Compared
Mac Deficit and DaisyDisk.
DaisyDisk is the disk analyzer most Mac users know, and a good one. This page sets the two side by side, including where DaisyDisk does more. Everything said about DaisyDisk comes from its maker's own pages, linked at the end, as they read on 14 November 2026.
In short
- Choose Mac Deficit if you want what you remove to go to the Trash, where one click puts it back; a record of everything you removed; an app that never uses the network unless you ask; and a lower price.
- Choose DaisyDisk if you have an Intel Mac or a macOS older than 14, want to scan Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or Box, want to purge purgeable space yourself, or want to try before you pay.
Side by side
| Mac Deficit | DaisyDisk | |
|---|---|---|
| The picture | An apple filled with cells, one for each folder and file, beside a list sorted by size | A sunburst map: rings of "petals", wider for larger items |
| Removing something | To the Trash, with its size shown first; Put Back returns it. Delete Immediately is a separate command that asks first | Dragged to the Collector, then deleted permanently, not to the Trash, after a 5-second chance to cancel |
| A record of what you removed | Yes: a history kept on your Mac, with Put Back and Export | Not stated |
| What it will not remove | macOS's own files, your home folder and its standard folders, and the places macOS protects for your privacy | /System, /Library and your home folder |
| Shared data (hard links, APFS clones) | Counted once, and the confirmation says how much space really comes back | Clones counted once |
| Space a scan cannot reach | Shown after a whole-drive scan: found, macOS, could not be read, with purgeable space apart | Shown as "hidden space"; the stand-alone edition can reveal it and purge purgeable space |
| Cloud drives | No | Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box |
| Network drives | Yes: a mounted share is scanned like any folder (tried on an SMB share) | Yes |
| Preview a file | Reveal in Finder | Quick Look in the app |
| Search by name and kind | Yes | Not stated |
| The network | Only when you choose Check for Updates…, which reads one version number | A built-in updater; a licence or trial registers your email address and a hardware ID of your Mac |
| Runs on | Apple Silicon, macOS 14 or later | Apple Silicon and Intel, macOS 10.13 or later |
| Price | $3.99 once (Personal), $9.99 once for a household of up to three (Family), at launch | $9.99 once, for up to 5 personal Macs |
| Free trial | No | Yes, with some functions locked |
| Track record | New: version 1.0, released November 2026 | Long established: well over a decade on the Mac |
Where the two differ most
What happens when you delete. DaisyDisk removes files for good, and says why: moved to the Trash, a file frees no space until the Trash is emptied. Mac Deficit takes the other side of that trade. What you remove goes to the Trash, the confirmation tells you its size and what emptying the Trash will free, and Put Back undoes it. When you are sure, Delete Immediately is in the File menu, with the size first and Cancel as the default.
What the app knows about you. Both apps keep what they scan on your Mac. DaisyDisk's licence and trial are tied to an email address and a hardware ID, and its site uses analytics and advertising cookies. Mac Deficit has no licence key, no account and no trial to register, and its site sets no cookies.
How much it does. DaisyDisk has had well over a decade to grow: cloud drives, network drives, Quick Look, purging, scanning as administrator, fourteen languages. Mac Deficit is new and does less. What it does, it is careful about: every gigabyte accounted for, and nothing removed that cannot come back unless you say so.
Speed
Both are fast enough that speed should not decide it. Mac Deficit scans a startup disk of 1.8 million files in about 8 seconds on a MacBook with an M3. DaisyDisk's own figure for an APFS startup disk on an SSD is 12 to 20 seconds. These are each maker's numbers on its own Macs; we have not timed the two side by side, so we make no claim about which is faster.
Sources
DaisyDisk's facts are from daisydiskapp.com: its pricing, specifications and privacy policy, and its guide's pages on deleting files, editions, hidden space and the trial. "Not stated" means those pages do not say; it does not mean DaisyDisk lacks it. If anything here is out of date or unfair, write to support@macdeficit.com and we will correct it.
Last checked 14 November 2026 · DaisyDisk is a trademark of Software Ambience Corp. Mac Deficit is not affiliated with it.