DaisyDisk alternative: free and open source SquirrelDisk

The short answer

DaisyDisk is a well-made, paid Mac app. If you want something similar that is free, SquirrelDisk is a good fit. It draws your disk as an animated sunburst, lets you zoom in by clicking, and lets you collect files before you delete them.

SquirrelDisk is open source (AGPL-3.0). It needs no account and sends no analytics. It shows a small sponsor banner, chosen on your own computer. It also runs on Windows and Linux, so you can use the same tool on every machine you own.

DaisyDisk vs SquirrelDisk

Checked on 28 September 2026 on daisydiskapp.com.

	DaisyDisk	SquirrelDisk
Price	$9.99 one-time, up to 5 personal Macs	Free
License	Proprietary	Open source, AGPL-3.0
Platforms	macOS 10.13 or newer (Apple silicon, Intel)	macOS (Apple silicon, Intel), Windows 10/11, Linux x86_64
Where to get it	Its own store and the Mac App Store	Download page (no App Store version)
Latest version	4.34.2 (10 July 2026)	2.3.0
Chart	Sunburst	Sunburst, or treemap in Settings
Delete workflow	Drag items to a collector, then delete	Drag items to a collector, then Trash, delete, back up first, or cloud backup then delete
Cloud storage	Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box	S3, Google Drive, Dropbox, FTP and many more, through rclone
Remote servers over SSH	Not listed on its site	Yes, using your ssh config
macOS snapshots and "System Data" breakdown	Yes	No dedicated view
Code signing	Signed, and on the Mac App Store	Not code-signed; first launch needs Open Anyway

How SquirrelDisk works

Open SquirrelDisk and pick a drive or folder. The sunburst starts drawing right away and fills in while the scan runs. The inner ring is the folder you chose. Each ring further out is one level deeper. If you prefer rectangles, switch to the treemap in Settings.

Click a slice to zoom into that folder. Click the centre to go back up. The list on the side shows the biggest items first, so the answer to "what is using my space" is usually at the top. Very small files are grouped together so they don't clutter the chart.

SquirrelDisk sunburst with files dragged into the collector

When you find something you don't need, drag the slice or the list row into the collector. Nothing is deleted yet. When you are ready, you choose what happens:

Move to Trash.
Delete for good.
Back up to a folder or external drive first, then delete.
Back up to cloud storage with rclone, then delete.

There is also an optional secure erase (3 passes, DoD 5220.22-M). Be aware that SSDs and APFS may keep old copies of blocks, so overwriting is not a guarantee. Full-disk encryption (FileVault on a Mac) is what really protects deleted data.

A few details help you trust the numbers:

Real space on disk. Sizes are what the files actually use on disk.
Cloud-only files count as zero. Files in iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive that are not downloaded don't inflate the total.
Hard links are counted once.
Live updates. If you move or delete files in Finder, the chart updates.
Guard rails. System folders, your home folder and whole drives can't be collected. App and settings folders ask for an extra confirmation.

SquirrelDisk can also scan a remote server over SSH (see SSH scanning) and cloud storage through rclone (see cloud scanning). It comes in 25 languages and 7 colour themes, has optional sounds, and updates itself.

It is a native app written in Rust with egui. There is no Electron and no web view. SquirrelDisk 2 is a from-scratch rewrite by the original author, who started the project in 2022.

When DaisyDisk is the better choice

DaisyDisk has been around for a long time and it shows. Choose it if:

You want a Mac App Store app. DaisyDisk is on the Mac App Store and is signed. SquirrelDisk is not in the App Store and its builds are not code-signed, so the first launch takes an extra step.
You care most about polish. DaisyDisk's interface is refined and consistent with macOS.
You need macOS-specific tools. DaisyDisk can list and purge macOS snapshots and gives a breakdown of "System Data". SquirrelDisk has no dedicated view for these.
You want a one-time purchase with support. $9.99 buys a lifetime license with minor updates and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

SquirrelDisk also does not have a duplicate finder or a "smart cleanup" of caches. It shows you where the space goes and lets you decide.

How to get started

Go to the download page and get the macOS build. It works on Apple silicon and Intel.
Open the app. The first time, macOS will block it: go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway.
Pick your main drive or a folder such as your home folder, and watch the sunburst build up.
Drag what you don't need into the collector, then move it to the Trash or back it up first.

You don't need SquirrelDisk to find large files on a Mac. You can also use Finder (sort a folder by size with View → Show View Options → Calculate all sizes), or run du -sh ~/* | sort -h in Terminal. A visual tool just makes the big items easier to spot.