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A free, open-source alternative to CleanMyMac
CleanMyMac, from MacPaw, is a commercial Mac cleaner that has been around for years, and for many people it is worth paying for. Vervain is a smaller, free option for people who mostly want the basics and care about open source and privacy. This page lists the differences so you can pick, and since Vervain is free and CleanMyMac has a trial, you can also try both.
The short version
- Price: CleanMyMac is a commercial app, sold as a subscription or a one-time purchase, with a free trial. Check MacPaw's site for current prices. Vervain is free.
- Source code: CleanMyMac is closed source. Vervain's code is on GitHub under the MIT license, so you can read what it does before you run it.
- Scope: CleanMyMac covers more ground and includes extras such as malware scanning. Vervain is a cleaner: junk files, apps and their leftovers, duplicates, large old files, a disk analyzer, old project build folders and AI model downloads.
- Privacy: Vervain has no accounts and no analytics. Its only network request is the update check, which runs when you press a button or, if you turn it on, once a day. For CleanMyMac, read MacPaw's privacy policy.
- Safety: Vervain shows a review screen first, never ticks risky items by default, and moves everything to the Trash. A History screen can put items back.
- Requirements: Vervain needs macOS 15 or later. If your Mac is older, check what CleanMyMac supports.
- Where you get it: Vervain is a signed and notarized app from GitHub or Homebrew. It is not in the Mac App Store, because the App Store sandbox would stop it from reading the folders a cleaner has to scan.
What Vervain adds for developers
Two modules are aimed at people who write code or run local models. Project Artifacts finds old node_modules, target, .build, Pods and virtual environment folders inside your projects, grouped by project, and only ticks the ones from projects that have been idle for a while. AI Models lists model downloads from Hugging Face, LM Studio, Ollama and others with their sizes. The guides on old node_modules folders and downloaded AI models explain both in more detail.
What Vervain does not do
It is not a malware scanner, and it does not promise to speed up your Mac. It also never runs jobs that need administrator rights, such as rebuilding the Spotlight index. For those it shows the exact Terminal command and lets you copy it.
Which one should you pick?
If you want one app that handles cleaning, protection and maintenance, and you are happy to pay for it, CleanMyMac is a reasonable choice. If you want a free, readable tool that cleans up disk space and leaves every decision to you, try Vervain. Neither choice locks you in: both can be installed and removed whenever you like.
Questions
Is Vervain really free?
Yes. Vervain is free and released under the MIT license. There is no paid tier, no account and no trial period.
Does Vervain scan for malware?
No. Vervain is a disk cleaner, not a malware scanner. If you want malware scanning in the same app, CleanMyMac includes it.
Is it safe to clean with Vervain?
Every module shows a review screen first, risky items are never ticked by default, and everything you remove goes to the Trash. The History screen can put items back.