PureMac
A free, open-source Mac cleaner and app uninstaller.
or brew install --cask puremac
Reclaim your Mac — without the subscription
Apple solders down 256 GB drives and charges a fortune for the next tier, so every gigabyte you already paid for matters. Most Mac cleaners answer that with subscriptions, telemetry, and dramatized "47 GB of junk detected!" badges. PureMac is the opposite: a free, open-source, native macOS app that removes apps cleanly, clears genuine junk, and tells you the truth about what it can and can't free.
Features
App uninstaller
Drag an app and PureMac finds every preference, cache, container, launch agent, and log it left behind — then trashes all of it at once.
Orphan finder
Surfaces files left over by apps you deleted long ago, with an always-ignore list for the false positives you want to keep.
Smart Scan
System junk, user caches, Xcode DerivedData, Homebrew, npm/yarn/pnpm, Docker, and AI-app logs — scanned in parallel.
Large & old files
Find the multi-gigabyte files aging in Downloads, Documents, and Desktop — with folders you can exclude from the scan.
Trash, never rm
Everything goes to the Trash via the system API. Wrong call? Drag it back. Nothing is shredded.
Private by default
No telemetry, no analytics, no accounts, no network calls. The app doesn't know you exist.
How PureMac compares
| PureMac | CleanMyMac | Pearcleaner | OnyX | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $40+/yr | Free | Free |
| Open source | Yes (MIT) | No | Source-available | No |
| App uninstaller + orphans | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| No telemetry | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| No subscription | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Trash-only (recoverable) | Yes | Partial | Yes | No |
| Honest about purgeable space | Yes | No | n/a | n/a |
Comparison reflects publicly documented features as of 2026; corrections welcome via PR.
Our promise
- Trash, never
rm. Everything removed goes to the Trash. If it was wrong, drag it back. - No telemetry, ever. No analytics, no crash reporting, no network calls to us.
- No fake urgency. No dramatized "junk detected!" badges or red alarm counters — neutral facts, your decision.
- No overpromising. We don't claim to "reclaim purgeable space," "boost RAM," or "speed up your Mac" — things no app can reliably do.
- You review before anything is removed. Every item shows its real path, and high-risk system paths are hard-excluded in code.
- Auditable. It's MIT. Read the exact code that decides what gets removed, fork it, ship your own.
Install
brew install --cask puremac
Or download the signed, Apple-notarized DMG from GitHub. Requires macOS 13 (Ventura) or later. Universal — Apple Silicon and Intel. No Gatekeeper warnings, no quarantine workaround.
FAQ
Is PureMac really free?
Yes — completely free and open source under the MIT license on GitHub, and installable with Homebrew. No subscription, no trial, no paywalled features.
Is it a good CleanMyMac alternative?
PureMac does what people actually use CleanMyMac for — a real app uninstaller that catches every leftover, junk and cache cleanup, and orphaned-file detection — as a free, native, open-source app with no subscription and no fear-based scans.
Is it safe?
Everything removed goes to the Trash via the system API, so mistakes are recoverable. You review every item with its real path before removal, and high-risk system paths are hard-excluded in code.
Does it collect any data?
No. No telemetry, no analytics, no crash reporting, and no network calls. PureMac doesn't even need a network connection to run.