How to cancel CleanMyMac, get a refund, and remove it from your Mac

By Mohit Nippanikar, who makes SiftMac, a CleanMyMac alternative. The steps below are MacPaw’s own, from its support site, checked on 25 October 2026.

Cancelling CleanMyMac takes a minute in your account, and you don’t need to call anyone. Which steps you follow depends on where you bought it.

1. Where did you buy it?

• The MacPaw Store (on macpaw.com or cleanmymac.com): your receipt came from MacPaw. Follow step 2.
• The Mac App Store: your receipt came from Apple. Follow step 3.
• Setapp: CleanMyMac is part of your Setapp membership, so there’s no separate CleanMyMac subscription to cancel. You manage the membership in your Setapp account.

Not sure? Search your email for “CleanMyMac” and look at who sent the receipt.

2. Cancel a MacPaw Store subscription

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

Within 2–3 minutes the subscription shows as Inactive; refresh the page if it doesn’t.

Can’t sign in, or don’t know which email you used? Use MacPaw’s Subscription Manager. Enter the email address or licence key from your receipt, and MacPaw emails you a link where you can cancel.

3. Cancel through the App Store

On your Mac:

1. Open the App Store app.
2. Click your name in the lower-left corner, then click Account Settings.
3. Scroll to the Manage section and click Manage next to Subscriptions.
4. Click the CleanMyMac subscription, then Cancel Subscription, and confirm.

On an iPhone or iPad signed in to the same Apple Account, you can do the same in Settings › your name › Subscriptions.

4. What happens after you cancel

You get a confirmation email from MacPaw or Apple; check your spam folder if it doesn’t arrive. Nothing more is charged, and CleanMyMac keeps working until the end of the period you’ve already paid for. After that, most of its features lock until you subscribe again.

5. Getting a refund

Cancelling stops future charges but doesn’t refund the current one. According to MacPaw’s refund policy:

MacPaw’s policy covers the first payment only, not automatic renewals, so cancel as soon as you’ve decided, before the next renewal date.

6. Remove CleanMyMac from your Mac

Cancelling doesn’t remove the app. CleanMyMac runs a few things in the background: MacPaw lists the CleanMyMac Menu, the Health Monitor and the Updater, plus a helper tool called the Agent that does tasks needing administrator rights. To remove it:

1. Quit CleanMyMac, and quit the CleanMyMac Menu from its icon in the menu bar.
2. Drag CleanMyMac from your Applications folder to the Trash, then empty the Trash.
3. Open System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions (Login Items on macOS Sonoma) and check that nothing from CleanMyMac or MacPaw is still listed under Allow in the Background. If something is, switch it off.

Like most apps, CleanMyMac also leaves settings and caches in your Library folder. They’re small, but an uninstaller that finds leftovers will clear them: AppCleaner and Pearcleaner are free, and SiftMac finds leftovers of apps you’ve already removed.

What to use instead

If you only need to free space now and then, you may not need a subscription at all. macOS’s own Storage settings (System Settings › General › Storage) lets you review big files, apps and iPhone backups. For more, there are one-time-purchase cleaners and free tools; here’s an honest comparison of SiftMac, CleanMyMac and the alternatives.