Disclosure: this article links to CleanMyMac, a commercial product developed by MacPaw. We may earn a commission from purchases made through those links. CleanMyMac is Apple-notarized and distributed through the MacPaw Store, Setapp, and the Mac App Store. The full manual procedure is documented below and costs nothing.
Key takeaways:
- Three cache levels exist. Only the lowest is yours to manage, and nearly all reclaimable space is there anyway.
~/Library/Cachesis safe./Library/Cachesneeds review./System/Library/Cachesis off limits and protected regardless.- Clearing cache does not speed up a Mac. It makes the next launch slower — that is what a cache is for.
- Clear individual subfolders, not the whole directory, so you can tell what broke if something does.
- Quit the application first. Deleting cache from a running app is the most common way this goes wrong.
- No schedule makes sense here. Clear caches for a reason — space pressure or a specific misbehaving app — not routinely.
What a cache is and why deleting it is not free
A cache stores the result of expensive work so it does not have to be repeated. A browser caches page assets to avoid re-downloading them. An application caches thumbnails to avoid regenerating them. A build system caches compilation output to avoid recompiling unchanged code.
That framing explains the single most misunderstood thing about this topic: clearing a cache cannot make a Mac faster. It guarantees the work gets done again. The next launch of an affected application will be slower than it would have been, and the cache will rebuild to roughly the size it was before.
There are two good reasons to clear caches anyway. You need the disk space, or a specific application is misbehaving in a way that corrupted cache data would explain. Neither is a performance optimization, and anything marketing cache clearing as routine speed maintenance is misrepresenting the mechanism.
The three levels
macOS keeps caches at three levels, and the difference between them determines what you may safely touch.
| Level | Path | What it holds | Safe to clear? |
|---|---|---|---|
| User | ~/Library/Caches |
Per-app working data for your account: browser cache, thumbnails, temporary downloads | Yes — apps rebuild automatically |
| Shared | /Library/Caches |
Caches used across all accounts, installer and update leftovers | With review — attribute before deleting |
| Protected | /System/Library/Caches |
Operating system caches | No — and System Integrity Protection blocks it anyway |
Two additional locations get counted as cache in casual usage but behave differently. Sandboxed applications keep their caches inside their container rather than in the shared user directory, which is why removing a sandboxed app’s cache means going into its container. And browser caches are usually better cleared through the browser’s own settings, which distinguishes cache from cookies and session data — a distinction the filesystem does not make.
Step 1: Quit the applications first
Deleting cache files belonging to a running application is the most common way this goes wrong. The process may hold files open, may rewrite them immediately, or may behave unpredictably when data it expects to find has vanished mid-session.
Quit the applications whose caches you intend to clear. For anything with background helpers, check Activity Monitor to confirm nothing is still running under its name.
Step 2: Find out what is actually large
Do not clear everything. Most cache folders are trivially small, and the reclaimable space is concentrated in a handful of them.
du -sh ~/Library/Caches/* 2>/dev/null | sort -rh | head -20Browsers and Electron-based applications typically dominate this listing. Development tooling, when present, frequently dwarfs everything else.
This step also tells you whether clearing caches is worth doing at all. If the total is modest, the answer is no, and you should look at the storage guides for where the space actually went.
Step 3: Clear user caches selectively
Open ~/Library/Caches via Finder’s Go menu with Option held, or press Command-Shift-G and enter the path.
Delete the contents of individual subfolders rather than the subfolders themselves, and work through them one at a time rather than selecting everything. This is slower and it is the difference between knowing what broke and guessing.
Step 4: Review the shared level
/Library/Caches holds caches shared across accounts, plus leftovers from installers and system updates. It requires administrator access and more judgement.
sudo du -sh /Library/Caches/* 2>/dev/null | sort -rh | head -20Remove only items you can positively attribute to software you no longer use. Anything you cannot identify should stay. The space available here is usually modest compared to the user level, which makes the risk-to-reward ratio poor — this step is optional, and skipping it costs you little.
Step 5: Leave the protected level alone
Do not attempt to clear /System/Library/Caches. System Integrity Protection blocks modification, and the correct response to that block is to stop rather than to work around it. Disabling SIP to delete operating system caches is how people turn a storage question into an unbootable machine.
Step 6: Restart, and expect the first launch to be slow
Restart after clearing. Then expect each affected application to take longer than usual on its first launch while it rebuilds what you removed. This is normal and it is the cost you accepted. If you clear caches and immediately conclude the Mac feels slower, you are observing the mechanism working as designed.
