DaisyDisk alternatives: disk maps and analyzers for Mac

The right DaisyDisk alternative depends on why you're leaving it. If it's the price, GrandPerspective gives you a free, open-source treemap, and macOS's own Storage settings cover the simple cases. If you want DaisyDisk's sunburst for free, SquirrelDisk and SpaceRadar draw one and are open source.

If DaisyDisk's permanent deleting worries you, choose a tool that moves items to the Trash, such as GrandPerspective, OmniDiskSweeper or StorageRadar. And if your real problem is not knowing what's safe to remove, look for a tool that explains each item and rates its risk, not just one that draws the disk more beautifully.

Before you switch, know what you'd give up. DaisyDisk does more than most analyzers: it scans as administrator, shows hidden and purgeable space, manages snapshots and scans cloud accounts, for $9.99 once.

This post covers what DaisyDisk does well, then the alternatives by need: free, open source, paid, and tools that tell you what's safe. For a side-by-side test of the long-standing tools, see the best disk space analyzers for Mac, compared; this post doesn't repeat it.

What DaisyDisk does well

DaisyDisk is a paid disk analyzer from Software Ambience. It draws your disk as a sunburst of colored rings: each ring is a level of folders, and you click a segment to zoom in. Knowing its strengths tells you which of them you'll miss.

What does DaisyDisk offer that most analyzers don't?

Its site lists these, beyond the map itself:

• Precise counting. It measures space physically used on the disk and excludes clones and hard links that take no extra space.
• Scan as administrator, to see folders a normal scan can't read.
• A breakdown of "Other" and System Data, the categories Storage settings can't explain.
• Snapshots. It finds macOS snapshots that take space quietly, and can purge them.
• Cloud scanning. It scans Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and Box over the network, without downloading them.
• Privacy. Its site says it reads only names and sizes, and doesn't collect or transmit anything.

It also runs on a very wide range of Macs: version 4.34.2, from July 2026, needs macOS 10.13 or later and runs on Apple silicon and Intel, with older versions offered for older systems.

How fast is DaisyDisk?

Fast, by its own measure. Its site says a scan of an APFS SSD startup disk takes 12 to 20 seconds, and that in its benchmarks it outperforms other scanning software by 6 to 32 times. Those are DaisyDisk's own figures; scan time on your Mac depends on the disk and how many files it holds.

Speed rarely decides between analyzers, though. A scan you run once a month can take a minute without costing you anything.

What does DaisyDisk cost?

$9.99, once, for a lifetime license on up to 5 Macs you personally own, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Its FAQ says a future major version may be paid, without invalidating your license, and that 2 of its 3 past major upgrades were free.

The stand-alone edition has a free trial with no time limit and some features locked. The Mac App Store edition leaves out a few features Apple's rules don't allow, such as scanning as administrator, and DaisyDisk offers App Store customers a free move to a stand-alone license.

Where does DaisyDisk leave you on your own?

In two places, both by design. First, deleting: once you click Delete and its 5-second countdown ends, DaisyDisk removes files permanently. Its guide says it skips the Trash on purpose, because moving files there wouldn't free any space.

Second, deciding what's safe. DaisyDisk stops you from deleting system components, but its guide's rule for everything else is to delete only files you recognize as your own. For an unknown large file, it suggests searching online or asking its support team.

That's honest advice, and it's also the gap many people want an alternative to fill.

What DaisyDisk does	What that means for you
Deletes permanently after 5 seconds	Fast space, but no Put Back
Protects system components	It won't let you delete them
Leaves other choices to you	Unknown folders are yours to research
Sunburst map	No treemap view
Mac only	No Windows or Linux version, for now
Closed source	You can't inspect or change the code

Why people look for a DaisyDisk alternative

Most people who switch have one specific reason, and it points straight at a different tool. Start from yours.

If the reason is	Look for	Candidates below
Price	A free analyzer	Storage settings, GrandPerspective, OmniDiskSweeper
Open source	A public license and code	GrandPerspective, SquirrelDisk, SpaceRadar
Permanent deleting	Moves to the Trash	GrandPerspective, OmniDiskSweeper, StorageRadar
Not knowing what's safe	Explanations and risk levels	Tools that label items
Windows or Linux too	A cross-platform app	SquirrelDisk, SpaceRadar
Servers or Terminal	A command-line analyzer	dua, gdu, ncdu
A list, not a picture	Sorted columns	OmniDiskSweeper, WhatSize

Is DaisyDisk still worth $9.99?

