4 Best Software to Optimize Mac Performance

Is your Mac computer running slowly? Does it hang up more often than before? MacBook, iMac, it doesn’t matter. Over time, the main drive of your Mac is filled with all kinds of files, which can slow down your overall Mac performance.

Reasons behind a slow Mac can vary, and so are the solutions to tune it up. Just do a quick search in Apple Support Community, and you’ll find tons of optimization tips. In general, there are two ways to speed up a Mac: upgrade hardware or optimize the macOS system.

If your Mac machine is struggling to meet the basic requirements for a newer macOS, you’ll benefit from upgrading RAM or replacing it with a speedy solid-state drive (which was what we did). If the slowdown is software or Mac system related, a Mac optimizer app can help.

In this review, we’ll show you the best Mac optimizer apps that can help clean, tune up, and improve your Mac’s performance.

Note: Depending on the conditions of your Mac, e.g. new or old, storage space enough to not, your mileage may vary.

The Best Mac Optimization Software Reviewed

All the apps recommended below are safe to download and use (in other words, they are free of viruses or malware). They are also moderately easy to use with sleek interfaces and clear instructions. And we tested them on our MacBook Pro and they all turned out to be fully compatible with the latest macOS.

1. Best Overall Choice: CleanMyMac X

Most newer Mac machines (especially MacBooks) have relatively limited flash storage starting from 256GB, which means your Mac will fill up quickly after some time. What can you do?

The answer seems oddly simple: clean up your Mac drive. But the process isn’t as easy as it may sound. Often it takes hours if not days to find out what files taking up the major disk space.

That’s why CleanMyMac X can help. It’s an intelligent app that can easily reclaim gigabytes of free storage space in just a few clicks. For example, scan and remove system junk, identify large old files that are safe to delete, uninstall useless third-party apps in batch, etc.

In particular, we like CleanMyMac’s Maintenance module, which is packed with 7 useful utilities that help fix various common Mac issues, such as speed up Mail, verify startup disk, repair disk permissions, flush DNS cache, etc.

These maintenance tasks are usually for power users, but CleanMyMac makes it easy for us basic users as well. There are also a handful of other super helpful utilities in the app for you to explore.

2. Best for Mac Maintenance: IObit MacBooster

What separates MacBooster from other Mac optimization software is its all-in-one concept.

You’ll rarely see how one piece of software can achieve so much — protecting your Mac from viruses and malware, cleaning your Mac disk drive, optimizing Mac startup times, and others. Obviously, IObit wants to position the app as a one-stop maintenance tool for a Mac.

Once you install and run the app, the main interface shows “System Status: Unknown”. All you need to do is click the “Scan” button, within seconds or minutes you’ll see an overview report detailing the issues with your Mac system.

Well, we have to point out though, that the software exaggerates the seriousness of certain issues. For example, it detected 5751 issues under Privacy Protection but turned out those “issues” are actually browsing histories we feel okay to keep.

Nevertheless, we still think the app is valuable for many users. In particular, we like the Duplicate Finder feature — which can help you spot out tons of duplicate and similar items (especially pictures) that are safe for removal. And by doing so, you could free up much storage on your Mac.

There are also several other great features like Photo Sweeper, Uninstaller, etc. The bottom line: MacBooster is probably the only yet most comprehensive Mac maintenance app you’ll need to keep your Mac secure and fast.

3. Best Cross-Platform Cleaning App: CCleaner Pro

For those of you who just switched to Mac, you probably have used CCleaner back in the PC days. CCleaner was so popular and Piriform claimed it had achieved millions of downloads. But its popularity perhaps has decreased a bit due to the malware hack that happened in 2017 (read more from this report).

Still, it’s a tool loved by many and CCleaner is definitely the number-one tool for cleaning a Windows PC. Few Mac users actually know that the app is also now available for macOS. Clearly, Avast (who acquired Piriform) wants to replicate the success of CCleaner in the Mac market.

CCleaner Free allows you to scan and clean your computer, while the Pro version offers additional real-time monitoring, automatic updates, and premium support.

4. Best Mac Tune-up App: Stellar SpeedUp Mac

Bill itself to be able to “increase the speed of your Mac by up to 25%”, Stellar SpeedUp Mac is another Mac performance app that strives to take a share in the crowded market.

