Comparisons

CLEANUAI VS CLEANMYMAC

Short answer

MacPaw’s CleanMyMac does more than CleanUai, malware scanning included, and it’s sold as a subscription: US$ 39.99 a year on the App Store. CleanUai covers the everyday essentials (junk, a disk map, an uninstaller with leftovers, an app updater and a menu bar monitor) for a one-time US$ 9.99, and every cleanup goes to the Trash first.

CleanUai and CleanMyMac, feature by feature

CleanUai and CleanMyMac, feature by feature
Feature	CleanUai	CleanMyMac
Price	US$ 9.99 or R$ 34.90, once	US$ 39.99/year or US$ 9.99/month on the App Store; the site says “starting at $3.33/month”
How you pay	Lifetime license, 1 Mac, with 1 year of new versions	Subscription (yearly or monthly); one-time purchase covers the current major version only; also on Setapp
Free trial	Yes · 7 days, all unlocked, no card; scanning free forever	Yes · 7 days, all features; then scan only
App in Brazilian Portuguese	Yes	Yes
Cleans junk and caches	Yes · System Junk	Yes · The App Store edition skips system caches and logs
Visual disk map	Yes · Space Lens	Yes · Space Lens
Large and old files	Yes · Large & Old	Partly · Deletes permanently, bypassing the Trash (MacPaw’s docs)
Uninstalls with leftovers	Yes · Uninstaller	Yes
Leftovers of deleted apps	Yes · Leftovers	Yes
Updates other apps	Yes · Sparkle, App Store and Homebrew	Yes · Sparkle and custom updates; App Store updates detected only
Menu bar monitor	Yes · CPU, memory, disk, network, battery	Yes · CPU, memory, battery and a health score
Malware scanning	No	Yes
Cleanup goes to the Trash	Yes · Always; delete for good only by holding	Partly · Large & Old deletes for good; other modules not verified
Works without an account	Yes	Not verified

● yes · ◐ partly · ○ no · ? not verified. Prices are list prices in US dollars, without promotions.

Where CleanMyMac is better

Malware scanning. It finds and removes malware; CleanUai doesn’t.
More tools. Optimization, maintenance and other modules CleanUai doesn’t have.
Several Macs on one plan. MacPaw’s store sells plans for 1, 2 or 5 Macs; a CleanUai license covers 1 Mac at a time.
Older macOS. It runs on macOS 11 or later; CleanUai needs macOS 26.
Longer track record, and Setapp as another way to subscribe.

Where CleanUai is different

Pay once. US$ 9.99 (or R$ 34.90 in Brazil). The license never expires and includes 1 year of new versions.
Everything goes to the Trash. Large files included, which MacPaw’s own docs say CleanMyMac deletes permanently, bypassing the Trash.
No account, no telemetry. Nothing from a scan leaves your Mac. CleanMyMac’s App Store privacy label lists usage and diagnostics data collected for analytics.
An updater that includes Homebrew, besides Sparkle and the App Store.

What it costs over 3 years

CleanMyMac: US$ 39.99 a year on the App Store, or about US$ 120 over 3 years, if the price doesn’t change.
CleanUai: US$ 9.99 once, and the app works forever. If you want new versions for all three years, that’s US$ 9.99 per extra year, whenever you choose: US$ 29.97 at most. Never an automatic charge.

US App Store list prices on October 29, 2026. MacPaw often runs first-year promotions.

Which to choose

If you want malware scanning and the full suite, and don’t mind a subscription, CleanMyMac. If you want to clean your Mac, see your disk, and uninstall and update apps while paying once, with everything going to the Trash, CleanUai. You can try both for 7 days before paying.

Questions

Is CleanUai a CleanMyMac alternative?

It’s an independent alternative that does the same kind of everyday work: cleaning junk, mapping your disk, uninstalling apps with their leftovers and updating apps. It has no malware scanning and no connection to MacPaw.

Is CleanMyMac a subscription?

On the App Store, yes: US$ 39.99 a year or US$ 9.99 a month. MacPaw also sells a one-time purchase which, according to MacPaw, includes updates for the current major version only.

Which one is cheaper?

CleanUai: US$ 9.99 once, against CleanMyMac’s US$ 39.99 a year on the App Store.

Sources

Prices and features checked on the official sites on October 29, 2026. Prices change: check each app’s site before you buy.

CleanMyMac is a trademark of MacPaw. CleanUai is an independent app with no connection to MacPaw, and this page is not sponsored or endorsed by them.

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Updated October 29, 2026