If you need what only it combines: hidden and purgeable space, administrator scans, snapshots and cloud accounts in one app. Few alternatives do all of that. If you only need to find a few large files, the free tools below do it.

Do you need an analyzer at all?

Often not. If Storage settings shows one large category you understand, such as Photos, Messages or iOS Files, the app that owns it is the place to deal with it. An analyzer earns its place when the space is somewhere Storage settings can't explain.

Free DaisyDisk alternatives

Three free tools cover most of what people use DaisyDisk for. One is built into macOS; the other two have been around for many years.

Storage settings and Finder

Choose Apple menu › System Settings, click General, then Storage. You get space by category, recommendations, and lists of large files with Delete and Show in Finder. The Documents category includes a File Browser that shows how much space folders use.

There's no map, and System Data is a single number. For finding large files and old downloads, though, it's enough, and it's always up to date with macOS. The guide to finding large files on a Mac walks through it.

GrandPerspective

GrandPerspective is the long-standing free choice. It draws a treemap, in which every file is a rectangle sized by its space, and it's open source under the GPL. It's free from SourceForge, or $2.99 on the App Store; its author says both are the same app.

Version 3.8.1, from September 2026, needs macOS 14 or later; older versions remain for older systems. Its help says deleting moves items to the Trash, and that the command is off by default. The comparison post covers its filters and coloring in detail.

OmniDiskSweeper

OmniDiskSweeper, from The Omni Group, is a free sorted list. Omni describes it in one line: it shows the files on your drive, largest to smallest, and lets you quickly Trash or open them. No map, no extras, and nothing it deletes skips the Trash.

Is OmniDiskSweeper still a good choice?

For a plain list, yes. The download on Omni's page is version 1.16, and the same page keeps older versions for macOS releases back to Mac OS X 10.4. Omni doesn't describe administrator scans, snapshots or hidden space for it, so treat it as an exact, sorted list and nothing more.

What about Disk Inventory X?

It's free and draws a treemap, but its last full release is from 2019 and isn't notarized. On a current Mac, GrandPerspective gives you the same kind of map without that trade-off.

Open-source DaisyDisk alternatives

Open source matters to some people for trust: anyone can read what the app does with your disk. It also matters for longevity, because a project can outlive its first author. GrandPerspective is the long-standing choice; two newer apps draw a sunburst like DaisyDisk's.

SquirrelDisk

SquirrelDisk is a free, open-source analyzer for macOS, Windows and Linux, under the AGPL license. Its author rebuilt it in Rust for version 2, and version 2.5.1 came out in October 2026. Its readme describes it as an alternative to DaisyDisk, WizTree and WinDirStat.

It draws a sunburst by default, with a treemap in its settings. You drag items into a collector, then move them to the Trash, delete them for good, or copy them elsewhere first. Its readme says system folders, your home folder and whole drives are protected, and app and settings folders ask for an extra confirmation.

It also counts files that live only in the cloud as zero, counts linked folders once, and scans servers and cloud storage through a tool called rclone. Free use is supported by sponsors, shown in a small banner in the app.

Does SquirrelDisk open without a warning?

Not the first time. Its readme says macOS asks for confirmation, and you click Open Anyway in System Settings › Privacy & Security. That's the step macOS requires for apps that Apple hasn't checked.

Apple's guide says overriding that check is the most common way a Mac gets infected with malware, and advises against it for apps Apple hasn't checked. Weigh that before you install it. Ignore any advice, from any project, to change an app's security attributes in Terminal.

SpaceRadar

SpaceRadar is a free, open-source visualizer under the MIT license, for macOS, Windows and Linux. It draws sunburst, treemap and flamegraph charts, and can show memory use as well as disk space.

Version 6, from February 2026, added native Apple silicon builds, pausing and cancelling scans, and counting hard links once. It's built on Electron, the framework many cross-platform apps use. Its readme mentions deleting from a context menu, but doesn't say whether items go to the Trash, so try it on a test file first.

Its latest release, 6.0.1, offers an Apple silicon build. The 6.0.0 release before it also had builds for Intel Macs.

What do the different open-source licenses mean for you?

For using the app, nothing: GPL, AGPL, MIT and Apache licenses all let you download and run it for free. The differences matter to developers who reuse the code. GPL and AGPL require changed versions they share to stay open, while MIT and Apache let the code be used in closed products too.

What matters more for you is whether a project is maintained. A release in the last year, an open issue tracker and a readme that says what deleting does are better signs than the license alone.

