How to Clear Cache in Chrome on Mac (2026 Guide)

To clear the cache in Chrome on a Mac, open Chrome, press Cmd + Shift + Delete, set the time range to All time, tick only Cached images and files and confirm. You stay signed in to your sites, because cookies are a separate box. The full steps are below, along with a way to refresh a single page and a way to remove the cache folder in Finder when Chrome will not open.

Clear the cache from inside Chrome

1. Open Chrome and press Cmd + Shift + Delete. You can also choose Chrome > Delete Browsing Data from the menu bar. Older versions call it Clear Browsing Data.
2. Set Time range to All time.
3. Tick Cached images and files.
4. Untick Browsing history and Cookies and other site data unless you want those removed too. Removing cookies signs you out of most sites.
5. Click the button at the bottom, labelled Delete data or Clear data depending on your version.

If you use more than one Chrome profile, repeat this in each profile. Every profile keeps its own cache.

Refresh one page without clearing everything

When a single page shows old content, you do not need to empty the whole cache. Open the page and press Cmd + Shift + R. Chrome reloads it and fetches fresh copies of its files instead of using the stored ones. The rest of the cache is left alone.

Delete the cache folder in Finder

This is useful when Chrome will not start, or when you want the space back without opening it.

1. Quit Chrome with Cmd + Q.
2. In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder from the menu bar.
3. Type ~/Library/Caches/Google/Chrome and press Return.
4. You will see a folder for each profile, such as Default or Profile 1. Move them to the Trash.
5. Empty the Trash to get the space back.

Stay inside the Caches folder. Your bookmarks, passwords, history and extensions live in a different place, under Application Support, and should not be deleted.

What clearing the cache does and does not do

• It frees disk space. For someone who browses a lot, the Chrome cache can range from a few hundred megabytes to several gigabytes.
• It fixes pages that show an old layout or load half broken after a site update.
• It does not reduce the memory Chrome uses. Memory depends on open tabs and extensions. To see which tab is the heavy one, choose Window > Task Manager in Chrome, and consider turning on Memory Saver in Chrome settings under Performance.
• Pages load a little slower on the first visit afterwards, and the cache then fills again as you browse.

What MacPrune does about the Chrome cache

MacPrune v2.0 has a Clean page that scans the Mac once and sorts the results into three groups. Browser Caches sits in the first group, Safe to clean, and covers Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Brave, Arc and Edge together, with the size shown for each before you decide. What you choose moves to the Trash after a confirmation. The space is freed when the Trash is emptied, and the app offers to do that after a clean.

MacPrune removes cache files only. It does not clear browsing history or cookies, so use the Chrome dialog above for those. Cleaning browser caches is included in the free version.

You can download MacPrune to see what your browsers are holding. Related guides: clearing the cache in Safari, clearing every browser cache on a Mac and freeing up Mac storage.