Is it safe to delete cache files on a Mac?

Clearing user app caches in ~/Library/Caches is safe — apps rebuild them. Quit the app first, move the folders to the Trash rather than erasing them, and leave system caches in /System alone.

Will clearing the cache make my Mac faster?

Usually not for long. Caches exist to speed things up, so apps can feel slower right after clearing. It helps when a cache is corrupted (an app misbehaves) or when you need disk space quickly.

How do I clear the cache in Safari on Mac?

Turn on Safari → Settings → Advanced → “Show features for web developers”, then choose Develop → Empty Caches, or press Option-Command-E.

How much space do caches use?

It varies widely: a few hundred megabytes on a new Mac, many gigabytes on one with heavy browser, music-streaming, design or developer apps.

How to Clear Cache on Mac (App, Browser and System Caches) — Safely

Where Mac caches live, which are safe to delete, and how to clear app, Safari, Chrome, Firefox and DNS caches without breaking anything.

A cache is a set of files an app keeps so it doesn’t have to download or recalculate the same thing twice. Caches are useful, but they grow, they can get corrupted, and they count towards the “System Data” and “Other” parts of your storage. Here’s how to clear them safely.

Where Mac caches are stored

Cache	Location	Safe to clear?
Your apps’ caches	`~/Library/Caches`	Yes — quit the app first
Browser caches	Inside each browser (see below)	Yes
System-wide app caches	`/Library/Caches`	Mostly — requires admin; be selective
macOS system caches	`/System/Library/Caches`	No — protected and managed by macOS
Developer caches (Xcode, npm, Gradle…)	`~/Library/Developer`, `~/.npm`, `~/.gradle`	Yes — tools rebuild them

The ~ means your home folder. ~/Library is hidden by default; use Go → Go to Folder… (⇧ ⌘ G) in Finder to open it.

Clear app caches

Quit the app whose cache you want to clear.
In Finder press ⇧ ⌘ G, type ~/Library/Caches and press Return.
Switch to list view and turn on View → Show View Options → Calculate all sizes to see which folders are biggest.
Move the folders for that app (named like com.spotify.client) to the Trash.
Open the app again, then empty the Trash once everything works.

Tip: move the folder contents, not ~/Library/Caches itself.

Clear your browser cache

Safari: Safari → Settings → Advanced → tick Show features for web developers. Then Develop → Empty Caches (⌥ ⌘ E). To clear history and cookies as well, use History → Clear History.
Chrome: press ⇧ ⌘ ⌫ to open Delete browsing data, choose a time range and tick Cached images and files.
Firefox: Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data → Clear Data… and tick Cached Web Content.
Edge: Settings → Privacy, search, and services → Clear browsing data → Choose what to clear.

Clearing only the cache keeps you signed in; clearing cookies signs you out of websites.

Do it in one scan with MacDiskCleaner

Finds junk, duplicates and large files across your Mac, shows everything for free, and moves what you choose to the Trash first — so nothing is lost by mistake.

Version 1.1.2 · 4.8 MB · macOS 14 or later · Apple Silicon & Intel

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Flush the DNS cache

If websites don’t load after a network change, flushing DNS often fixes it:

sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

This doesn’t free disk space — it only resets the list of website addresses your Mac remembers.

Developer caches

Xcode’s DerivedData, simulator files, and package-manager caches (npm, Yarn, CocoaPods, Gradle, Cargo) are often the largest caches on a developer’s Mac. They are safe to delete because your tools rebuild them — see MacDiskCleaner for developers for what each one is and how it comes back.

What clearing cache won’t fix

A Mac that’s slow because memory is full — check Activity Monitor instead.
A disk that’s full of large files — caches are rarely the biggest culprit; duplicates, videos, old backups and System Data usually are.
Long-term speed — caches grow back as soon as you use your apps.

Clearing caches safely in one step

MacDiskCleaner’s cleanup scan finds app caches, logs and developer caches across your Mac, shows how much each one takes, and moves what you select to the Trash — so if an app misbehaves afterwards, you can put its cache back. It never touches protected system caches.