necessary.

That’s why we have handpicked three lightweight applications tailored to that specific purpose. These tools are specifically designed to free up valuable disk space, remove unnecessary files, and optimize system performance without the burden of a heavy suite.

BuhoCleaner

BuhoCleaner is a simple yet powerful Mac cleaning app, designed to target and remove the junk files that clutter your system. It includes all the cleanup features of MacKeeper and even surpasses it by efficiently detecting and removing long-forgotten large files, offering a more effective solution for keeping your Mac clean.

Key cleaning features:

• Flash Clean: Alternative to MacKeeper's Safe Cleanup that can completely delete junk data, logs, caches, app leftovers, and more.
• App Uninstall: Alternative to MacKeeper's Smart Uninstaller that provides a thorough removal of any third-party apps you don't want anymore.
• Duplicates: Alternative to MacKeeper's Duplicate Finder that can identify duplicated photos, files, and folders and clear them in one go.
• Large Files: Quickly find and delete files larger than 50MB that occupy your valuable Mac storage

CCleaner for Mac

CCleaner for Mac has been a popular choice for keeping Macs tidy and serves as a great MacKeeper free alternative. Like MacKeeper, it helps clear out unnecessary programs, duplicate files, and junk data. However, CCleaner goes a step further by scanning your hard drive to find poor-quality or duplicate photos and organizing your photo libraries, making it an even more effective tool for decluttering your Mac.

Key cleaning features:

• Quick Clean: Alternative to Mackeeper's Safe Cleanup that can find and wipe away cache or temporary files and automatically empty your Trash folder.
• Uninstall apps: Alternative to MacKeeper's Smart Uninstaller that can detect and uninstall large or redundant apps.
• Find duplicates: Alternative to MacKeeper's Duplicate Finder that can find and remove duplicate files within a few clicks.
• Analyze photos: Identify and remove bad, blurry, poorly lit, or identical photos to save hard drive space.

MacCleaner Pro

MacCleaner Pro, developed by Nektony, is a powerful Mac cleanup tool designed to tackle all kinds of junk files, from duplicates and unused apps to system clutter. Available on the App Store, it is lightweight and easy to install, making it a convenient option for Mac users. However, the free trial only allows you to scan your Mac. Cleanup features require a paid upgrade.

Key cleaning features:

• Clean Up: Alternative to Mackeeper's Safe Cleanup that can remove cache, language files, installation files, downloads, mail attachments, and more.
• App Uninstaller: Alternative to MacKeeper's Smart Uninstaller that can completely remove programs and get rid of apps' leftovers.
• Duplicate Finder: Alternative to MacKeeper's Duplicate Finder that can remove duplicate files and folders, clear similar-looking photos, and even merge duplicate folders.

Best Mac Antivirus Software Alternatives to Mackeeper

In addition to its cleanup tools, MacKeeper includes security features to protect your Mac from local malware and viruses. If security is your main concern, there are plenty of professional Mac antivirus software to choose from.

• Avast
• ClamXAV
• AVG

But if you prefer a solution that combines antivirus protection with powerful cleaning tools, we recommend MacBooster.

MacBooster

MacBooster is a comprehensive tool for Mac maintenance, protection, and optimization - just like MacKeeper. It provides deep cleaning to clear junk files from your hard drive and goes beyond with features like virus scanning and malware removal.

Its Virus & Malware Scan features defend against malware, adware, ransomware, and other macOS-specific threats, which the same level of protection as MacKeeper’s Antivirus and Adware Cleaner features.

Best Mac Optimizer Alternatives to Mackeeper

The Mac cleanup apps we have mentioned and others all offer Mac optimization features. For example, BuhoCleaner can manage login items, clear memory, and reindex Spotlight to help speed up your Mac.

However, if you are simply seeking a maintenance tool to keep your Mac running smoothly, without the extra features for cleanup or antivirus protection, there are plenty of options. One standout choice is Onyx, a reliable app designed specifically for Mac maintenance.

Onyx for Mac

OnyX, developed by Titanium Software, is powerful and completely free Mac optimization software. While it is a solid MacKeeper free alternative for system optimization, it doesn’t offer all the features MacKeeper includes, such as Memory Cleaner, Login Items management, and Update Tracker. Instead, OnyX focuses on advanced system customization, maintenance, and troubleshooting, letting you perform tasks beyond macOS’s built-in options.

Key Mac maintenance features:

• Utilities: An alternative to MacKeeper’s Find & Fix feature that runs system checks on the file system, Time Machine, apps, and more as well as offers solutions and performs repairs.
• Verifying: Check the integrity of your Mac’s file system to detect and resolve issues that could cause crashes or instability.
• Rebuilding: Refresh Spotlight indexes, mailboxes, disk structures, and more to fix outdated or corrupted data, preventing search inaccuracies, crashes, or system malfunctions.
• Misc Options: Additional tools to enhance system performance and address various maintenance needs.

Best Mac Privacy Protector Alternatives to MacKeeper

In addition to local threats, Mac users are also vulnerable to online risks like phishing emails, unsafe website links, and trackers that collect personal information. privacy features like ID Theft Guard, Private Connect, and StopAD for real-time internet protection.

If dedicated online privacy solutions are what you want, here are some top options to consider.

• Intego Mac Internet Security X9
• Norton 360
• McAfee Total Protection

If you want privacy protection included in your Mac cleanup tool and are seeking an alternative to MacKeeper, CleanMyMac X is your best shot.

CleanMyMac X

CleanMyMac X stands out as the best MacKeeper alternative for Mac in this case. It offers a complete package to keep your Mac safe, private, and clean. What truly sets it apart, though, is its privacy protection capability, a feature that many similar tools lack.

CleanMyMac X’s privacy protection focuses primarily on detecting and removing malicious cookies and unsafe web trackers from your browsers. While it doesn't match MacKeeper in privacy protection, it comes closest in terms of overall feature diversity.

Bottom Line

When it comes to comprehensive features, MacKeeper is undoubtedly one of the best, offering everything you need in terms of cleanup, performance, security, and privacy. However, the downsides of this all-in-one product are also obvious: it’s bulky, contains features you may not need at the moment, and is quite expensive.

For this reason, we recommend choosing a smaller, more compact tool tailored to the features you need most. Many basic features are available for free, such as BuhoCleaner, an efficient and completely free cleaning tool that provides basic features at no additional cost.