PearCleaner vs AppCleaner: Which free Mac uninstaller is right for you?

I thought I’d do a bit of a comparison on PearCleaner vs AppCleaner because getting rid of unwanted apps isn’t as straightforward as you might think. When you drag an old app into your Trash, that’s not the end of it; they actually leave behind hundreds of MB in caches, application preferences, and even support files.

You need an uninstaller that properly removes leftovers, and there’s a ton of tools out there, so that’s why I’ve made this review. AppCleaner, you might know, because it’s often considered the veteran freeware pick, but PearCleaner is a new shiny tool on the market, building up a solid reputation.

Both applications are free, so there’s nothing to compare there, but they do work differently, and that’s the important bit: figuring out what you actually need this kind of tool for, so you can pick the right one.

Quick look at PearCleaner vs AppCleaner

AppCleaner is quite well known, as it’s been around for a while now and is from FreeMacSoft. It’s got quite a simple drag-and-drop system, but it does let you review before you delete, and it also has a SmartDelete feature that can watch for apps moved to the Trash and offer to clean up related files.

PearCleaner, is a lot newer, from a developer called Alin Lupascu, but that’s nothing to be concerned about; it’s gained some serious traction with over 13K+ GitHub stars. It still keeps the same basic uninstall idea, but you get more. A fair-code license, something called a Sentinel Monitor, App Lipo, Homebrew management, and other extras.

Cleaning capabilities PearCleaner vs AppCleaner

So, to make this a true fair comparison, I downloaded both tools on my Mac and uninstalled the same app (Slack) because I know it leaves support files behind. Then I literally compared the cleanup, the leftover file count and the total size. So, here’s what I found.

AppCleaner's approach

AppCleaner works by scanning all the usual places to find leftover app caches, saved preferences, even forgotten logs, and saved states, so no big surprises there. It works well, and what I did like was its SmartDelete feature, which automatically prompts you when you drag an app to the Trash. For me, that’s great because I can forget to empty my Trash sometimes.

PearCleaner’s approach

Source: alienator88 on GitHub

This tool has a bit more to it. It has a feature called Sentinel Monitor, which works in the background, monitoring app removal, and it does search for leftovers that some other tools miss, stuff like .pkg files, additional installed plugins, even system services, and other related support items, that easily get tucked into hidden library folders. It also includes App Lipo, which can strip unused CPU architectures from universal binaries to save you extra space.

So while PearCleaner’s scan is in many ways much deeper and, in my opinion, certainly wins in the cleanup depth area, you do need to review what it finds carefully before deleting. I think that AppCleaner is a bit more conservative; it’s a low-risk, quick and safe application removal.

Ease of use and who each tool is for

I think AppCleaner is probably best suited to any kind of users who just want quick, simple, no setup and go. It’s got a relatively tiny footprint, and it also still works on older macOS versions, back to 10.6.

But if you’re a developer or consider yourself more of a power user, then I think you’ll find PearCleaner more interesting. There’s its Finder extension for right-click uninstall, plus Homebrew management, even theme customization, and console for troubleshooting. It’s a bit heavier on your resources, but that’s understandable, considering you get more, but it requires macOS 13 Ventura or later.

Although both tools support Apple silicon, macOS 27 Golden Gate is Apple Silicon-only, so for older Intel-based Macs, you’ll need AppCleaner.

One more important limitation, neither tool is built for bulk-cleaning orphaned files from apps you deleted months ago without using the tool at the time.

When you need more than a standalone uninstaller

For pure uninstalling apps, when it comes to PearCleaner vs AppCleaner, they are honestly both great at just that, but what I think is important to highlight is that neither of them solves any wider Mac hygiene issues. So all those leftover files from apps you deleted months ago, the junk that’s been building up for months, even all your old duplicate files, malware threats, tons of login items, and all that mystery System Data just keep building up, and neither of these two tools removes them.

If you’ve removed apps, but your Mac still feels and looks cluttered, or your System Data keeps ballooning, a simple standalone app remover just isn’t going to cut it.

I’ve been using a tool called CleanMyMac for a while now. You can uninstall apps and leftover files from apps deleted long ago, thanks to its Applications feature, but it has so much more. Its Cleanup feature scans and removes your system junk and caches, while its Protection tool scans for macOS-specific malware. If you want one dashboard instead of juggling separate utilities and apps for different jobs, this tool is worth a try. You can also test it for 7 days free — get your free trial here. No features are locked, you can try it all.