Free and open source for macOS 14 and up
A free, native Mac disk space analyzer and duplicate finder that tells you what is safe to delete.
Hover for the verdict. Click a folder to zoom in.
Ask Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor or Codex what is filling your disk. Headroom answers with real sizes and a safety verdict for every item, through a command line tool and an MCP server. Nothing to configure: the app carries its own instructions for agents.
The same scanner and the same safety rules as the app, as JSON an agent can act on.
$ headroom cleanup ~
{
"total_reclaimable": "38.9 GB",
"candidates": [
{ "path": "~/dev/shop/node_modules",
"size": "23.6 GB", "safety": "safe" },
{ "path": "~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData",
"size": "11.2 GB", "safety": "safe" },
{ "path": "~/Library/Caches/Homebrew",
"size": "4.1 GB", "safety": "usually_safe" }
]
}Scan, list, largest files, cleanup candidates, duplicates and a verdict for any path. The only write moves items to the Trash, refuses anything marked Do not delete, and the agent is told to ask you first.
Agents that run shell commands find the tool by themselves. MCP clients add the server once:
claude mcp add headroom -- /Applications/Headroom.app/Contents/MacOS/Headroom --mcpDirect download and Homebrew builds. The App Store build is sandboxed and cannot offer it.
Scan a folder or the whole disk, understand where the space went, and remove only what is safe to remove.
Every rectangle is a file or folder, sized by what it takes on disk. Color by category, age or safety. Double-click to zoom.
Built on getattrlistbulk, the fastest directory read macOS offers, fanned out across every core.
A virtualized outline with sortable sizes, share of parent and a safety column. Folders sort only when shown.
Byte-for-byte copies, ranked by the space one copy gives back. Four passes, so a 40 GB disk image is never read in full to prove it differs. See how it works
DerivedData, node_modules, npm, pnpm, pip, Gradle and Cargo caches, build output and logs, found and sized for review.
Everything runs on your Mac. No account, no analytics, no cloud. The code is public.
Headroom sits in the menu bar and records free space on your startup disk while it runs. When space gets low it tells you, and the fix is one click away.
Free space, last 7 days
Five files that look alike. Four passes, each cheaper than reading a file. Only byte-for-byte copies survive.
Scroll to run the passes.
Bytes read: 0
Every recognized item gets a plain-language verdict and a note on what deleting it affects.
Regenerable data such as caches, build output and package stores.
Rebuilt on demand, may take a while or a re-download to recreate.
Settings or user data. Read the note in the Inspector before removing.
Keychains, Mail, Photos library, the system itself. Headroom will tell you so.
The same 102 GB home folder with about a million files, scanned by three Mac disk analyzers on an M3 Pro.
| Measure | Headroom | Mole | DiskTree |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full scan | 15.6 s | 23.7 s | 57.7 s |
| Repeat scan | 15.6 s, no cache | 4.3 s from its cache | 115 s without quitting |
| Files listed one by one | 1,075,404 | 261,780, the rest sized with du | Not shown |
| Peak memory | ~1.2 GB | ~21 MB | ~1.35 GB |
| Safe-to-delete verdicts | Safe, Usually safe, Caution, Never, with a reason | Some folders marked cleanable | Diagnosis view; cleanup needs Pro |
| Interface | Native app | Terminal | Native app |
| Price and source | Free, MIT | Free, MIT | Free tier, Pro from $2.99/month, closed source |
Medians of 2 to 4 runs, October 2026, MacBook Pro M3 Pro, 36 GB. Mole is lighter on memory and much faster on a repeat scan, and it also uninstalls apps and tunes the system. Headroom keeps every file so the tree, treemap and duplicate finder can use them. How it was measured.
With Homebrew, paste this into Terminal:
brew install ryware/tap/headroomUpdate with brew upgrade headroom. Uninstall with brew uninstall headroom.
Or download it yourself:
macOS 14 Sonoma or newer, Apple silicon and Intel. Prefer to build it yourself? git clone and run ./build.sh run.
Short answers. The README has the long ones.
Yes. Run brew install ryware/tap/headroom in Terminal. It installs the same signed, notarized app as the DMG. Update with brew upgrade headroom, uninstall with brew uninstall headroom, or use brew uninstall --zap headroom to also remove its settings and history. If you don't have Homebrew yet, the one-line installer is on brew.sh.
No. There is no Pro tier, subscription, lifetime purchase, trial or in-app purchase. Every feature is free and unlocked for everyone: the treemap, one-click cleanup, developer deep scan, safety hints, Trash-first deletion and fast permanent deletion.
