Mac guides

How to show free disk space in the Mac menu bar

By Qiffe · Tested on macOS 27.0.1,

macOS tells you how much space is free, but only when you go looking for it. There is no menu bar item for it, so most people find out the disk is full when an update refuses to install or an app throws an error.

This guide shows the built-in ways to check free space on a Mac, then how to keep the number in your menu bar so you see it before it becomes a problem.

Check free disk space with what’s built in

System Settings: the full picture

  1. Open Apple menu > System Settings.
  2. Click General in the sidebar, then Storage.
  3. Click All Volumes to see every disk.

The bar shows what each category uses; light gray is free space. This view is the most detailed, but it’s several clicks away and doesn’t stay on screen.

Finder status bar: always visible in Finder windows

  1. Open a Finder window.
  2. Choose View > Show Status Bar.

The strip at the bottom of every Finder window now reads something like “12 items, 64.9 GB available”. It’s the quickest built-in way to keep an eye on free space, as long as a Finder window is open.

Get Info on the disk

Select your startup disk (usually “Macintosh HD”) in the Finder sidebar or on the desktop and press Command-I. The Info window shows Capacity, Available and Used.

Terminal: one command

df -h /

The Avail column is your free space. Don’t be surprised if it’s lower than Finder’s number: df -h uses binary units (GiB), Finder uses decimal gigabytes (GB). On our test Mac, Finder said 64.9 GB free while df -h said 60Gi, which is the same space in different units.

For the exact figure in bytes, diskutil info / lists Container Free Space.

Keep free space in the menu bar

None of the built-in options stay visible while you work. If you want the number in front of you all the time, you need a menu bar app.

SweepBar, our app, does exactly that:

  • It shows your free space in the menu bar as a whole number, for example “52 GB”.
  • When free space drops below a threshold you choose, the icon changes to a warning and it can send a notification. By default the threshold is about a tenth of your disk, between 10 and 50 GB.
  • Scanning is free: you see what’s taking space at no cost. Clearing developer caches that are safe to delete (Xcode, npm, simulators and more) takes a one-time $5.99 license.

If you only want the number and never clean anything, the free scan is all you need.

When free space keeps disappearing

If you free up space and macOS still reports the disk as full, the space is often listed as purgeable or still in the Trash. SweepBar’s site has detailed guides on why storage stays full after deleting files and what purgeable space really is. If you write code, developer caches are usually the biggest win.

While you’re tidying up the menu bar, see how to hide menu bar icons you don’t need. And if you leave long downloads or builds running, keeping your Mac awake stops it from sleeping halfway through.

Questions

Can macOS show free disk space in the menu bar by itself?

No. As of macOS 27 there is no built-in menu bar item or Control Center control for free disk space. You need a small menu bar app for that, or you check it in System Settings or Finder when you need it.

Why does Terminal show less free space than Finder?

Usually it's the units. Finder and System Settings count in gigabytes (1 GB = 1,000,000,000 bytes), while df -h counts in gibibytes (1 GiB = 1,073,741,824 bytes). The same free space looks about 7% smaller in df -h.

How much free space should a Mac have?

There is no official number, but macOS needs room for updates, swap and caches. Many people aim to keep at least 10% of the disk free, and more if they install large updates or work with big projects.