The app is well-designed with clean interfaces and text instructions. To get started, all you have to do is click the “SpeedUp Now” located in the center, and select “Recommended Scan” to continue.

The app then shows you a list of files that are supposed to be deleted, though within the program this action is called “SpeedUp Now”.

We found this a bit confusing as cleaning Mac junk files is one thing and speeding up the computer is another, not sure why Stellar Phoenix uses the words interchangeably.

That being said, it’s one of the easiest-to-use apps we’ve tested and some of you may actually like it even though it’s not a fully-packed or powerful optimization app.

How to Choose Mac Optimization Software

There is a wide range of Mac apps that claim to be able to speed up or make a Mac run faster, and usually, each of them has its own unique features. It can be very challenging to put them in comparison, so we review each Mac optimization app based on the following factors.

Security

The app should be free of malware or bundled apps. Although macOS is less prone to be infected with viruses or malware compared to Windows OS, it’s still worth paying attention to as this breaking news reported by WIRED:

“…while Apple has earned a strong reputation for security, a string of significant vulnerabilities in macOS and iOS have strained Apple’s safety net.”

Therefore, many people say macOS isn’t safe anymore (in our opinion, we’d add “that” before “safe”). We test this by running Mac security software to test whether the app contains malicious procedures.

To be honest, we knocked out quite a few programs such as MacKeeper, which was reported by many Mac users as being hard to uninstall. Offensive software like that also hurt user experience.

App Quality

The app must deliver what it claims to offer, simple and fair!

In our opinion, if a piece of software or app turns out to be different from what it claims to be — for example, fails to free up a decent amount of disk space, or improve the performance of our Mac (which shows a bit age), then the value of getting such an app becomes little if not none at all.

Also, we prefer Mac apps that are light-weighted. That means even if a Mac tuneup app does a great job in helping reclaim tons of storage by clearing system junks, but at the cost of consuming a big portion of system resources while running in the background, we’d rather not feature it in our best list.

macOS Compatibility

This is very straightforward. Apple pushes out a main yet new version of macOS once a year and to date, it’s Ventura. If an app is unable to run smoothly under Ventura, it’s definitely a problem.

Because most Mac users will upgrade to the latest macOS sooner or later. If the developer of a Mac app fails to update the software in time, chances are the app has compatibility issues with the latest macOS version.

Those who download and install it would have a hard time running it smoothly, let alone fixing potential Mac issues and optimizing your Mac’s performance.

Tech Support

Not all Mac users are tech-savvy. Those who just joined the Apple Mac family or switched from the PCs will take much time to get familiarized with Apple’s macOS operating system.

When it comes to handling technical tasks such as diagnosing Mac system issues, removing junk, cleaning caches, uninstalling third-party apps, etc., novice users definitely need help along the way so it’s ideal that the app developer can offer prompt tech support.

For example, we value developers that provide various channels for customers (and potential customers) to reach out to, those could include emails, online chat, social media, or even phone calls.

We have therefore decided not to include several programs written by individual developers who are unable to provide a decent level of support.

Ease of Use

All software programs are designed for human beings, not machines. It’s important that the best Mac performance tuneup software should be fairly easy and simple to use.

From user interfaces, and interactive buttons, to explanatory text instructions, they must be clear and to the point.

Speaking of this, one main reason why our team loves Macs more than PCs is that macOS is much friendlier than Windows. We all are used to the awesome feeling of smooth navigation on our MacBooks, right?

If a third-party Mac optimization software can’t live up to this principle, we’ll hesitate to recommend it unless it shows merits over other aspects.

Pricing

Pricing used to be the primary factor when we make decisions and it’s reasonable. Who wants to pay for commercial software given that a free option is available in the market? However, the truth is these days freeware or open-source are becoming rare. Plus, many times free apps just don’t cut it.

What do we mean? Well, we’ve tested a number of free Mac optimizer apps, only to find that some aren’t compatible with the latest macOS due to lack of updates, while others are either confusing to use or very limited in terms of features.

Any other Mac optimizer software that you feel we should include in this list? Leave a comment and let us know.