Command-line analyzers: dua, gdu, ncdu and dust

If you already work in Terminal, there's a family of fast, open-source analyzers with text interfaces: dua and gdu, under the MIT license, ncdu, also MIT, and dust, under Apache 2.0. ncdu's author describes it as designed for remote servers, where there's no screen to draw a map on.

There's no app to open for any of them; they run only in Terminal. dua's and gdu's interactive modes can both delete permanently or move items to the Trash, and dua counts APFS clones once only if you turn that on. If you don't already use Terminal, the apps above do the same job more safely.

Tool	License	How it shows space	Deleting	Latest release
GrandPerspective	GPL	Treemap	Moves to the Trash; off by default	3.8.1, September 2026
SquirrelDisk	AGPL	Sunburst or treemap	Trash, permanent, or copy first	2.5.1, October 2026
SpaceRadar	MIT	Sunburst, treemap, flamegraph	Not stated in its readme	6.0.1, February 2026
dua	MIT	Text interface in Terminal	Permanent or Trash	September 2026
gdu	MIT	Text interface in Terminal	Permanent or Trash	5.38.0, October 2026

Paid DaisyDisk alternatives

A few paid apps compete with DaisyDisk directly. Prices below are as each vendor's own site gave them in October 2026.

WhatSize

WhatSize, from id-design, is a long-running paid analyzer that shows disk use in a Finder-style column view, sorted largest first, with filters. Its site lists version 8.2.9 for $14.99, an upgrade price of $9.99 and a 30-day trial, and support for macOS 27 down to macOS 11 Big Sur.

It adds cleaning tools that, in its words, remove log files, downloads, caches, temporary files and translations into languages you don't speak. Check what each one removes before using it: caches and logs come back, but your downloads may be the only copy.

CleanMyMac's Space Lens

CleanMyMac is MacPaw's all-in-one app, which it calls a Mac cleaner and maintenance app. One of its tools, Space Lens, builds an interactive map of your drive and shows folders sorted by size.

Its site lists pricing starting at $3.33 a month, a 7-day free trial, macOS 11 or later and version 5.7.1, from October 2026, and says it's notarized by Apple. It suits people who want a map alongside other maintenance tools. If you only want the map, compare it with the free tools first.

StorageRadar

StorageRadar is a newer analyzer for macOS 15 or later, on the Mac App Store and as a direct download. It draws a treemap or sunburst, lists large files, finds exact duplicates and compares snapshots of your disk over time.

Its site says scanning and reviewing are free, cleanups move items to the Trash by default, and a dry run shows exact paths and sizes first. Acting on results is a one-time purchase: Core at $9.99, or Developer at $19.99, which adds cleanup of developer files rated Safe, Caution or Dangerous.

• GrandPerspective, App Store3 USD
• DaisyDisk10 USD
• StorageRadar Core10 USD
• WhatSize15 USD
• StorageRadar Developer20 USD

Prices in US dollars as each vendor's own site listed them in October 2026. GrandPerspective is also free from SourceForge; CleanMyMac is sold by subscription, from 3.33 dollars a month, so it isn't shown.

Mac App Store or direct download?

It makes a difference for analyzers. Apps on the Mac App Store run in a sandbox, and DaisyDisk says Apple's rules made it leave a few features out of its App Store edition, including scanning as administrator. It offers a direct edition with everything.

StorageRadar takes the same approach: its site calls the App Store version the standard path, and offers a direct build for broader file system access. GrandPerspective's author says its App Store and SourceForge versions are the same app. Check which edition a feature comparison is talking about before you buy.

Which paid alternative is closest to DaisyDisk?

None matches it feature for feature. StorageRadar is closest in look, with both a treemap and a sunburst, and adds Trash-first cleanup. WhatSize is closest to a list-first workflow. CleanMyMac's Space Lens is a map inside a larger suite.

If DaisyDisk's view of hidden and purgeable space, or its administrator scans, are why you use it, check each alternative for those specifically, and try it before you switch.

Alternatives that tell you what's safe to delete

A map answers one question: what's big. The harder question is what you can remove without losing something. DaisyDisk's guide is frank that this part is up to you, and most analyzers work the same way.

Why isn't a map enough?

Because the largest folders on a Mac are often the ones you shouldn't touch by hand. The Photos library, an iPhone backup, a virtual machine's disk image or a cloud sync folder can each look like a space waster on a map. Removing any of them in Finder can cost you data.

