How to cancel your CleanMyMac subscription (MacPaw, App Store or Setapp)

CleanMyMac is a well-made app, and MacPaw has been building it for years. But maybe you only needed it once, or you'd rather not pay every year for something you open twice. Whatever the reason, you can cancel your CleanMyMac subscription in a couple of minutes, as long as you know where you bought it.

That's the catch. CleanMyMac is sold in three places, and each one has its own cancel button. This guide walks through all three, using MacPaw's, Apple's and Setapp's own support pages, checked on September 28, 2026.

Where did you buy CleanMyMac?

Before anything else, figure out who is billing you:

• MacPaw's own store (macpaw.com): your receipt comes from MacPaw, and your plan shows up in your MacPaw Account.
• The Mac App Store: Apple bills you. Apple suggests searching your email for "receipt from Apple" or "invoice from Apple" to find it.
• Setapp: you got CleanMyMac through a Setapp membership, or bought it as a single app inside Setapp. The bill comes from Setapp.

If you're not sure, search your inbox for "CleanMyMac" and look at who sent the receipt. Deleting the app from your Mac doesn't cancel anything, since the subscription lives in one of those three accounts.

How do I cancel CleanMyMac bought from MacPaw?

These are the steps from MacPaw's support page:

1. Sign in to your MacPaw Account at my.macpaw.com.
2. Choose CleanMyMac.
3. Click Cancel Subscription.
4. Follow the prompts to confirm.

The status changes to inactive within 2 to 3 minutes. If it still says active, refresh the page.

Can't get into your account, or you only have an activation code? MacPaw has a Subscription Manager page. Enter the email address you used to buy, or your license key, and if a subscription is found, MacPaw emails you an access link. From there you can check the status, update your payment method or cancel.

How do I cancel a CleanMyMac subscription from the App Store?

If Apple bills you, you cancel on Apple's side. MacPaw can't do it for you. On your Mac, following Apple's current steps:

1. Open the App Store and click your name at the bottom of the sidebar (or click Sign In first).
2. On the page that appears, click your name again. You may be asked to sign in.
3. Click Subscriptions.
4. Click the CleanMyMac subscription.
5. Click Cancel Subscription.

On an iPhone or iPad signed in to the same Apple Account, it's Settings, then your name, then Subscriptions. Apple notes one useful detail: if there's no Cancel button, or you see an expiration message in red, the subscription is already canceled.

How do I cancel CleanMyMac on Setapp?

With Setapp, it depends on what you signed up for.

If you have a Setapp membership, you cancel the whole membership. According to Setapp's support page, this only works from the website, not the desktop app:

1. Go to the Subscription page of your Setapp account.
2. Click Manage subscription.
3. Click Cancel subscription at the bottom of the page.
4. Answer the short survey, then confirm.

Keep in mind this stops every app you use through Setapp, not just CleanMyMac.

If you bought CleanMyMac as a single app in Setapp, Setapp's single-app FAQ gives the path: Setapp account, then Purchases, then CleanMyMac, then Subscription settings, then Cancel subscription.

What happens after you cancel?

Here's what MacPaw and Setapp say happens next:

• No more charges. Your subscription won't renew and your card won't be billed again.
• You keep access until the end of the period you paid for. After that, MacPaw says most CleanMyMac features lock until you subscribe again. On Setapp, your account stays active until the end of the billing cycle, then the apps stay installed but you can't use them.
• You get a confirmation email, from MacPaw or from Apple. Check your spam folder if you don't see it.
• The app stays on your Mac. If you want it gone, MacPaw's uninstall guide says you can drag it to the Trash like any other app, or use CleanMyMac's own Applications module to remove it with its support files.

Can you get a refund?

It depends on where you paid:

For MacPaw store purchases, the refund page describes a 30-day money-back guarantee, with some exceptions listed in MacPaw's refund policy. On the store page itself, the annual and one-time plans show a 30-day guarantee and the monthly plan shows 14 days. App Store and Setapp purchases follow Apple's and Setapp's own rules.

What can you use instead of CleanMyMac?

You may not need a replacement at all. macOS already covers a lot: System Settings, General, Storage shows what takes up space by category, and Activity Monitor (in Applications, then Utilities) shows what's using your processor and memory.

If you want specific tools, here's what each one is good at:

• AppCleaner removes an app along with the files it scattered around your Mac. It's a free download from FreeMacSoft, which accepts donations. Version 3.7 needs macOS 15 or later, and 3.6.8 covers macOS 10.14 to 15.6.
• OnyX handles maintenance tasks, caches and hidden settings. It's free (the developer takes donations), with one version per macOS release. We compare it with CleanMyMac in CleanMyMac vs OnyX.
• GrandPerspective and DaisyDisk draw a map of your disk so you can spot big forgotten files. On the US Mac App Store, GrandPerspective is $2.99 and DaisyDisk is $9.99.

What none of these replace is CleanMyMac's malware scanner. If that's the feature you relied on, keep it in mind before you switch.

CleanMochi, the app we make

CleanMochi is our own Mac app, so take this part as a description, not a review. It's in open beta and you can download it from cleanmochi.com. You need a Mochi account to use it.

Its idea is to explain things. After a scan, Mochi gives your Mac a health score, tells you in one sentence what's pulling it down, and suggests one thing to do. Then each screen covers one job: Cleanup (app caches and logs, Trash, leftover installers, files from apps you already deleted), Applications (uninstall an app with its hidden files), Startup (what launches when you log in), Large files, and Why it's slow (what's using your processor and memory right now).

Nothing is removed until you click. Apps and leftovers go to the Trash first, and the History screen can put them back as long as you haven't emptied it.

What it doesn't do: there's no malware scan and no cloud storage cleanup, two things CleanMyMac has. It's also a beta, so expect a few rough edges. The CleanMochi home page shows the main screens.