Find and Remove Duplicates
The best free duplicate file finder for Mac offers a rich set of features and options to help basic and advanced users to deal with duplicate files and customize the process. Pros Free to use and open-source. Get more free disk space by removing unnecessary duplicate files and folders from your Mac. Remove duplicate files on any mounted disk or folder. Use Duplicate File Finder FREE to find and remove duplicate files. Get the PRO version to delete duplicate folders, merge similar folders, mass select duplicates and more.
The bad news is that duplicate files are eating up space on your Mac potentially causing your Mac to slow down and perform poorly. The good news is that there is an easy way to get rid of duplicate files with just a couple of clicks. The easy way is to use the best duplicate file finder for Mac.
There are a number of apps to find and delete the duplicate photos, videos, music files, documents and other types of duplicate files on a Mac. They vary in performance, ease of use and more. In this article, you will find a list of them along with a review for each.
What makes a reliable duplicate file finder for Mac?
Capability of identifying duplicate files
A duplicate file finder is an app designed to detect duplicate files. Such apps use particular algorithms to compare files and identify the duplicates. Different apps may use different algorithms. For example, the algorithm PhotoSweeper uses can only handle images, resulting in its inability to find other types of duplicates. Easy Duplicate Finder uses SHA-256, which is a bit slow. Cisdem Duplicate Finder uses a combination of algorithms, leading to high performance in the detection of various types of duplicate files.
Safe support for Photos and iTunes (now Music)
Unlike on Windows where photos and music files are stored in normal folders, the photos and songs on your Mac are typically stored in Photos Library (managed via Photos app) and iTunes Media (managed via iTunes app) respectively. The fact is that many duplicate file finders for Mac will consider Photos Library and iTunes Media normal folders when searching for duplicates in the two places. As a result, they will damage your library or cause the loss of files or related data. To safely delete these duplicates, you need to use an app designed for Photos and iTunes.
There are other criteria to consider. The two ones above are the most important.
The best duplicate file finders for Mac
#1 Cisdem Duplicate Finder
Compatibility: macOS 10.10 or later, including Big Sur
Cisdem Duplicate Finder is the best of its kind due to its high performance, safety, ease of use, etc.
Thanks to the advanced algorithms it uses, the app can quickly identify true duplicate files by content and find duplicate photos, audios, videos, Word documents, PDFs, presentations, archives and other types of duplicate files on your Mac and external storage devices (e.g., external hard drives, SD cards and more). It also finds near-duplicate photos, which is a plus for making the app a great duplicate photo finder for Mac.
Designed for Photos and iTunes, Cisdem Duplicate Finder will scan your Photos Library or iTunes Media, display the found duplicates for you to view, and remove the unwanted duplicates from within the Photos app or iTunes app with your permission, just like a human would when removing photos or songs. Your Photos Library and iTunes Media will be safe and unaffected except being duplicate-free.
Once the app finishes scanning Photos, iTunes or Mac folders for duplicate files, it will display the detected duplicates in its results window for you to easily view and preview. What’s more, its smart Auto-Select feature will automatically select duplicates for you to mass delete with a single click. Click the Delete button, and now all dupes are gone! If not satisfied with auto-selection, you can manually select or use the selection rules provided.
Pros
- Quickly find all types of duplicate files on Mac based on content
- Also find near-duplicate images
- Support Mac and external storage devices
- Safely remove duplicates from Photos, iPhoto, Music and iTunes
- Come with 3 preview modes, including a side-by-side mode
- Provide a smart Auto-Select feature and up to 8 selection rules
- Offer 3 deletion methods, including Move to Trash
- Support Apple silicon
#2 Gemini 2
Compatibility: macOS 10.10 or later
In addition to the best duplicate file finder for Mac, there are other great apps available to help rid your Mac of duplicate files. Gemini 2 is one of them. People are often impressed by how good looking the app is. But a beautiful interface can only be the cherry on top. What’s important is the ability to find duplicate files on a Mac.
The app supports finding the double files in normal folders, iTunes and Photos and is capable of detecting duplicate photos, duplicate audios, duplicate documents and some other types of duplicates. It does a good job of deleting duplicate files in folders even the large ones. But it occasionally fails to work when scanning a big Photos Library. In such a case, try to re-scan.
In February 2021, Gemini 2 introduced the Duplicates Monitor feature aiming to better help users get rid of duplicate files by notifying users when new duplicates appear. The feature does what it’s designed for. But it uses lots of CPU and may slow down your Mac.
Pros
- Comes with a beautiful interface
- Scan your Mac for various types of duplicate files
- Support Photos and iTunes
- Let users directly preview files within the app
- Provide an innovative Duplicates Monitor feature
Cons
- Incompatible with macOS 10.9 or earlier
- Expensive
#3 Tidy Up 5
Compatibility: macOS 10.12 or later
Designed by Hyperbolic for “pro users” (as advertised), Tidy Up 5 is a good duplicate file finder for Mac for experienced users. Inexperienced users may find its interface overwhelming and confusing.