Meanwhile, folders that are safe to clear, such as caches and build files, have names that mean nothing to most people. A map shows both kinds in the same colors.

What should a tool that explains items do?

It should	Why
Say what each item is, in plain words	You can't judge a folder by its name
Name the app or tool that owns it	The owner's own controls are often the right way to remove it
Say what removing it costs	A re-download, a rebuild, a sign-out, or lost work
Rate how safe it is	So you know what can go and what needs a decision
Move items to the Trash	So a wrong choice can be put back
Leave macOS's own data to macOS	Snapshots, swap and system files have official mechanisms
Show its sources	So you can check the claims

Which tools explain what they find?

Few analyzers do it for everything on the disk. StorageRadar's site describes risk levels for developer files. The app this site belongs to explains every item it recognizes, from a catalog with sources, and is described in the last section.

Without such a tool, you can still do it by hand: look the folder up, check which app owns it, and remove it with that app's own controls. The post on what's safe to delete on a Mac goes folder by folder.

What you give up by leaving DaisyDisk

Some of DaisyDisk's features are rare among analyzers. Before you uninstall it, check whether macOS already covers the ones you used.

DaisyDisk feature	What macOS offers instead
Hidden space breakdown	Storage settings shows System Data as one number
Purgeable space	Disk Utility shows used, purgeable and free space separately
Snapshot management	Time Machine removes its local snapshots as they age or when space is needed
Scan as administrator	Full Disk Access lets an analyzer read most private folders
Cloud account scanning	Each cloud service's own app or website
Precise counting of clones and hard links	Depends on the analyzer; check its documentation

Do you need to manage purgeable space yourself?

Usually not. Purgeable space includes Time Machine's local snapshots and iCloud files macOS can download again, and macOS frees it when an app needs room. The guide to purgeable space explains when it's worth acting on.

What about scanning as administrator?

Much of what a normal scan misses is in folders macOS keeps private, such as Mail and Messages. Giving an analyzer Full Disk Access, in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Full Disk Access, lets it read those. The rest needs an administrator, and belongs to macOS or to other accounts on the Mac.

DaisyDisk alternatives for specific jobs

Some people use DaisyDisk for one recurring job rather than a general look around. For several of those jobs, a different tool, or the app that owns the data, does it better.

Job	What works well	Why
A developer's Mac full of build files	A tool that knows developer folders, or each tool's own cleanup	Build caches rebuild; some folders hold work
Photos and video	The Photos app, or the editing app's own media settings	Their libraries must be managed from inside
Cloud storage	The service's own storage view, or DaisyDisk's or SquirrelDisk's cloud scan	Online-only files don't use local space
External drives and network shares	Any analyzer that scans a chosen folder or volume	Drives aren't the startup disk's problem
Servers you reach over SSH	gdu or ncdu on the server, or SquirrelDisk's SSH scan	There's no screen to draw a map on

What's different on a developer's Mac?

The largest folders are often build output, package caches, simulators, container disk images and local AI models. A map shows them as large folders with names that mean little. Most rebuild by themselves, but some, such as a container's disk image, hold work you'd lose.

Many developer tools have their own cleanup command, which knows what's safe to remove. The post on freeing disk space on a developer's Mac goes through each one.

What about photos and video libraries?

A disk map shows the Photos library as one large package. Never delete or move files inside it in Finder or an analyzer; DaisyDisk's own guide says to use an app's own interface for its library. Use Photos' Optimize Mac Storage, or move the whole library to another drive, instead.

Video editing apps keep render files and caches you can clear from their settings. They rebuild them when needed, at the cost of time.

Can an analyzer scan cloud storage?

Some can. DaisyDisk scans Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and Box over the network, and SquirrelDisk reaches many cloud services through rclone. Neither is needed to see what's using space on your Mac: online-only files take no local space, and SquirrelDisk counts them as zero.

To free space in the cloud itself, the service's own website shows what's using your plan.

What to check before you install an alternative

Disk analyzers ask for a lot of trust: they read your whole disk, and most can delete. A few minutes of checking before you install one is worth it, whichever you pick.

Check	Where to find it	Why it matters
How it opens	Mac App Store, or whether macOS warns on first open	Apple checks App Store and notarized apps for malware
What deleting does	Its help or readme	The Trash gives you a way back; permanent deleting doesn't
What it counts once	Its documentation on hard links and clones	Double counting makes folders look larger than they are
Whether it's maintained	Its release notes or project page	Old tools may not handle new macOS protections
What it sends	Its privacy policy	File names and paths can be personal
What it costs later	Its pricing page and FAQ	One-time, subscription, or paid major upgrades

Why does Full Disk Access matter for an analyzer?

macOS keeps some folders private until you allow an app to read them. Without Full Disk Access, an analyzer sees Mail, Messages and other private data as empty or small, and the space turns up as hidden or unexplained.

