See what your computer is really doing.
BalaneDisk explains every running process in plain language, resolves every outgoing connection to the company and country receiving it, and shows which gigabytes you can get back. It measures, and it never deletes.
Nothing is uploaded
No file contents, no folder names, no telemetry. The country and tracker databases ship inside the app, because a tool that asked a server which trackers you talk to would be handing over the very list it exists to protect.
Nothing is deleted
BalaneDisk measures, explains, and hands you the command or opens the folder. The decision — and the undo — stay where they belong.
Nothing is invented
Every figure on screen is a measurement. Where there is no measurement, the screen says so instead of printing a plausible zero.
On an ordinary machine, this is what turns up.
Typical findings on a working computer after a year or two. The sizes are the ranges we keep seeing on test machines, not a promise — BalaneDisk measures yours and tells you the real number, along with what it costs to get each one back.
| Finding | Typical size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
Xcode build data and device support Rebuilt on the next build. The single largest finding on most Macs that compile anything. | 10–60 GB | Safe |
Docker images, volumes and build cache Asked of Docker itself, split into four accounts — because a named volume is a database and an unused image is a download. | 5–80 GB | Look first |
Package manager caches (npm, pub, Homebrew, pip) Purely re-downloadable. Each one has its own command, and BalaneDisk hands you that command instead of the folder. | 2–15 GB | Safe |
iOS simulators and old device backups Every simulator carries its own data. Backups may be the only copy of a phone that no longer exists. | 5–40 GB | Look first |
Leftovers of applications you removed Grouped by the dead application, with a confidence score. Moved to the Bin only when you press the button. | 0.5–8 GB | Look first |
Processes running from a temporary folder Usually an installer or a build tool. Occasionally the thing you would want to know about within the hour. | 0–13 | Worth reading |
The whole instrument.
Real screenshots, rendered from the application itself. The machine in them is invented and unwell in the ways the product exists to catch — a private home folder says more about a person than a marketing picture is worth.
- Briefing01
- Sonar02
- Network03
- Destinations04
- Storage05
- Leftovers06
Briefing
What has been happening on this machine, and where it is heading.
One rating and one sentence, then the record: free space, memory pressure and process count over hours or days, a forecast, and every incident since the app was installed.
What you get out of itKnow whether anything is wrong before you have read a single figure.
Look at your own machine first.
Every screen above is free, on both platforms, with no account.
Six numbers, and the one sentence that reads them.
An instrument shows figures and leaves the judgement to you. BalaneDisk opens on a briefing: one rating, one sentence, and only then the evidence — hours of curves, a forecast, and the incidents worth remembering.
All quiet
Nothing needs you. The app says so and stops talking.
Keep an eye
Something moved. Not urgent, but worth knowing.
Needs you
The disk is nearly full, or a process is running from somewhere nothing should.
Free space
12GB
Memory pressure
43%
Processes
1,482
Out of space in about 2 d
A straight line through the last measurements — deliberately a line and not a model, so you can check it against the curve above it.
- update_helper started from an unexpected location1 min ago
- Free space dropped below a tenth23 min ago
- Memory pressure rose1 hr ago
Only transitions are recorded, never every reading over a threshold. Repetition buries the moment it is trying to report.
The beam brings the finding.
Marks do not all refresh together every three seconds. A new process appears, and a finished one disappears, when the sweep passes its bearing — the way a real sonar only knows what its last pass told it. The circle is cut into four sectors that never overlap, so a mark's direction means something before its colour does.
- System
- Shipped with the operating system.
- Applications
- Things you opened.
- Background
- Helpers, agents, updaters.
- Elsewhere
- Running from somewhere unusual.
Distance from the centre is memory held. Click any mark to read what it is.
Signed, unsigned, or somewhere it should not be.
The traffic light is a judgement about software, and it is never the only signal — every colour carries an icon and a word, because colour alone is not something everyone can read.
- Verified
Signed by the system or a publisher we recognise.
- Unverified
Signed, but we cannot vouch for the publisher yet.
- Suspicious
Unsigned, or running from somewhere it should not be.
Suspicious is not the same as malicious — build tools and installers look exactly like this. It is the short list worth reading.
BalaneDisk never deletes anything.
