Which fits your needs?
DaisyDisk: Mac users who want a sunburst, cloud connections, and snapshot tools.
Disk Inventory X: Users interested in the classic treemap or its community successors.
Features, pricing, and workflow
Scroll across to compare
| Feature | DaisyDisk | Disk Inventory X |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Mac users who want a sunburst, cloud connections, and snapshot tools. | Users interested in the classic treemap or its community successors. |
| Visualization | Sunburst and file list | Treemap; features depend on X, Xs, or Y |
| Platforms and requirements | macOS | Original X 1.3: macOS 10.13–10.15; Xs/Y requirements differ |
| Pricing and editions | One-time license; free trial. Check vendor pricing and direct/App Store edition differences. | Original X is free under the GPL; Xs and Y are independent community projects. |
| Open source | No | Yes |
| Native macOS UI | Yes | Yes |
| Cleanup workflow | Collector stages items, then permanently removes them after confirmation and a cancellation countdown. It does not use macOS Trash. | Check the selected project’s manual; X, Xs, and Y do not share a guaranteed cleanup contract. |
| Reports and portability | The cited overview does not establish a portable scan-report format. Preserve paths or screenshots and check the current manual before migrating. | Check export support in the exact X, Xs, or Y build. Retain its scan records separately; no direct import into NullDisk is documented. |
DaisyDisk: what stands out
A good fit for Mac users who want a sunburst, cloud connections, and snapshot tools.
DaisyDisk: strengths
- Sunburst navigation with Quick Look previews
- Physical-size accounting for clones and hard links
- Cloud connections and macOS snapshot management
Considerations
- Mac app; no Windows or Linux desktop edition
- Full functionality requires a paid license after trial
- Some capabilities differ between direct and App Store editions
Disk Inventory X: what stands out
A good fit for users interested in the classic treemap or its community successors.
Disk Inventory X: strengths
- Treemap visualization of disk usage
- Xs updates the original codebase for Apple Silicon
- Y is a separate Swift/SwiftUI rewrite
Considerations
- The original X, revival Xs, and rewrite Y are different apps
- Compatibility and features depend on the chosen build
- Check each project’s current release and signing instructions
For a useful comparison on your own drive, match the scan root, access permissions, and size mode. Chart style changes how you explore the results; it does not by itself establish measurement accuracy.
Common questions
When should I choose DaisyDisk?
A good fit for Mac users who want a sunburst, cloud connections, and snapshot tools. One-time license; free trial. Check vendor pricing and direct/App Store edition differences.
When should I choose Disk Inventory X?
A good fit for users interested in the classic treemap or its community successors. Original X is free under the GPL; Xs and Y are independent community projects.
Will both apps show the same size?
Not necessarily. Match the scan root, permissions, exclusions, and logical/allocated-size mode. Hard links, APFS clones, snapshots, sparse files, and cloud placeholders can change totals. A reported size is not a guaranteed amount recovered after deletion.