Hyperspace alternative: Peekaboo vs Hyperspace
By Vishva Variya · Updated
Hyperspace takes the cleverest route to duplicate space: it doesn’t delete anything. Identical files on the same APFS volume become clones that share their storage, so every copy keeps its name and place and an edit to one doesn’t touch the others. Scanning is free; reclaiming costs $9.99 for a month, $19.99 for a year or $49.99 for life, and it needs macOS 15. Peekaboo takes the conventional route and adds a few things around it.
Looking for Hyperspace itself? It’s at hypercritical.co.
- Hyperspace price
- Free scan; $19.99 for a year or $49.99 lifetime
- Hyperspace requires
- macOS 15 or later
- Peekaboo
- $24.99 one-time (launch price $9.99 until Nov 13), 14-day trial, macOS 14+
Hyperspace figures from hypercritical.co/hyperspace and the Mac App Store listing, verified 2026-11-03.
Why pick Peekaboo over Hyperspace?
Look-alike photos too
Hyperspace matches files byte for byte. Peekaboo finds those by SHA-256 and also groups photos that look alike (edits, exports, burst shots) using Vision feature prints, which no cloning tool can merge.
Removal, with a way back
You choose which copy to keep; the rest go to the Trash as a recorded cleanup, and one click puts them all back.
Beyond duplicates
Space Map, old downloads and installers, app caches and an uninstaller cover the space duplicates don’t explain.
Peekaboo vs Hyperspace, job by job
| Job | Hyperspace | Peekaboo |
|---|---|---|
| What happens to duplicates | Hyperspace: Become APFS clones; nothing is deleted | Peekaboo: Extras go to the Trash; one-click undo |
| Matching | Hyperspace: Byte-for-byte identical files | Peekaboo: Exact copies by SHA-256, plus look-alike photos |
| Files in different places stay working | Hyperspace: Yes, every path still exists | Peekaboo: Only the copy you keep stays |
| Other cleanup | Hyperspace: Outside its scope | Peekaboo: Clean Up, Space Map, App Caches, App Uninstaller |
| Price and macOS | Hyperspace: Free scan; $19.99/year or $49.99 lifetime; macOS 15+ | Peekaboo: One-time per Mac after a 14-day trial; macOS 14 or later |
The honest verdict
If your duplicates are deliberate (the same assets in several projects, libraries that expect files where they are), Hyperspace is the smarter tool: you get the space back and break nothing. If they’re accidental copies you’d rather be rid of, along with near-identical photos, Peekaboo removes them with an undo and handles the rest of the disk too.
Hyperspace vs Peekaboo: questions
Does Hyperspace delete files?
- No. It replaces identical files with APFS clones that share storage, so every file stays where it was, per hypercritical.co.
How much is Hyperspace?
- Scanning is free. Reclaiming space costs $9.99 for one month, $19.99 for one year or $49.99 lifetime on the Mac App Store, as of November 3, 2026. It needs macOS 15 or later.
Does Hyperspace work on external drives?
- Only on APFS volumes, and clones only work within one volume. HFS+ and exFAT drives can’t be reclaimed this way.