Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
MacBooster ’s functionality is limited and competitors offer better options . The scaremongering is impossible and the software feels like a cheesy copy of other multi - purpose utility program .
Best Prices Today: MacBooster
There ’s no shortage of Swiss Army tongue - esque public utility for the Mac that take to do everything and pop the question an assortment of functions , all while offering unvanquishable antiviral protection , gigabyte upon gigabytes of reclaimed drive space , and unpredicted speed . MacBoosterby iObit is one of these , but what could be a decent public-service corporation that carries out most of its intended role is haunted by a marketing team that categorise innocuous cookie file as viral menace , work to frighten users into starting subscription , and prove itself as among the very bad of the computing industriousness .
We ’ll get to the specifics later . Upon instal MacBooster ( interlingual rendition 8.2 at the time of our review ) and its companion iTop VPN node , things seem normal . The software installs easily , runs well on macOS Sonoma 14.6 , digest everything from macOS 10.9 ( Sierra ) on , and after assigning full disc permissions to it , you ’re upright to go .
Though it tempt you in with a innocent download , MacBooster retails for depart quantity look on the level you pick out . At the time of written material , Standard , which allows activation for 1 Mac , is on crack at $ 2.49 ( approx £ 1.95 ) a calendar month ( usually $ 3.33 ( £ 2.61 ) a month ) , or you’re able to pay $ 29.95 ( approx £ 23.44 ) a yr . Premium is on offer at $ 4.16 ( £ 3.26 ) a month ( ordinarily $ 4.99 ( £ 3.91 ) a calendar month ) , or $ 49.95 ( £ 39 ) a year properly now , and allows for activating on 3 Macs . Lite ( which confusingly seems to be a more pricy choice ) is $ 89.95 ( £ 70.43 ) a yr flop now ( unremarkably $ 99.95 ( £ 78.26 ) a year ) and allows for activating on 5 Macs . Despite the choice of monthly payments , these are all 12 - month plans , so there ’s no option of subscribing for a calendar month and then canceling .
MacBooster 8’s home screen prior to initial testing.
Foundry
The software function around System Status , System Junk , Virus & Malware Scan , Turbo Boost , Memory Clean , Privacy Protection , Uninstaller , Startup Optimization , Large & Old Files , Duplicate Finder , and Photo Sweeper module . Each module performs its own function , and multiple modules can run simultaneously , which comes in W. C. Handy . The iTop VPN node that ship with MacBooster functions as a fairly basic VPN with minimum customization features , and can unite to foreign waiter to serve obscure an IP address , as is expected from any VPN customer . [ See : Best Mac VPNsif you ask a VPN ] .
While MacBooster offer decent performance and functionality , an initial test of the System Status mental faculty threw everything out the windowpane . After rent the test run and the program get an overall idea of my system , the program declared that I had 229 threats to my operating system , was ranked in the “ Dangerous ” category , and that the only means of removing these hundreds of threats to my operating organization and data was to upgrade from my free version of MacBooster to the accredited rendering , which would help eradicate the risk at mitt .
MacBooster 8’s home screen prior to initial testing.
In increase to this , I note that or so 20 unlike security measures ship’s company , including Avast , Avira , Google , Microsoft , and Symantec presently identifiedMacBooster as adware , while a written matter of Malwarebytes I keep on my M2 Mac Studio identified the software as adware and offered to remove it . The ever - handy MacUpdater , which I ’ve grow to swear by , also classified the software as malware and pass up to update it , making it that much more suspect . See : Best Mac Antivirus .
to boot , the accompanying iTop VPN customer , which establish flawlessly , was ineffective to be used on my Mac Studio , an erroneousness content citing that : “ For policy reason , iTop VPN is not available in your country / region . We apologize for the inconvenience . ” Granted , the app install and ran cleanly on two other test machines , but this was an obscure warning notice that bordered on legal gray areas , and queries as to the tumid result give-up the ghost unanswered from iObit faculty .
There was some good : several of the modules came in handy , and modules like Duplicate Finder were capable to dig through my hard drives and detect 34.4 GB of redundant files and clear them out , and Photo Sweeper located 5,340 duplicates in 1,692 groups and offered a precise manner to take out individual pic . On the other script , missing user interface choice like a “ Select All ” feature film to help pass over out all duplicates at once were missing in Photo Sweeper . Granted , a becoming user manual is in place throughout the program which can also be found online , but grammatic computer error within the program and on the iObit website ( including a ware verbal description that calls the software “ Superfast and Stable ” ) make one wince , as the website cites support for macOS Big Sur , which was free in 2020 and left behind three major operating organisation alteration ago .
MacBooster’s warning system, which classified Google Chrome cookies as viral threats, and pushes trial users to activate subscriptions to remove the purported threats.
Other component , such as the scroll stripe blend in into the background and not standing out in the fare interface make using MacBooster that much more thwarting , and a deficiency of timers on miscellaneous module deprive the user of get it on how much sentence has put across and how much longer to expect to hold off before a task is done .
Should you buy MacBooster?
We really ca n’t recommend it . Yes , there ’s some functionality here , but almost any of MacBooster ’s competitors do this well , and without resorting to classifying Google Chrome cookie files as viral menace and endeavor to scare the drug user into purchasing a license for this software . This is arguably the lowest form of software growing powered by a rancid marketing department given too much ascendence over a product , and the estimation that “ Ok , we ’ll offer a free version of the software package , but scare the user into believe we ’re their only redemption ” ranks up there with every phishing cozenage in existence where an unwary drug user winds up forebode some group of psychopath working out of a kettle way to surrender several hundred dollars and be tell that their estimator is now computer virus - gratuitous . MacBooster itself feel like a cheap transcript of any other multi - purpose utility on the market out there , and I ’ll be happy to uninstall this from my Macs and never think of it ever again .
You ’ll come up a better alternative here : Best Mac Cleaner software .
A quick System Junk scan shows which files can be readily deleted to free up drive space.
An index of duplicate files located by the Duplicate Finder module.