Supporting all popular file types such as images, Tidy Up 5 can detect and delete the duplicate files in Mac’s folders and Photos. Although the app offers an option to scan iTunes for duplicate items, it does a poor job. In the test, it failed to find any duplicates, which do exist, in my iTunes.
The app comes with two modes: Simple mode and Advanced mode. New users can start with the simple one. Both modes offer an array of scan options and criteria. Each scan for duplicates requires (at least) a little configuration. Compared to the other best Mac duplicate file finders talked about above, this one is less easy to use.
Pros
- Search for a variety types of duplicate files on Mac
- Find and delete duplicates in Apple Photos on Mac
- Provide 2 modes for users to choose from
- Highly customizable
- Support hard links
Cons
- Don’t support macOS 10.11 or earlier
- Not good at finding duplicates in iTunes
- Not that user-friendly
#4 Easy Duplicate Finder for Mac
Compatibility: macOS 10.6 or later
Easy Duplicate Finder is available for both macOS and Windows. Highly compatible, it works well on a Mac running Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave or High Sierra or even an earlier version.
Its wizard-style interface is simple to navigate and use, guiding users through the whole process of the identification and removal of duplicate files, which is especially helpful for novice users.
This piece of file deduplication software can scan your MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or iMac, etc. for duplicate songs, duplicate photos and more. When the scan is complete, it will give you two options: using Auto Remove to immediately eliminate duplicates or using Manual Review to view duplicates and then remove the unwanted ones. The latter allows you to examine the files you are handling and deleting and is more reliable.
The app excels at looking for the duplicates in iTunes and normal folders. However, when searching for duplicate photos in Mac Photos app, it will return no results or false positives. If you allow it to deduplicate, your Photos Library will get damaged.
Pros
- Capable of detecting common types of file duplicates
- Support iTunes
- Provide an Auto Remove feature for quick duplicate removal
- Very user-friendly interface
Cons
- Relatively slow scan
- Poor support for Mac’s Photos
- A bit expensive
#5 Duplicate Detective
Compatibility: macOS 10.7 or later
This Mac duplicate file finder and remover looks less sophisticated due to its unpolished interface. It actually does a fair job of scanning for and removing duplicate files on Mac.
You can use it to scan folders and Photos. However, it can’t identify all the duplicates in a given folder or library. Some dupes will be missing. And also, it can’t provide consistent performance. If you want to clean up duplicates in iTunes, this app won’t help. In the test, the duplicate songs it found didn’t even exist in my iTunes.
Pros
- Support all common file types
- Can find the duplicates in Photos on Mac
- Offer an option to create an alias when deleting duplicates
- Easy to use
- Lightweight
Cons
- Incapable of finding all duplicate files in a location
- Can’t work well with iTunes
#6 Duplicate Sweeper for Mac
Compatibility: macOS 10.8 or later
Duplicate Sweeper is another lightweight macOS duplicate file finder and deleter. The app’s minimal interface is easy to use and navigate. Its welcome screen provides users with brief usage instructions. Even someone who is completely inexperienced can easily use it.
The app can only delete duplicate files in the folders on a Mac. In other words, you can’t use it to weed out the duplicates in your Photos or iTunes. Therefore, it may not be desirable for Mac users. But it can be a choice to consider if the duplicate files on your Mac do reside in folders.
Pros
- Able to look for photo duplicates and other common types of duplicates
- Lightweight
- Ease-to-use interface
Cons
- Can’t identify the duplicates in iTunes and Photos
- Sometime fail to detect all dupes
- Limited customization
#7 dupeGuru for Mac (free)
Compatibility: macOS 10.12 or later
There are also free Mac apps available for the removal of duplicate files. What is the best free duplicate file finder for Mac? dupeGuru may be the answer.
dupeGuru is free to use and open source. There is some sort of maintenance, but the app hasn’t been properly updated for years. Therefore, there can be compatibility issues with newer macOS versions.
The freeware app comes with three modes: Standard, Music and Picture, allowing you to look for and delete duplicate pictures, duplicate music files and some others in folders on Mac. It’s not designed for Apple Photos and iTunes. Even though it allows you to scan Photos Library, its deduplication algorithm will damage your library and cause data loss.
Pros
- Completely free to use
- Open source
- Offer 3 modes to handle different types of duplicate files
- Fairly configurable
- Can find certain visually similar pictures
Cons
- Possible compatibility issues
- No support for Photos and iTunes
- Can’t find all dupes in the folder it scans
#8 Disk Drill for Mac (free)
Compatibility: macOS 10.12 or later
Disk Drill is actually a data recovery app, but it offers a feature called Find Duplicates. The feature is available in the free and paid versions of Disk Drill, which makes the app available as a free duplicate file finder.
You can find the feature in the sidebar under the Extra tools section. Like dupeGuru, this app can scan only folders for duplicates. To perform a scan, you need to add a folder and click the Start Scan button. There is no instant preview of duplicate files. To preview a duplicate, you need to click the eye icon next to it, which can cause inconvenience when it comes to image duplicates.
