Having a bunch of duplicate photos on your Mac can be an annoying problem. The duplicate pictures can take up space and make it harder to browse your photos or to find specific images. It’s an issue that many Mac users face and struggle with as best they can. The good news is that there are duplicate image finder software solutions for Mac that can help eliminate this problem. In this post, we are going to look at various software tools as we strive to find the best duplicate photo finder for Mac.
Best Mac Duplicate Photo Finder Software in 2022 Summary
Evaluation criteria | Software |
💗 Best overall | Disk Drill |
⚙️ Best comparison options | Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro |
🎁 Best free solution | Disk Drill |
📂 Best for finding duplicate folders | Duplicate File Finder Remover |
🧰 Best additional features | Disk Drill |
Why Do You Need a Duplicate Photo Finder for Mac?
For many Mac owners, it seems that no matter how large an internal disk you purchased with your computer, there is just never enough space for everything you want to store. Very often, disk space is at a premium and you may have to delete applications or programs to make room for newer additions.
Duplicate photos can take up a lot of space, and there is absolutely no reason to have them on your storage devices. Backing up your photos to another device will protect them. Merely having duplicates just wastes valuable storage space.
It can be difficult to find duplicates manually, especially if you have a large number of photos on your machine. A photo duplicate finder for your Mac can save you a lot of time while maximizing your free storage space.
Duplicate Photo Cleaners for Mac
Let’s take a look at the choices available in duplicate photo finder software for your Mac. Selecting the right one can help you clean up your internal and external disks so you can create more usable storage space. You may even avoid having to buy another storage device once the cleanup is complete.
1. Disk Drill Duplicate Photo Finder
💡 Main Function – Data recovery | ⏱ Speed – Excellent | ⚙️ OS Requirements – macOS 10.5 or later. Versions are available for older versions of macOS | 🗓️ Last Update – November 17, 2021

Disk Drill Duplicate Photo Finder is a free additional tool included with Disk Drill Data Recovery Software. It quickly scans the selected folders for duplicate files and shows you the full pathname of the identified items. Results are categorized so you can concentrate on images if you wish, but this all-purpose duplicate finder will locate any duplicate files on your Mac. The duplicate finder feature of Disk Drill is included with the free trial download of the tool and can be used without upgrading to the Pro version of the application.
- Data recovery software
- Create byte-level backups
- Free data protection tools
- Secure data shredder
- Free tool included as part of Disk Drill’s trial download.
- $89 for the Pro version featuring unlimited data recovery
2. Cisdem Duplicate Finder
💡 Main Function – Finding duplicate files | ⏱ Speed – Good | ⚙️ OS Requirements – macOS 10.10 or later | 🗓️ Last Update – September 3, 2021

Cisdem Duplicate Finder finds duplicate files quickly and gives you the option to delete them permanently, send them to a folder, or move them to the Trash. It features a simple interface that requires you to drag a folder into the interface to scan its contents. The free version only lets you identify duplicate files.
- Scans by file name or file content
- Categorizes duplicates by file type
- Finds duplicates in iTunes
- Free from Mac App Store with in-app purchases.
The free version only identifies duplicate files - To remove them you need the $19.99 annual
or $29.99 lifetime subscription
3. Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro
💡 Main Function – Finding duplicate photos | ⏱ Speed – Excellent | ⚙️ OS Requirements – macOS 10.7 or later | 🗓️ Last Update – March 30, 2021

Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro helps you clean up your Mac by finding duplicate photos that can be deleted. It specializes in finding photos and is not useful for finding other duplicate files that may exist on your storage device. You can specify which folders should be scanned and the tool works with external storage devices.
- Clean duplicate photos from Android devices
- Delete multiple duplicates at once
- Custom comparison settings
- $19.99 from the Mac App Store
4. Duplicate File Finder Remover
💡 Main Function – Finding duplicate files | ⏱ Speed – Good | ⚙️ OS Requirements – macOS 10.12 or later | 🗓️ Last Update – February 21, 2022

Duplicate File Finder Remover is an application dedicated to finding duplicate files on your Mac. The tool displays found duplicate files in a pie or bar graph format and provides cleanup hints to guide you through the process of deleting unnecessary photos. The Pro version of the tool also identifies duplicate folders to help streamline your Mac’s storage.
- Provides cleanup hints
- Finds duplicate folders
- Shows results in a graph
- Free from Mac App Store
- Pro version costs $19.99
5. Duplicate Photo Cleaner
💡 Main Function – Finding duplicate files | ⏱ Speed – Excellent | ⚙️ OS Requirements – macOS 10.6 – 10.14. Not compatible with newer versions of the OS | 🗓️ Last Update – February 3, 2022

Users running older versions of macOS can use Duplicate Photo Cleaner to save space on their disk drives. The tool compares photos from multiple folders and identifies duplicates that can be deleted. It can remove duplicates in Apple Photo libraries and Lightroom catalogs.
- Search for photos that contain similar elements
- A Same Subject scan helps manage
unsorted photo folders
- Yearly subscription for one computer is $39.95
6. PhotoSweeper X
💡 Main Function – Finding duplicate files | ⏱ Speed – Excellent | ⚙️ OS Requirements – macOS versions up to and including Big Sur | 🗓️ Last Update – January 23, 2022

