How to clear the Safari cache on a Mac

Clear only the cache: Develop → Empty Caches

1. In Safari, choose Safari → Settings and click Advanced.
2. Turn on Show features for web developers. A Develop menu appears in the menu bar.
3. Choose Develop → Empty Caches.

Apple's description of the command is that it empties "the network cache and other Safari caches". Nothing asks you to confirm and nothing says it is done, so don't wait for a message. Pages load a little slower the first time afterwards, while Safari fetches them again. You can turn the developer setting off again once you are done; the cache stays empty.

Three different things Safari can clear

Searches for "clear cache" often mean one of the other two, so it is worth knowing which is which:

• The cache (Develop → Empty Caches): copies of pages, images and scripts Safari keeps so sites load faster. Safe to clear; it is rebuilt as you browse.
• Cookies and website data (Settings → Privacy → Manage Website Data): what sites stored to remember you. Removing it signs you out of those sites and can change how they behave, and Apple warns it may change or remove the same data in other apps.
• History (History → Clear History): pages you visited, recent searches, the downloads list and the like. Downloaded files stay. If iCloud is set up for Safari, the history is removed from your other Apple devices too.

Clear cookies and data for one site

When one site misbehaves, clear just that one rather than everything:

1. Choose Safari → Settings, then click Privacy.
2. Click Manage Website Data.
3. Select the site (the search field finds it), then click Remove. Remove All does every site at once.

You'll need to sign in to that site again.

How much space Safari's cache takes

Safari keeps its cache in your Library folder. To measure it, open Terminal and run:

du -sh ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari 2>/dev/null

If that prints nothing, macOS is keeping Terminal out of Safari's folders; it needs Full Disk Access in System Settings → Privacy & Security to see them. The cache is usually not where a full Mac's space has gone. If you are clearing it to free storage, see Mac storage full? for the bigger things first.

What not to delete

• ~/Library/Safari. That folder holds your bookmarks, history and Reading List, not the cache. Deleting it loses them.
• Safari's folders in Finder in general. Use Safari's own commands, which know what is cache and what isn't.

Where the app comes in

RefreshYourMac has no Safari category: Safari's own Empty Caches is the right tool for Safari. For every other app's cache, its Application Caches category measures ~/Library/Caches, rated Safe for auto removal, in both editions (in the Mac App Store edition, once you allow the folder in Settings → Folders). For Chrome, Firefox and Teams, which keep caches of their own, see how to clear the cache on a Mac, the Firefox cache and the Teams cache.