DaisyDisk vs Disk Drill (2026): which should you pick?

Pick DaisyDisk if

• Fits if your Mac keeps running out of disk space and you want to see why
• Works for people who want to pay once and cover up to 5 personal Macs

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want a cleaner that decides for you, as it does no automatic cleaning
• Not for you if you need to find duplicate files, since it doesn't do that
• Tight if you plan to stay on the trial, because it can't delete files, show them in Finder or scan cloud storage
• Watch out: deletion is permanent, not a move to the Trash, so a wrong pick is gone for good
• Watch out: the App Store edition can't scan as administrator or purge hidden space, and there's no Windows or iOS version

Pick Disk Drill if

• Fits if you need one recovery after a deleted folder or a formatted card
• Works for people who want to see what is recoverable before paying

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want to recover files without paying, as free is scan and preview on Mac and capped at 100 MB on Windows
• Watch out: every PRO purchase is non-refundable except where consumer law says otherwise
• Tight if you need more than 3 devices, as a PRO licence covers one user on up to 3
• Watch out: deep scans of Mac system disks rely on a kernel extension the app installs
• Pricey if you only need it once, since a year is $49

DaisyDisk

• macOS only; the current version needs macOS 10.13 or newer, and the FAQ says there is no Windows or iOS version.
• The free trial cannot delete files, show them in Finder, scan as administrator or scan cloud storage, and shows purchase reminders.
• The Mac App Store edition cannot scan as administrator and only detects hidden and purgeable space without revealing or purging it.
• It does not find duplicate files, and deletion is permanent, not a move to the Trash.

Disk Drill

• Unlimited recovery needs PRO; the Mac page describes the free edition as scan and preview only.
• All PRO purchases are non-refundable except where consumer law requires a refund, according to the vendor's FAQ.
• A PRO license covers 1 user on up to 3 devices; business use is allowed, and larger teams get a custom Enterprise quote.
• On Macs, deep scans of system disks rely on a kernel extension the app installs.

DaisyDisk

Sunburst disk map

Scans a disk or folder and draws its contents as a sunburst map that you browse to locate the largest files and folders.

Fast scanning

The vendor quotes 12-20 seconds for an APFS SSD startup disk and 6-12 seconds for an HFS+ one, and 3-5 minutes for NTFS, FAT and exFAT volumes.

Collector and deletion

Drag items to the Collector, review them, then click Delete, with 5 seconds to cancel. Files are removed permanently, and system folders are not accepted.

Hidden and purgeable space

Detects space that regular scanning cannot account for, reveals it by scanning as administrator, and can purge purgeable space and local snapshots.

Cloud scan

Connects Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and Box and scans them over the network like a local disk, without allocating local disk space.

Quick Look preview

Pressing Space previews any file with the built-in Quick Look, so you can identify it before deciding whether to delete it.

Disk Drill

File and partition recovery

Scans drives, SSDs, memory cards, USB sticks, cameras and RAID arrays for deleted files and lost partitions, and previews results before recovery.

Time Machine and snapshots

On Mac it reads Time Machine backup disks and local snapshots as extra places to find overwritten files.

Disk health monitoring

Free S.M.A.R.T. monitoring watches connected disks for signs of trouble.

Cleanup and duplicate finder

Shows what is using disk space and finds duplicate files in several locations.

Byte-to-byte backups and recovery drive

Creates disk and partition images and a bootable USB drive for recovery.

Data protection

With protection enabled, recovery of protected files is free, according to the vendor.

DaisyDisk

• Lifetime License$9.99

  one-time purchase

  Stand-alone edition for up to 5 personal Macs. Minor updates and bug fixes are included, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

• Mac App Store edition$9.99

  one-time purchase (US Mac App Store)

  Sandboxed edition without scanning as administrator. The vendor offers App Store customers free migration to the stand-alone license.

Disk Drill

• Basic$0

  Scan and preview recoverable files, plus the free disk health, cleanup, duplicate finder and backup tools.

• PRO One-Year Subscription$49

  per year, renews yearly

  Unlimited recovery on Mac and Windows, all updates while subscribed, 1 user on up to 3 devices.

• PRO Lifetime License$69

  one-time

  Same as the subscription, with updates included permanently. Shown as $69 against a crossed-out $119 with no end date given.

DaisyDisk

• Lifetime license

  Lifetime license with no subscription

  One payment buys a lifetime license with no recurring charges. Minor updates are included, and a paid major upgrade would not invalidate the license.

• Education

  Student discounts on request

  The pricing page says student discounts are offered and asks buyers to contact the vendor for details.

• Other savings

  Corporate and portable IT licenses

  Corporate licenses and portable licenses for IT services are available on request, according to the pricing page.

Disk Drill

No public discounts listed.