PhotoSweeper is a fast and efficient tool to eliminate similar or duplicate photos from your photo collections. It works with Photos, iPhoto, Aperture, Capture One, and Lightroom media libraries as well as photos from your hard drives and external storage. It features an easy to use interface that makes deleting duplicates a simple task.
- Flexible comparison settings
- Side to side comparison
- Multiple viewing modes
- $9.99
7. Gemini 2
💡 Main Function – Finding duplicate files | ⏱ Speed – Good | ⚙️ OS Requirements – macOS 10.10 or later | 🗓️ Last Update – February 21, 2022

Gemini 2 can find your duplicate photos and delete them from storage to save space. It requires you to log in with your Apple ID and grant it access to various folders on your machine. The tool identifies any type of duplicate files or folders and can save substantial space on your Mac.
- Recover accidentally deleted files with one click
- Replace duplicates with links to save space
- Move duplicates to a separate folder
- Three-day free trial followed by $19.99 per year
Criteria | Cisdem Duplicate Finder | Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro | Disk Drill Duplicate Photo Finder | Duplicate File Finder Remover | Duplicate Photo Cleaner | PhotoSweeper X | Gemini 2 |
Lifetime license price | $29.99 | $18.99 | Free ($89.00 with data recovery) | Free | $39.95 | $9.99 | $44.95 |
Free lifetime upgrades | Yes | No | No | – | Yes | Yes | No |
Free trial | Yes | No | Yes | – | No | No | Yes |
Mac OS compatibility | 10.10 or later | 10.7 or later | 10.5 or later | 10.12 or later | 10.6 or later | 10.12.2 or later | 10.10 or later |
Optimized for Big Sur | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Support Apple silicon | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Exact-duplicate photos | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Near-duplicate photos | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Other types of duplicate files | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Scan multiple folders | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Scan entire Mac | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Scan by file content | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Scan by filename | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Exclude folders from scan | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
Exclude files from scan | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
Sort by name, size, etc. | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Built-in preview | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Preview side by side | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Zoom in/out preview | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Auto-select | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Select by folder | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Select by date | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Select by file size | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Select by resolution | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Select manually | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Safely remove from Apple Photos | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Move to Trash | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Remove Permanently | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
Move to Folder | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Warning before deleting | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Beware of These Products
We attempted to download and install the following programs on a 2020 MacBook running macOS Big Sur and ran into some issues. While we don’t want to write off these solutions completely, we advise caution when trying to use these duplicate photo finders.
Smart Mac Care downloaded successfully. During installation, Kaspersky Security flagged it as containing malware at which point our testing stopped.

macOS reports that Easy Duplicate Finder can’t be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software.
DupeGuru also had issues, returning this message when we attempted to install the software: cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified.
macOS cannot verify that this app is free from malware.
How Are Duplicate Photos Created on Mac?
You may find yourself dealing with duplicate photos on your Mac for a variety of reasons. They include:
- A problem when importing that creates duplicate entries;
- Merging libraries with the same photos;
- Accidentally saving the same photos from different sources.
How can I detect and delete duplicate photos on Mac?
Here’s how to find duplicate photos on Mac and delete them using Disk Drill’s duplicate photo feature. Other tools will use a similar, though not identical, procedure for finding duplicate photos.
- Download and install Disk Drill for Mac.
- Launch the program and select Find Duplicates from the Extra Tools Panel on the left.
- Add the folders that you want to be scanned for duplicates and click the Start Scan button.
- Review the found duplicate files and select those you want to remove by checking the box next to their name. You can view different file types including Pictures by choosing them in the scan results.
- Click the Remove button to delete the duplicate photos. They are sent to the Trash Bin and can be recovered if you have made a mistake in your deletion selections.
Summary
Using a reliable duplicate photo finder tool can help you save disk space and clean up your hard drives. Over time, you can end up with a lot of duplicate photos sent to you by friends and family that use considerable space on your system. You can never have too much free space on your Mac so it’s always a good idea to take the steps to get rid of duplicate files. We hope we have made it easier for you to find the right tool for your situation.
FAQ
- Disk Drill Duplicate Photo Finder: Version 4.6.370. ( November 17, 2021)
- Cisdem Duplicate Finder: Version 5.10.0 (September 3, 2021)
- Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro: Version 4.2 (March 30, 2021)
- Duplicate File Finder Remover: Version 6.15.2 (February 21, 2022)
- Duplicate Photo Cleaner: Version 7.4.0.11 (February 3, 2022)
- PhotoSweeper X: Version 4.3.0 (January 23, 2022)
- Gemini 2: Version 2.9.4 (February 21, 2022)
- Download and install Disk Drill.
- Start the app and select Find Duplicates.
- Choose folders to scan for duplicates;
- Select found duplicates that will be moved to the Trash by Disk Drill.
- Click the Remove button.
I was searching a way to remove duplicate photos and thought I haven’t purchased an app yet, this was the most comprehensive article I found to help me decide which app to use. Kudos to David for a masterful piece.
I really appreciated that you wrote this, and more specifically that you tested the apps as you did. Very useful. Saved me getting the wrong one.