The quick answer
- You want the most polished app and don't mind paying: DaisyDisk.
- You want a free, simple treemap that is still updated: GrandPerspective.
- You prefer lists to pictures: OmniDiskSweeper.
- You want free, open source, several views and a review step before anything is removed: freedisk.space.
Disk Inventory X was a popular choice for years, but its site lists support only up to macOS 10.15, so it is hard to recommend on a current Mac.
What DaisyDisk does well
DaisyDisk is the app most people compare against, and for good reason. It draws your disk as a set of rings, with the biggest folders as the widest slices. It is fast, it looks good, and it is easy to understand on first use.
According to its official site, it costs $9.99 as a one-time purchase with a 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can try it for free first. It runs on macOS 10.13 or newer, on Apple silicon and Intel. The site says it excludes clones and hard links that don't use extra space, and that it can find and purge macOS snapshots.
One thing to know before you switch to it or away from it: DaisyDisk deletes files permanently. You drag items to its Collector, click Delete, and get 5 seconds to cancel. Its user guide explains that it skips the Trash on purpose, because moving files to the Trash would not free any space. That is a fair design choice, but it means there is no undo once the countdown ends.
The free alternatives
GrandPerspective
GrandPerspective draws a treemap: every file is a rectangle, sized by how much space it uses. It is open source under the GPL. You can download it free from SourceForge, or buy the same app on the Mac App Store for $2.99 if you want to support the developer.
It is actively maintained. Version 3.8.1 came out in September 2026 and needs macOS 14 or later. Older releases are still offered for macOS 11 to 13. You can delete files and folders straight from the view.
The trade-off is that it is mostly the treemap. There is no category overview, duplicate finder or app uninstaller. If a treemap is all you need, it does that job well.
OmniDiskSweeper
OmniDiskSweeper, from The Omni Group, skips the picture. It shows your drive as columns of folders sorted largest to smallest, and lets you open items or send them to the Trash. It is a free download from Omni's site. The current version is 1.16.
Some people find a sorted list easier to act on than a map. You see the exact numbers and drill down column by column. You do not get any sense of the overall shape of the disk, and there are no extra tools beyond browsing and trashing.
Disk Inventory X
Disk Inventory X is free and open source under the GPL. It pairs a treemap with a list of file types, colored to match. For a long time it was the default free answer to this question.
Its official site lists version 1.3, supporting macOS 10.13 to 10.15, and the site has not been updated in years. Homebrew has also disabled its install cask. It may still open on a newer Mac, but you would be relying on an app that no longer tracks macOS changes.
freedisk.space
freedisk.space is our app, so weigh this section with that in mind. It is free, open source under the MIT license, and native on macOS 14 and later. The download is about 11 MB.
One scan feeds several views: a treemap, sunburst, flame graph, bubbles, mind map and an age map that highlights big files you have not touched in a long time. Alongside the maps there is an Overview by category, Biggest Files and Biggest Folders lists, Find, and pages for Developer Storage, Caches, Old Downloads, Large Media, Forgotten Files, Duplicates and Applications with their leftovers.
Duplicate detection is APFS clone aware. Files that share the same blocks on disk are counted once, so the app doesn't tell you to delete a "duplicate" that frees nothing.
Cleanup is the biggest difference from DaisyDisk. Nothing is deleted directly. You add items to a Cleanup list, review it, confirm, and they move to the Trash. You can Put Back from inside the app. You empty the Trash yourself when you are sure.
The honest limits: it is a young project. The Mac app is not notarized yet, so the first time you open it macOS will block it and you approve it once in System Settings > Privacy & Security. It also has a much shorter track record than DaisyDisk or GrandPerspective.
Side by side
| App | Price | License | Main view | Removes to | Current macOS support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DaisyDisk | $9.99 one time, free trial | Commercial | Rings (sunburst style) | Permanent delete, 5-second cancel | macOS 10.13 and later |
| GrandPerspective | Free, or $2.99 on the App Store | Open (GPL) | Treemap | Delete from the view | macOS 14 and later (older builds for 11 to 13) |
| OmniDiskSweeper | Free | Freeware | Sorted columns | Trash | Check the developer's site |
| Disk Inventory X | Free | Open (GPL) | Treemap plus file types | Check the app | Listed up to macOS 10.15 |
| freedisk.space | Free | Open (MIT) | Treemap plus five other maps, category overview | Trash, after a review list, with Put Back | macOS 14 and later |
Prices and versions were checked on each developer's site in October 2026. They change, so check the developer's site for current pricing before you buy.
Things that matter more than the picture
Clones and hard links
APFS lets two files share the same blocks. Copy a 5 GB video in Finder and the copy uses almost no new space. A tool that ignores this will count it twice, and may even suggest you delete the copy to save 5 GB that you would never get back. DaisyDisk and freedisk.space both account for this. Read more in how to find duplicate files on a Mac.
Full Disk Access
Whatever you choose, give it Full Disk Access in System Settings > Privacy & Security. Without it, any app will miss parts of your Library folder, Mail and other protected places, and the totals will not add up.
What happens when you click delete
Permanent deletion frees space at once. Moving to the Trash gives you an undo but frees nothing until you empty it. Neither is wrong. Just know which one your tool does before you clear 50 GB in a hurry.
How to choose
If you value polish and are happy to pay once, DaisyDisk is a good app and worth the money. If you want something free that is still maintained and does one thing, try GrandPerspective. If you like lists, OmniDiskSweeper is quick to learn. If you want free and open source, several ways to look at the same scan, and a review step with the Trash as a safety net, try freedisk.space.
New to this? Start with how to find large files on a Mac, which covers the built-in options before you install anything.
Questions people ask
- Is there a free version of DaisyDisk?
- DaisyDisk offers a free trial download, and the full app is a $9.99 one-time purchase according to its official site. Free alternatives include GrandPerspective, OmniDiskSweeper and freedisk.space.
- What is the best free alternative to DaisyDisk?
- GrandPerspective is a long-running, open source treemap that is still updated. freedisk.space is open source too and adds several map views, a category overview, duplicate detection and a review list that moves items to the Trash.
- Does DaisyDisk move files to the Trash?
- No. DaisyDisk deletes permanently after a 5-second countdown, because moving files to the Trash would not free any space. Its user guide says deleted files can only be recovered with special recovery software.
- Does Disk Inventory X work on Apple silicon Macs?
- Its official site lists version 1.3 with support for macOS 10.13 to 10.15 and has not been updated in years. It may still open, but a maintained tool is a safer choice on a current Mac.
- Is OmniDiskSweeper still free?
- Yes, The Omni Group offers it as a free download on its website. It lists folders and files largest to smallest and lets you open them or move them to the Trash.
- Why do disk analyzers show different totals?
- They handle APFS clones, hard links, hidden folders and permissions differently. Give the app Full Disk Access and prefer one that counts shared clone blocks once.