At a glance
| MacBooster | MacKeeper | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $39.95-89.95/year, subscription only | $60-110/year, subscription only |
| Made by | IObit (est. 2004) | Clario Tech (since 2019; formerly Kromtech/Zeobit) |
| Reputation issue | Current: flagged by Malwarebytes as a PUP | Historical: 2010s scareware era, since rebuilt |
| Independent press | Macworld: "no surprise people think it's malware" | Acknowledges historical baggage, notes current legitimacy |
| What it does | Junk cleanup, memory, Turbo Boost, uninstaller, privacy cleaner | Memory, antivirus, VPN, junk cleaner, ad blocker, ID monitor |
| Feature breadth | Cleanup-focused | Broader: security suite plus cleanup |
Two different kinds of reputation problem
These two brands' trust issues aren't the same shape, which matters for how you weigh them. MacKeeper's problem is historical: a well-documented decade of aggressive scareware advertising under previous owners (Zeobit, then Kromtech), including a 2014 US class-action settlement, followed by a 2019 acquisition by Clario Tech and a genuine product rebuild. The current MacKeeper is notarized, no longer flagged by major antivirus scanners, and has visibly moved away from the old tactics, even though the reputation from that era persists.
MacBooster's concern is current, not historical. Malwarebytes classifies it as a potentially unwanted program right now, and Macworld's blunt "no surprise people think it's malware" line is about the present product's behaviour, not a past era it has since grown out of, echoed in live discussion threads asking the same safety question. Both companies are real, legitimate businesses (IObit since 2004, also making Advanced SystemCare; Clario a registered Cyprus-based cybersecurity company), and neither app is literally malware, but one brand's worst period is behind it while the other's concern is ongoing.
Where MacBooster is the stronger option
Lower price. $39.95-89.95/year against MacKeeper's $60-110/year is a meaningful gap if cost is the deciding factor.
Narrower, more focused feature set. If you specifically want cleanup and optimisation rather than a full security suite, MacBooster's scope is closer to what you're looking for.
Where MacKeeper is the stronger option
Currently addressed reputation, not an open one. MacKeeper's rebuild under Clario is a completed, public process; MacBooster's PUP flag is a live, current classification.
Broader feature set. If you want antivirus, VPN, and identity monitoring alongside cleanup, MacKeeper covers ground MacBooster doesn't attempt.
Which one should you use?
If you're choosing between these two specifically on trust grounds, MacKeeper's post-2019 rebuild, while imperfect and still shadowed by its history, represents a completed process with independent verification (notarization, no current antivirus flags). MacBooster's PUP classification is active today. That doesn't make MacKeeper automatically the better product across every feature, but on the specific question of "which one's reputation concern is more resolved," MacKeeper's is.
For deeper individual coverage, see is MacKeeper a scam and is MacBooster safe. For MacKeeper's own alternatives, MacKeeper alternatives and MacBooster alternatives both cover job-by-job breakdowns.
Why this specific pairing matters to buyers
Both brands are frequently recommended to the same person: someone who searched "Mac cleaner" broadly and landed on two well-marketed options without knowing either one's history. That's precisely why the reputation angle deserves more attention here than a typical feature comparison would give it; the two apps overlap enough on core cleanup functionality that most buyers won't notice a meaningful difference in day-to-day results, which means the decision genuinely does come down to which company's trust record you're more comfortable with, and how much weight you put on a resolved history versus an open one.
A smaller, unrelated option worth knowing
We make Shiny, a $4.99 menu-bar app with no comparable reputation questions, disclosed for transparency. If memory relief is the only job you actually need from either suite, it's worth reading Shiny vs MacKeeper for that narrower comparison.
A practical checklist before choosing either
Rather than deciding on reputation alone, it's worth listing out exactly which of the bundled features you'd actually use monthly. If the honest list is "just memory and maybe junk cleanup," both apps are overkill regardless of their trust history, and a narrower combination of free or cheap single-purpose tools would serve you better at a fraction of either subscription. If the list genuinely includes antivirus, VPN, and identity monitoring alongside cleanup, that's specifically MacKeeper's territory, since MacBooster doesn't attempt those features at all. Matching the purchase to the actual feature list you'll use, rather than the one that sounds most complete, is the more reliable way to avoid paying for either brand's least-used capabilities.
It's also worth checking each company's current standing directly rather than relying on a snapshot from any single review, this one included. Malwarebytes publishes its current PUP classifications on its own site, and both IObit and Clario publish their own current terms, pricing, and privacy policies, which are worth a direct look before a purchase decision that will renew annually if you don't cancel it.