DevCleaner for Xcode is a good free, open-source tool if Xcode is your only problem. For other developer junk there's no single free equivalent: npkill handles node_modules, Pearcleaner uninstalls apps with their leftovers, OnyX does general macOS maintenance, and DaisyDisk or GrandPerspective show you where space goes. Shedi covers Xcode, Docker, node_modules and ten package manager caches in one scan, explains every item and uses the Trash first, for a one-time price.
All details below are from each project's own website, README or App Store listing, checked in October 2026. I make Shedi, so I've kept the other tools' descriptions to what their makers say.
DevCleaner for Xcode
DevCleaner is a free Mac app, open source under GPL-3.0 and available on the Mac App Store, that focuses entirely on Xcode. Its README lists what it cleans: iOS, watchOS, tvOS and visionOS Device Support (which it estimates at 2–5 GB per OS version, pre-selecting all but the latest version of each system), Archives (so you can delete older ones), DerivedData, the documentation cache, old simulator and device logs and old documentation downloads. It can also remind you to scan after a while. The developer is upfront that it relies on internal Xcode folder structures, could stop working with a future Xcode, and suggests making a backup before using it. The App Store listing requires macOS 14 or later; the latest release at the time of writing is 2.8.0 (November 2025). If you only use Xcode and want something free, it's a sensible first choice.
Pearcleaner
Pearcleaner is a free, source-available ("fair-code") app uninstaller inspired by AppCleaner. Beyond uninstalling apps with their leftover files, its README lists orphaned file search, a development environment manager, a Homebrew manager, stripping unneeded architectures from universal apps, a PKG manager and a Finder extension for right-click uninstall. It supports macOS 13 to 26 and uses a privileged helper for actions on system folders. Two things worth knowing from its README, as of October 2026: the project's status is On Hold, with the author explaining that active development has paused; and the author warns that the only legitimate website is itsalin.com, so download it from there or GitHub, not from look-alike sites.
npkill
npkill is a free, MIT-licensed command-line tool that lists every node_modules folder under a directory with its size, so you can delete the ones you choose from the keyboard. Run it with npx npkill in your projects folder, or point it elsewhere with -d; --targets lets it look for other folder names too. It deletes folders immediately rather than moving them to the Trash, and its README warns that some applications need their node_modules to work, marking those with a warning sign. For node_modules alone, it's hard to beat. More in Delete node_modules safely.
OnyX
OnyX from Titanium Software is a free, long-running macOS maintenance utility. Its site describes it as a tool to verify system files, run cleaning and maintenance tasks, uninstall apps, configure hidden settings in Finder, Dock and Safari, delete caches and rebuild databases and indexes. Each macOS version has its own OnyX build, and the site is clear that you should use the matching one (OnyX 5.0.6 for macOS 26 Tahoe at the time of writing). It's a general system tool rather than a developer one: it doesn't target Xcode, Docker or package manager caches specifically. It suits people who want fine control over macOS maintenance and know what each option does.
DaisyDisk and GrandPerspective
These two don't clean anything automatically; they show you where space goes, which is often the most useful first step.
DaisyDisk draws your disk as an interactive ring chart, so you can drill into the biggest folders and remove what you select. It costs $9.99 as a one-time purchase, has a free trial, and runs on macOS 10.13 or later. Its site highlights a breakdown of the "Other" and "System Data" categories that Storage settings don't explain.
GrandPerspective shows your disk as a treemap, where each file is a rectangle sized by how much space it uses, and can delete files and folders from the view. It's open source under the GPL, free from SourceForge or $2.99 on the App Store to support development, and version 3.8.1 needs macOS 14 or later.
Both are good for answering "what is this 40 GB folder?" Neither tells you whether ~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator is safe to touch; that's where the developer cache reference helps.
Side by side
| Tool | Price (Oct 2026) | Focus | Developer junk it targets | Uses the Trash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DevCleaner for Xcode | Free, GPL-3.0 | Xcode | DeviceSupport, Archives, DerivedData, docs cache, logs | not stated in its README |
| Pearcleaner | Free, source-available | Uninstalling apps | Dev environment and Homebrew managers | not checked |
| npkill | Free, MIT | node_modules | node_modules (and other folder names you choose) | No, deletes immediately |
| OnyX | Free | macOS maintenance | General caches, not developer-specific | not checked |
| DaisyDisk | $9.99 one-time | Disk visualising | None specifically | not checked |
| GrandPerspective | Free or $2.99 | Disk visualising | None specifically | not checked |
| Shedi | $19.99 one-time | Disk cleanup for developer Macs | Xcode, Docker, node_modules, 10 package caches, app caches, large old files | Yes, for every file item |
"Not checked" means I couldn't confirm it from the tool's own documentation, not that it doesn't.
Where does Shedi fit?
Shedi sits between these tools. It's narrower than OnyX or CleanMyMac and wider than DevCleaner or npkill: one scan covers Xcode (DerivedData, simulators, runtimes, DeviceSupport, Archives), Docker (images, containers and build cache, through Docker's own commands), every project's node_modules, npm, pnpm, Yarn, Homebrew, CocoaPods, SwiftPM, Cargo, Gradle, pip and Go caches, app caches and logs, large old files, and an app uninstaller.
What it adds over a free tool is mostly about trust: every item says what it is, whether it's safe and whether it comes back; only Safe items are pre-selected; and files go to the Trash first. It costs $19.99 once (pricing), needs macOS 15 or later, and has no account or analytics.
If one of the free tools above already covers the junk on your Mac, use it. If your disk fills up from three or four different developer tools at once, that's the case Shedi was built for. For a comparison with the best-known paid cleaner, see Shedi vs CleanMyMac.