MacKeeper Review 2026 | MacUpdate

The bottom line

MacKeeper has grown into an excellent, all-round security and optimization tool for Mac and MacBook users—one that performs well in independent antivirus tests and is Apple notarized. The inclusion of a built-in VPN service is a big plus point too, ensuring users get good value for money.

As you’ll see in this MacKeeper review, there’s plenty to recommend, and the pricing options offer a welcome level of flexibility.   

Pros

• A wide range of tune-up and security tools
• Built-in VPN
• Handy duplicates finder
• Clear, intuitive interface    

Cons

• Limited free use                                    
• Mac only

What is MacKeeper?

MacKeeper is a security and optimization tool for macOS. It offers a variety of features, to clean out junk files, remove malware, safely uninstall apps, boost performance, and more. It also offers a built-in VPN client, which is included in the subscription fee.

Since 2019, MacKeeper has been the property of Clario Tech, which has transformed the app, enhancing its features and gaining independent certification.  

What’s New?

Under the stewardship of Clario Tech, MacKeeper has changed a lot. Features have been added and refined, but the biggest and perhaps most important change is that MacKeeper has gained a variety of industry certifications, proving its reliability and legitimacy. They include:

• Apple notarization: Since 2020, MacKeeper has been Apple notarized—which essentially means that Apple considers an app to be safe to download. To be notarized, third-party apps that aren’t in the Mac App Store have to be uploaded to Apple’s servers and tested to ensure they don’t contain any malicious content. 
• ISO 27001: In 2021, MacKeeper and Clario achieved ISO 27001 certification. This is important, because it’s an internationally recognized certification, and it suggests the company takes information security seriously.
• AppEsteem: MacKeeper is included in this list of certified apps. That means it’s committed to complying with AppEsteem’s various compliance rules.
• AV-TEST: MacKeeper is also certified by independent security tester AV-TEST, where it receives good ratings for things like usability, performance, and protection—as well as 100% virus detection rates.

Security

Antivirus

 

Running a virus scan is straightforward – simply click the Start Scan button and wait. There’s also an option to run a custom scan, where you can either browse for items to scan or drag or drop them in. If you head into the app’s preferences, you can add items to an ignore list.

When I downloaded the Eicar test files, MacKeeper detected all versions instantly, so I’m confident its real-time protection is effective. The manual scan was also able to pick these files up.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any options to schedule scans, so you’re reliant on real-time protection and manual scans. There’s also no ransomware protection, which you do find in some competing apps.

Adware Cleaner

The adware scanner is designed to look for malicious software that bombards you with ads. There’s no custom scan option for the adware scanner, so you have to trust that MacKeeper knows the best places to look for adware. 

Cleaning

Safe Cleanup

Safe Cleanup scans your Mac for junk files, which includes various caches and logs you don’t need. You can also clear your trash here. Perhaps most useful is the ability to remove unneeded language files, which can easily take up gigabytes of space if you install a lot of apps. 

It’s debatable whether you need to delete caches or even if you should. That’s up to you, but if you decide it’s something you want to do, then it’s easy enough in MacKeeper.  

Duplicates Finder

MacKeeper’s Duplicates Finder lets you scan your Mac for duplicate files, so you can delete the copies you don’t need and clear up some disk space. It’s been improved recently too, with the addition of the Similar Photos feature. This enables you to find images that are similar but not completely identical. 

If you waste a lot of time manually finding duplicate photos, this is a feature that should come in handy. 

Smart Uninstaller

Smart Uninstaller does a few things. First, it can remove apps without leaving anything behind – not always the case when apps are manually deleted. Secondly, it can remove widgets, preference panes, plugins and browser extensions. And last but not least, it can locate and remove files that have been left over from deleted apps.   

Performance

Memory Cleaner

I’ve always been skeptical about the usefulness of memory cleaners in Macs, because macOS does a pretty job of managing RAM anyway. But MacKeeper’s Memory Cleaner feature does as it promises, closing down unnecessary background processes and instantly freeing up RAM. 

This is possibly more useful for older Macs, so if you’ve had success with memory cleaners in the past, MacKeeper shouldn't steer you wrong. But for most modern Macs, the usefulness of this feature is likely limited.

Update Tracker

The Update Tracker checks your third-party apps to see if any of them need updating. In some cases, MacKeeper will download and install the updates for you. In others, that’s not possible, and you’ll have to manually update these apps instead. The Affinity Photo app, for example, doesn’t support automatic updates, so the Update Tracker couldn’t update it in my tests. Although not MacKeeper’s fault, this does limit its use. Still, it does have the potential to save you a reasonable amount of time and effort. 