Granting it lets the analyzer read those folders; a well-behaved analyzer reads only names and sizes. Only grant it to an app you trust, and turn it off in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Full Disk Access if you stop using the app.

How do you remove an analyzer you don't keep?

Quit it, then drag it from the Applications folder to the Trash. Remove it from the Full Disk Access list too. If it installed a helper or a login item, the app's own documentation should say how to remove it.

How to choose a DaisyDisk alternative

Pick by the job, not the picture. Most people find their answer in one row.

If you want	Choose	Why
A quick look, nothing to install	Storage settings and Finder	Free, built in, enough for large files
A free map on macOS 14 or later	GrandPerspective	Maintained, open source, Trash-first
A free sunburst, open source	SquirrelDisk or SpaceRadar	DaisyDisk-like rings; check how each opens
An exact list	OmniDiskSweeper or WhatSize	Free, or paid with filters
Trash-first cleanup with a review step	StorageRadar	Dry run, then Trash by default
Everything DaisyDisk does	DaisyDisk	Hidden space, admin scans, snapshots, cloud

Can you try them side by side?

Yes. Scanning only reads names and sizes, so two analyzers don't interfere. DaisyDisk's stand-alone trial has no time limit, WhatSize offers 30 days, CleanMyMac 7 days, and StorageRadar scans for free.

Compare one folder you know in each, against Finder's Get Info. The comparison post describes how to test an analyzer before you trust it, and those checks apply here too.

A worked example

Say you've used DaisyDisk's App Store edition for years, and you want Trash-first deleting and a free option for a family Mac. On your own Mac, you keep DaisyDisk for its hidden-space view, but do the deleting in Finder, where items go to the Trash.

On the family Mac, which runs macOS 15, you install GrandPerspective from SourceForge and turn on its Delete command only after showing everyone how the Trash works. Nobody needs a sunburst; everyone needs a way back.

Mistakes to avoid when you switch

• Deleting a folder because it's big. Size isn't a reason. Find out what it is first.
• Opening an app macOS warns about. If macOS says it can't check an app, Apple's advice is not to override that.
• Running two cleanup tools at once. Each may remove what the other is still showing.
• Pasting commands from a project's readme. If an install needs Terminal, it isn't the right tool for most people.
• Expecting speed. No analyzer makes a Mac faster; it frees space.

How the app does it

Wombit is a native Mac app that shows what's using your storage, explains every item in plain language, and clears it safely: Trash first, undoable and logged. It needs macOS 26 or later, on Apple silicon or Intel, so on an older Mac one of the tools above is the better fit.

The free analyzer scans the whole disk or any folder, about 240,000 items a second on an M4 Pro, reading only names, sizes and dates. It draws a treemap and a sunburst, with a list and search. Hard links and APFS clones count once, and folders macOS didn't let it read are listed, not skipped.

Every item it recognizes gets an explanation from a catalog written and checked by hand, with sources, and a level: Safe, Usually safe, Review first or Managed by macOS. Only Safe items start checked, and only they count in the headline number. Items no rule explains get a Best guess, written on your Mac by Apple Intelligence and labelled as a guess.

• ~/Library/Caches/*

  App caches

  Data that apps and macOS services keep so they can load things faster. Apps create it again when they need it.

  Safe · Moves it to the Trash

• ~/**/*

  Large files not changed in a year

  Files of 500 MB or more in your home folder that haven't changed for a year, such as old videos, disk images and archives.

  Review first · Moves it to the Trash

• ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/*

  iPhone and iPad backups

  Backups of an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch that were made on this Mac, one folder for each device.

  Review first · Moves it to the Trash

It also explains System Data in named buckets, with how much it couldn't explain. Reveal in Finder, Quick Look, Undo, Put Back, Empty Trash, Cleanup History and the open command-line tool are free. File names and paths never leave your Mac.

Unlike DaisyDisk, cleanup moves items to the Trash first, with a review sheet and a log. Cleanup, the Apple Data actions, the uninstaller, Time Machine snapshots and What Changed are PRO: one payment of $4.99 with lifetime access, on up to 3 Macs. Every Pro tool's review is free to open, so you see what would go and why before you buy.