Yes, this one. Headroom is a free, open-source Mac disk space analyzer and cleaner that never locks cleanup or developer scans behind a paywall, and never asks for an account or payment.
Files are grouped by size, then by a hash of their first 64 KB, then by samples from the middle and end, then by a full SHA-256 of the whole file. Only files that still match after the last step are listed, so every group is byte-for-byte identical. Files under 1 MB and files inside app bundles are skipped, and Headroom always keeps one copy of each file unless you turn that guard off.
Headroom is a free, open-source, native macOS app that shows what is using space on your Mac. It scans a folder or disk, visualizes the result as a folder tree, treemap and category charts, explains whether items are safe to delete and helps you clean them up.
Yes. It is MIT-licensed with no ads, subscriptions, accounts, in-app purchases or analytics. It was made to be enjoyed.
Open Headroom, choose Home or Startup Disk and wait for the scan. The dashboard shows free and used space and the biggest categories, the folder tree lists folders by size, and the treemap draws every file as a rectangle sized by how much space it uses.
Usually yes, because they are regenerable: node_modules can be reinstalled, Xcode DerivedData is rebuilt on the next build and caches are recreated on demand. Headroom labels recognized items Safe, Usually safe, Caution or Never and explains the effect. Keep Trash mode on if you want to be able to undo.
Trash mode moves items to the macOS Trash so you can restore them until you empty it. Permanent mode removes them immediately with a fast parallel engine like rimraf and cannot be undone.
It uses getattrlistbulk(2) and scans directories in parallel across all cores. On an M3 Pro, a home folder with about 1.07 million files and 167,000 folders (102 GB) scanned in about 16 seconds. See how it compares.
No. Scanning and analysis happen entirely on your Mac. There is no account system, analytics SDK or cloud service in the app. This website uses Google Analytics to count visits and downloads; the app itself sends nothing.
Headroom is a free, native Mac app in the same spirit: a fast scan, a sortable size tree and a treemap, plus safety explanations and one-click developer cleanup.
Headroom is a free, open-source option if you want a DaisyDisk-style visual map of your disk without paying. DaisyDisk is a paid app with a sunburst map; Headroom uses a treemap and a sortable folder tree, and adds a duplicate finder, safety explanations and developer cleanup.
Both are open source and both draw a treemap of your disk. GrandPerspective focuses on the treemap view. Headroom adds a sortable folder tree, category breakdown, duplicate finder, safety explanations for what you are about to delete, one-click developer cleanup and a menu bar monitor.
No. Headroom was called DiskTree before version 1.0, but it is not related to the DiskTree app sold at disktree.org. That DiskTree is a closed-source treemap app with a free tier and a paid Pro plan for cleanup. Headroom is free and open source, with cleanup, a duplicate finder and Safe / Caution / Never verdicts included. Scanning the same 102 GB home folder on an M3 Pro, Headroom took about 16 seconds and DiskTree 1.1.3 about 58. See the full benchmark.
Both are free and open source. Mole is a terminal cleaner whose mo analyze command shows disk usage; Headroom is a native app with a folder tree, treemap, duplicate finder and a Safe / Caution / Never verdict for each known folder. Scanning the same 102 GB home folder on an M3 Pro, Headroom finished a full scan in about 16 seconds and Mole in about 24, and Headroom listed every one of the 1.07 million files. Mole uses far less memory and answers repeat scans from a cache in about 4 seconds, and it also uninstalls apps and optimizes the system, which Headroom does not. See the full benchmark.
For finding and freeing disk space, yes. Headroom covers disk analysis, large files, duplicates and cache and developer cleanup for free, with no subscription. It is not a full maintenance suite: it has no malware scanner, app uninstaller or performance tools.
macOS 14 Sonoma or newer on Apple silicon or Intel. Full Disk Access is only needed for protected locations such as Mail, Messages and Safari data.
This almost always comes from an antivirus or ransomware shield (AVG, Avast, Bitdefender, Norton and similar). They guard Documents, Desktop, Downloads and Pictures and refuse unknown apps that change files there, and macOS reports it with the same words as a real permission problem. Add Headroom to the product’s allowed apps:
Or click Reveal in Finder in the result and delete the item there: Finder is always allowed. Headroom also looks for installed security products, names the likely one in the result with the setting to change, warns before a delete inside a guarded folder, and shows an Open button for that product. If no security product is installed, check System Settings › Privacy & Security › Files and Folders, and whether the item belongs to another user.
Free, open source, every feature included. If it saved you space, a star on GitHub helps other Mac users find it.