Pros
- Free to use
- Easy-to-understand interface
- Scan Mac folders for file duplicates
Cons
- Incapable of detecting all duplicate files
- Can’t scan Photos and iTunes
- Inconvenient preview
How to find and remove duplicate files on Mac with a duplicate file finder
I hope the list and reviews above are useful and helps you do a comparison so as to pick the app you need. This part will show you how duplicate removal software typically works.
1. Download and install the software. Open it.
2. Click the plus icon + to add a folder or drive. Click Scan.
3. Once it finishes scanning for duplicate files, you can view and preview the duplicates. It lets you view by file type.
4. Duplicates are already automatically selected for mass removal.
If not happy with auto-selection, you can select by hand. Or, highlight all items under the All tab with Command-A and then apply a desired selection rule.
5. Click Delete.
6. Click Yes to confirm the deletion. Now the unwanted duplicate files on your Mac are removed.
If you want to remove duplicates from Mac Photos app or iTunes app, it will require a couple of additional steps. Please see the official user guide for details.
By the way, you can also manually eliminate the file duplicates in Mac folders by using Finder’s Find function, which can be a time-consuming and tedious process. Alternatively, it’s possible to find duplicate files on Mac using Terminal, the terminal emulator coming with macOS. But stay away from Terminal if you don’t have some command line knowledge.
Conclusion
Removing duplicate files can help free up storage space, possibly making your Mac run faster. Also, it’s easier to manage files on a duplicate-free computer. The best duplicate file finder for Mac can help you effortlessly, effectively and safely root out duplicates from your Mac, no matter where they reside and how deep they hide. In addition, there are other great apps to consider.
Best Free Duplicate File Finder Mac Free
Which duplicate file finder for Mac you are using?
Duplicate files waste valuable space in your Mac. If you often save documents, photos, videos, music and other files in your Mac, there is a big chance that some of these files are redundant or duplicates.
And because they are normally saved in different folders or in other locations in your computer, manual removal of duplicate files becomes even more tedious and time-consuming.
Fortunately, there are duplicate file finder applications that are specifically designed to help you solve this issue. Here are 5 programs we recommend.
5. Decloner
Decloner promises to provide a high level of accuracy in finding and removing duplicate files using the SHA-1 algorithm.
If you like to scan a particular file directory for duplicates, simply browse through it and then click Scan. Scanning can take some time depending on the size of the directory or folder. It will then present to you the duplicate files and let you decide whether to trash the oldest or the newest one, or to trash duplicate files manually. All duplicate files that have been deleted will just be moved to the Trash so you can still restore them anytime unless you decide to empty the Trash.
Decloner supports QuickLook for faster and easier selection of duplicate file groups. It also shows detailed information of duplicate files. And while it works well on Mac computers, you can also use it for external drives.
4. Gemini Duplicate Finder
Featured by Apple as one of the best Mac apps for 2012, Gemini Duplicate Finder is a handy application with a well-designed interface. It has an impressive animation and easy navigation system, giving you complete control of the entire process of finding and removing duplicate files. It gives you a preview of your files and allows you to pre-listen audio files or watch videos before you finally decide to delete or retain them.
Gemini Duplicate Finder is incredibly easy to use. Simply drag and drop folders into the application and it will automatically scan them for identical files. Scanning will just take a couple of seconds, depending on the size of your disk.
Once duplicate files are found, you have the option to manually delete them one by one or use the Auto Select button to automatically remove all duplicates. You could use this application for both external and internal file storage.
3. Easy Duplicate File Finder for Mac
Easy Duplicate File Finder for Mac is known for its powerful duplicate file detection capabilities. It uses several methods to detect duplicates such as comparison by name, size, date, byte-by-byte comparison and MD5 checksum. These different algorithms guarantee more accuracy in searching.
In addition to its different duplicate file detection methods, it also has functionalities for file management including live preview, iTunes sync feature, iPhoto sync feature, file groups, email management tools and others.
Easy Duplicate File Finder also features customizable interface, quick search through preview mode, manual or automatic search modes, and support for a wide range of file types including audio, media, pdf, fonts and graphics.
2. EaseUS CleanGenius
EaseUS CleanGenius functions as a Mac cleaner and uninstaller. It can also help you sort through your files according to disk usage.
As a duplicate file finder, EaseUS CleanGenius will scan through all your files including music, photos, videos, documents, text files and many others. It will find files with duplicate contents and give you the option on what appropriate action to do for each file.
Free Duplicate File Find
1. MacKeeper
Best Duplicate Photo Finder For Mac
MacKeeper can help you clean your Mac, protect it from virus and theft, and also optimize the performance of your computer. Aside from that, its powerful data control feature is also very useful in protecting important files from getting lost or from being accessed by unauthorized people. It also has the capability to find and remove duplicate files. MacKeeper’s file finder can detect duplicates even if they were already renamed.
One of the advantages of MacKeeper is its strong customer support. You may contact them anytime for technical help for any issues you have with your computer.