A cleaner that empties folders unasked is asking for trust with data it does not understand. So this one measures, explains what a finding is, and then hands over the lever: the exact command for a cache its own tool manages, or the folder open in Finder and Explorer.
- 01
Never the blanket command.
docker system prune -aalso removes the images of stopped containers; one flag separates tidying up from losing data, and the app names the difference instead of hiding it. - 02
Never a guess dressed as certainty. Where the tool itself cannot tell a pulled image from one you built here, the screen says look first.
- 03
Leftovers go to the Bin, when you press the button. The Bin, so the undo is the one you already know.
Two requests. That is the whole list.
A tool that reports what your computer talks to has no business being chatty itself.
Checking your licence
Your key and this computer's name, so one licence stays on one computer. Nothing else is attached.
Asking for updates
Whether a newer version exists. The answer is a signed file; nothing about you goes with the question.
Never: what you have
No file contents, no folder names, no process list, no addresses. The GeoIP and tracker databases are bundled and read from disk, so lookups happen on your machine or not at all.
Never: who you are
No account, no sign-in, no analytics, no crash pings. The free version makes no requests at all.
Four tools, four different jobs.
The category is crowded, but almost nothing overlaps. This is what each kind of tool is actually built to do.
| BalaneDisk | Cleaner apps | Network monitors | Built-in tools | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Explains each process in plain language | Yes | No | No | No |
| Resolves connections to company and country | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Finds what removed applications left behind | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Records history and names the incident | Yes | No | Partly | No |
| Never deletes anything itself | Yes | No | — | Yes |
| macOS and Windows | Yes | Partly | Partly | Yes |
| Works without sending anything anywhere | Yes | No | Partly | Yes |
Categories, not individual products, and written from what each kind of tool sets out to do. Judge ours against yours — the free version shows everything.
Free to look. The past is the subscription.
Everything BalaneDisk finds is free, always. A subscription opens the machine's memory — 30 days of history and incidents instead of 2 hours, including the past this computer has already recorded.
Two questions cost money to answer: when did this start, and what changed that day. Both are read out of the record, which is why the record is the paid part and the measuring never is.
BalaneDisk Pro
Both plans, same product24,99 €a year
Saves 58 % against monthly. 7 free days first — cancel during them and nothing is charged.
Start 7 free days4,99 €a month
No trial on this plan, and no year to commit to. Cancel from your own account whenever you like.
Subscribe monthly- 30 days of history and incidents instead of 2 hours
- Every incident this machine recorded, not just today's
- Trends read off days of measurements instead of hours
- One computer per licence, and you move it yourself at any time
Both plans unlock exactly the same thing. Activating sends your key and this computer's name, and nothing else.
- Sold through Lemon Squeezy — proper invoice, EU VAT handled
- Cancel at any time, from your own account
- No account here: a key, pasted into the app
- One computer per licence, and you move it yourself
Nothing starts recording when you pay. This computer has already measured that past.
One download. No account.
Signed and notarised for macOS, built for Windows from the same code. It starts measuring the moment it opens — no setup screen, no empty dashboard with a button on it.
Version 0.1.2
The ones worth asking.
Does it delete anything?
No. Not a cache, not a leftover, not a temporary file. It shows you the size, explains what the folder is, and gives you either the command the owning tool wants or the folder open in your file manager. The one destructive-looking button — moving an application's leftovers away — moves them to the Bin, and only when you press it.
What does it need access to?
On macOS, Full Disk Access, so it can measure the folders that actually fill up; the app explains why before the system asks. On Windows, elevation for the deeper counters. Everything it reads is measured and shown on your screen, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Is there a Windows version?
Yes — the same code base, built on Windows for Windows. The macOS build is signed and notarised, and the Windows build is published alongside each release.
Do I need an account?
No. The free version asks for nothing. A subscription gives you a key you paste into the app, which activates it for one computer — and you can release that computer yourself at any time.
Does it have to stay running?
It is worth it. The record of the last hours only exists if the app was there to take it, so closing the window puts BalaneDisk back in the menu bar or tray instead of quitting. A quiet machine shows just the mark, with no text beside it.
Which languages does it speak?
English and German today, including the plain-language explanation of each process — which is the part no comparable tool localises. Spanish, French, Portuguese, Japanese and Chinese are the next wave.