SpotlessSpotless vs DaisyDisk
Spotless shows what fills your Mac and lets you act on it in the same app: a treemap space map, a folder explorer, duplicates, developer caches and an app uninstaller, with every removal going to the Trash. DaisyDisk is a disk map. This page compares what each does with the space you find.
Where Spotless wins
- Delete with an undo. DaisyDisk's delete is permanent, skips the Trash and allows a 5-second Cancel window. Spotless moves items to the Trash and lists them under Recently Deleted so you can restore them days later.
- A map and the cleanup. DaisyDisk's published feature list has no duplicates, uninstaller or cache cleaning. Spotless pairs the space map with all three, so the next step after finding a large folder is in the same window.
- System Data, named. Spotless splits System Data into named folders with sizes you can check against macOS, and lists local snapshots.
- Developer storage that understands projects. Xcode, Gradle, Cargo, pnpm, CocoaPods, Homebrew and Docker, with active projects locked by default.
- Protected places. The Photos library, iCloud and cloud folders are locked by default in Spotless. You can turn the lock off for any of them yourself.
- Lower price. $9 once against $9.99 once.
Also in Spotless
- Nothing is ticked after a scan. You review the exact list before anything moves.
- Photos, iCloud, cloud folders, AI-app data and active projects are locked by default. You can turn the lock off for any of them yourself.
- Startup items, memory and a menu bar monitor for disk, memory, processor and network.
- Export what would be removed as a text list. Keyboard shortcuts for everything.
- Scheduled cleaning: weekly, every 2 weeks or monthly, Spotless moves only items marked Safe to the Trash and notifies you. Restore any of it from Recently Deleted.
DaisyDisk and Spotless, feature by feature
| Feature | DaisyDisk | Spotless |
|---|---|---|
| Main view | Sunburst: click a petal to drill in | Treemap space map and a folder explorer with sizes, plus large and old files |
| Deleting | Permanent, bypasses the Trash, 5-second Cancel | Trash first, Recently Deleted list with Restore |
| Staging items | Collector tray before Delete | Review list and a dry-run export of exactly what would move |
| Hidden space | Hidden space and purgeable explanation | System Data breakdown into named folders, local snapshots listed |
| Cache cleaning | ✗ | Caches, logs, browser caches, Mail attachments, iOS backups, installers |
| Duplicates | ✗ | Any folder or drive, hard-link aware, keeper rules |
| App uninstaller | ✗ | Leftovers, Reset app, shared-data guard, orphan scan |
| Scheduled cleaning | ✗ | Weekly, every 2 weeks or monthly: Safe items to the Trash, with a notification |
Price
DaisyDisk's stand-alone edition is $9.99 once for up to 5 personal Macs; the Mac App Store edition is priced separately (seen 2026-11-11). Spotless is $9 once and includes the space map, cleanup, duplicates, uninstaller and developer storage. See Spotless pricing.
Switching from DaisyDisk to Spotless
Open Spotless and run a scan. The space map shows the same big folders you would find in a disk map, and each one opens in the explorer. When you pick items to remove they go to the Trash, so a wrong click costs nothing.
See also: Space map, System Data, Duplicates.
Frequently asked questions
Is Spotless an upgrade from DaisyDisk?
Yes. It keeps the disk map and goes further to clean what the map shows. It has a treemap space map and a folder explorer, and it adds duplicates, an app uninstaller, developer storage cleanup and a Trash-first undo.
Does Spotless delete files permanently?
No by default. Items go to the Trash and the Recently Deleted list. Permanent deletion is a setting you turn on yourself.
Does Spotless show what is in System Data?
Yes. The System Data page splits it into named folders with sizes, and lists local snapshots.
Can Spotless scan an external drive?
Yes. You can view and measure other drives in the space map and explorer.
Keep comparing
- Spotless vs StorageRadar: Everything included for $9 against a tiered disk analyzer.
- Spotless vs OnyX: A guided cleaner that explains each item against a maintenance toolbox for experts.
- Spotless vs CleanMyMac: A one-time cleaner that ticks nothing for you against a larger subscription suite.