Application-specific caches worth knowing about
Several applications keep caches large enough to matter, in locations that a general sweep of the user cache folder will miss entirely.
| Application type | Where the cache actually lives | Clearing method |
|---|---|---|
| Browsers | User caches plus internal storage | Use the browser’s own settings — it distinguishes cache from cookies |
| Xcode | ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData |
Safe to clear entirely; regenerates on next build |
| Homebrew | ~/Library/Caches/Homebrew |
brew cleanup --prune=all |
| Container tooling | Inside a virtual disk image | Through the application’s own reclaim function — deleting contents does not shrink the image |
| Creative applications | Own cache and preview directories, often configurable | Usually a preference setting with a purge control |
| Sandboxed App Store apps | Inside the app’s container | Via the container, or by removing the app |
The container tooling row catches developers repeatedly. Freeing space inside a virtual disk leaves the image file on your real volume exactly as large as before — the reclamation has to be triggered by the application that owns the image.
Working through these locations one at a time is entirely doable and costs nothing. What it costs is attention: six locations, different methods, different judgement calls about what is disposable. A Mac cache cleaner maps all of them in a single scan and shows sizes before you decide anything, which is the part that genuinely saves time — not the deletion, which is trivial, but knowing where to look.
When clearing cache is the wrong answer
This section exists because the topic attracts advice that treats cache clearing as a universal remedy.
The Mac is slow. Clearing caches will make it briefly slower. Slowness has causes — a process consuming CPU, memory pressure, background indexing, aging hardware — and none of them are addressed by removing cached data.
You just updated macOS. The system has been rebuilding caches since the update. Clearing them restarts that work from the beginning, which is the opposite of what you want.
The disk has adequate free space. If you are not short on space, there is no benefit to collect. The cache will rebuild to the same size and you will have spent the rebuild cost for nothing.
You want a maintenance routine. Caches are not a category that benefits from scheduled clearing. Reasonable Mac maintenance is about backups, updates, and knowing where your space goes — not about periodically deleting data the system deliberately keeps.
Where a tool does earn its place is the case this article opened with: a volume that is genuinely short on space, where you need to find the few large caches quickly rather than auditing dozens of folders. CleanMyMac handles that enumeration in one pass and shows what it proposes to remove before removing it. It is developed by MacPaw and Apple-notarized. The commands above reach the same result for free, and running them once is worth doing regardless.
What this won’t fix
Clearing caches reclaims disk space and occasionally resolves an application misbehaving due to corrupted cache data. It does not improve performance, does not free space that is held by snapshots or swap, and does not address residue from applications you uninstalled — that lives in support and preference folders rather than caches, and is covered in the companion uninstallation guide.
It also will not reduce a System Data figure that is large for structural reasons, such as accumulated local snapshots or an oversized virtual disk image. Those are different problems with different answers, and clearing caches in pursuit of them wastes the rebuild cost without touching the cause.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to clear cache on a Mac?
User-level caches are generally safe, since applications treat that data as disposable and rebuild it automatically. The shared system-wide level needs more care because it holds items belonging to software you may still use. The protected OS level should not be touched, and System Integrity Protection prevents it regardless. Safety decreases as you move up the hierarchy, and nearly all the space worth reclaiming sits at the lowest and safest level anyway.
Does clearing cache speed up a Mac?
Usually not, and often the opposite in the short term. A cache exists to avoid repeating expensive work, so removing it means that work happens again. The first launch of an affected application will be slower, not faster. Clearing caches legitimately reclaims disk space and can resolve problems caused by corrupted cache data, but it is not a performance technique — anything presenting it as routine speed maintenance is misrepresenting the mechanism.
Will clearing cache delete my passwords or logins?
No — passwords live in the keychain, not in caches. The confusion usually comes from browsers: clearing a browser’s cache through its own settings can also clear cookies and session data if you select those options, which logs you out of sites. That is a separate category from the cache itself. Removing files from the cache folders described here does not touch stored credentials, though it may clear session state for some applications.
How often should I clear cache on a Mac?
No schedule makes sense, because caches are not a problem that accumulates on a timetable. Clear them for a specific reason: reclaiming space on a volume that is genuinely short, or resolving misbehavior an application is showing that corrupted cache data would explain. Routine clearing imposes the rebuild cost repeatedly without a corresponding benefit, and on a machine with adequate free space it accomplishes nothing at all.
What is the difference between user and system caches?
User caches belong to your account and hold per-application working data — browser cache, thumbnails, temporary downloads. The shared level holds caches used across all accounts, including installer and update leftovers. The protected level belongs to the operating system and is not user-serviceable. The distinction matters because safety and value both decrease as you move up: the lowest level is where nearly all reclaimable space lives and where deletion is least likely to cause trouble.
Can clearing cache break applications?
It can, though rarely at the user level and usually recoverably. Some applications store more than disposable data in their cache directories, including configuration or partially downloaded content that is inconvenient to lose. Deleting caches while an application runs causes more trouble than the deletion itself, since the process may hold files open or rewrite them immediately. Quit applications first, and clear individual folders rather than everything at once.