# Disk Census vs GrandPerspective

GrandPerspective draws every file as a rectangle sized by its space, and leaves the judgement to you. Disk Census also says what each item is, whether it rebuilds itself, and what can go.

Checked 9 October 2026. Canonical page: https://diskcensus.com/compare/grandperspective

## In short

- GrandPerspective is a free, open-source treemap of your disk. Disk Census also tags what it finds Safe, Review or Keep, and says what regenerates each item.
- Disk Census knows developer caches, AI coding agents’ leftovers and duplicates. GrandPerspective shows every file and lets you judge.
- GrandPerspective moves deleted items to the Trash, and deleting is off until you turn it on. Disk Census deletes permanently, after you approve the exact items.
- GrandPerspective’s current version needs macOS 14, with older versions for older Macs. Disk Census runs on macOS 12 or later.

## Only in Disk Census

- **It says what’s safe to clear:** Every item is tagged Safe, Review or Keep, with what regenerates it.
- **Developer and AI agent cleanup:** Xcode, Homebrew, npm, Cargo, Go, Python and more, plus the old versions and caches AI coding agents leave behind, with their history kept.
- **Duplicates in the same scan:** Identical files found by content and shown side by side, from the same scan as everything else.
- **A command line for scripts and agents:** census ships inside the app with JSON on every command, so scripts and AI agents see what the app sees.

## Side by side

| | Disk Census | GrandPerspective |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seeing where space went | Partly: Each folder is drawn as a bar of its largest items. There is no treemap. | Yes: A treemap: every file is a rectangle sized by its space, coloured by type, folder, age and more. ([GrandPerspective website](https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/)) |
| Saying what’s safe to remove | Yes: Every item is tagged Safe (rebuilds itself), Review (costs time or data to restore) or Keep, and the tag says what regenerates it. | Not stated on their site: Its site doesn’t mention cleaning advice. |
| Developer caches and build output | Yes: Caches and build output of Xcode, Homebrew, npm, pnpm, Yarn, Bun, Cargo, Go, Gradle, CocoaPods, Swift Package Manager, pip, uv, Poetry, conda and more, with node_modules, target and .venv folders grouped by project. | Not stated on their site: Its site doesn’t mention developer caches. |
| AI coding agents’ leftovers | Yes: Old versions, caches, temporary files and logs of Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, Zed, Warp, Kiro, Antigravity, Goose and more. History, settings, credentials, plugins and skills are never offered. | Not stated on their site: Its site doesn’t mention AI agents. |
| Duplicate files | Yes: Sets of identical files by content, side by side. The last copy of a set can never be deleted. | Not stated on their site: Its site doesn’t mention duplicates. |
| Where deleted items go | Deleted permanently, never to the Trash, and only after a person approves the exact items. Every confirmation says so. | To the Trash. Deleting is turned off by default, and turned on in Preferences. ([GrandPerspective help: Navigating views](https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/HelpDocumentation/NavigatingViews.html)) |
| Saving and exporting scans | Yes: census ships inside the app, at the same version, with JSON on every command and stable exit codes. | Scans save as compressed XML to reload later, and views export as an image or as tab-separated text. ([GrandPerspective help: Saving and exporting view contents](https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/HelpDocumentation/SavingViewContents.html)) |
| Open source | No: Not open source. | Yes: Free under the GNU General Public License. ([GrandPerspective website](https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/)) |
| Requirements | macOS 12 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel. Mac only. | Version 3.8.1 needs macOS 14 or later. Older versions run on Mac OS X 10.5 to macOS 13. ([GrandPerspective website](https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/)) |

## Price

- Disk Census: **$3.99** ~~$10~~, one-time. Launch offer: Save 60%. Limited seats, offer ends soon. Then it’s $4.99. Up to 3 Macs.
- GrandPerspective: **Free**. Open source under the GNU GPL from SourceForge, or $2.99 on the App Store with automatic updates. ([GrandPerspective website](https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/), checked 9 October 2026)

Disk Census launch prices, by copies sold, in US dollars:

1. $3.99 · Save 60% · first 100 copies · now
2. $4.99 · Save 50% · next 150 copies · later
3. $6.99 · Save 30% · next 250 copies · later
4. $10 · regular price

## When GrandPerspective is the better pick

- You want it free and open source: GrandPerspective is GPL-licensed.
- You think in pictures: its treemap shows every file at once, coloured by type, folder or age.
- You want to save a scan and reload it later, export it as an image or text, or schedule scans with AppleScript.
- Your Mac runs macOS 11 or earlier: GrandPerspective keeps older versions for it.

## Questions

### Is Disk Census a good GrandPerspective alternative?

If you want to clean as well as look, yes: it tags each item Safe, Review or Keep and knows developer caches and AI agents’ leftovers. If you want a free, open-source picture of your disk, GrandPerspective is exactly that.

### Does Disk Census draw a treemap?

No. Disk Census shows each folder as a bar of its largest items, and lists the biggest files, apps and caches in their own views.

### Do GrandPerspective and Disk Census use the Trash?

No. GrandPerspective moves deleted items to the Trash, once deletion is turned on in its Preferences. Disk Census deletes permanently, after you approve the exact items, and checks each one again first.

## Sources

- [GrandPerspective website](https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/)
- [GrandPerspective help: Navigating views](https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/HelpDocumentation/NavigatingViews.html)
- [GrandPerspective help: Saving and exporting view contents](https://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/HelpDocumentation/SavingViewContents.html)

Checked 9 October 2026. Spot something out of date? Write to support@diskcensus.com.

GrandPerspective is a trademark of its owner. Disk Census isn’t affiliated with it.