Login Items

Under Login Items, you can scan and remove all kinds of apps and processes that launch with macOS. These include LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons that aren’t otherwise visible. No system processes are displayed here, so there’s no chance of deleting something you need. Clicking on each item gives you details, like when it was installed and by whom. 

Privacy 

ID Theft Guard

This detects any email addresses you use on your Mac, then checks known data breaches to see if they’ve been compromised. You can, of course, do this manually with online tools like Have I Been Pwned?, but that’s a slower, less intuitive method. In my test, an alarming number of my email accounts were listed, and in many cases, I could easily see what the affected passwords were (thankfully, all of which I’d already changed).

Private Connect

Next, we have MacKeeper’s VPN service. Like many people, I pay for a separate VPN, so it’s good to see it included as just one of many features here. Since I started using MacKeeper, its list of VPN servers has grown significantly, up to 296 in 50 countries. It even includes P2P-friendly servers. 

Speeds vary across locations and servers, of course, but Private Connect isn’t bad at all – certainly enough for streaming video and a bit of light downloading. I won’t be giving up my dedicated VPN service, which is faster and has apps for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS, but MacKeeper’s VPN is decent.

StopAd

StopAd consists of two web browser extensions, one for Safari and one for Chrome. These are installed and operate separately from the main MacKeeper app. As well as blocking ads and popups, StopAd can mute browser notifications and prevent trackers from following you around the internet. It also shows you statistics about what it’s blocked. 

Testing these extensions with Can You Block It? and AdBlock Tester returned 100% ad blocking rates for both.

Plans and pricing

You can pay for MacKeeper yearly or through a rolling, monthly plan. Your options are:

• 12-month plan for up to three Macs: $89.40 billed annually (equivalent to $7.45 a month).
• 12-month plan for one Mac: $71.40 billed annually (equivalent to $5.95 per month).
• One-month plan for one Mac: $10.95 billed monthly. 

The $7.45 plan offers the best value, at just $2.48 per computer per month. If you don’t want to commit to a yearly subscription or just want to try MacKeeper, then stick to the monthly plan for maximum flexibility. 

Whichever plan you settle for, you get all of the features of MacKeeper as well as access to 24/7 support, regardless of the plan. The only difference between them is the duration of the service. There’s no free trial in MacKeeper, but you can run a basic Mac scan and fix your issues once for free. However, you won’t be able to turn on the VPN. MacKeeper does offer a 14-day money-back guarantee for all plans as well.  

Summary: Is MacKeeper worth it? 

MacKeeper is a versatile and capable tool for Mac users, covering security, cleaning, and optimization. The Apple notarization and independent certification are welcome too.

All of MacKeeper’s tools give you quick and easy ways to protect and optimize your Mac. The malware scanner is arguably the most important feature, and MacKeeper performs well in this area, offering strong real-time protection and on-demand scans. The inclusion of a VPN service at no extra cost is a big plus point too.

As for cleaning and optimization, MacKeeper offers a decent selection of tools, letting you free up disk space and RAM without having to dig through loads of files and folders.

So is MacKeeper worth your time and money? That depends on which of MacKeeper’s features you need and how much it might cost you to buy equivalent tools separately. For example, many standalone VPN services and antivirus apps cost as much, if not more than MacKeeper. If you use MacKeeper’s VPN Private Connect, then you’re likely to save money compared to getting separate VPN and antivirus apps.

If you have more than one Mac, the top yearly plan offers good value for money, but even the 12-month plan for one Mac costs less than your average cup of coffee. In any case, if you’re unsure, you can download the free version and try it out first.  

Is MacKeeper safe?

Yes, MacKeeper is legit and safe. It’s completely free of malware, including viruses and adware, and the fact that it has Apple notarization confirms that. It’s also safe to delete junk data and apps with MacKeeper. In comparison, if you manually delete things like cached data and log files from your Mac, you risk removing the wrong thing and damaging macOS.  

Is MacKeeper free?

No, MacKeeper is a subscription-only app. You can download it for free and run scans without paying, and you also get one fix for free with each tool. If you don’t want to sign up for a yearly plan, you can pay for MacKeeper monthly, but overall, that works out more expensive.  

Alternatives

• CleanMyMac X
• MacCleaner Pro
• MacBooster
• Norton 360