Chrome Taking Up Too Much Space? Where 24 GB Went on One Mac, and What to Delete

If Chrome is taking up too much space on your Mac, you are not imagining it. We measured Chrome on one of our own MacBooks today and found about 24 GB spread across three folders. The browser app itself was only 1.4 GB of that.

The good news: most of that space is safe to free, and you do not need to sign out of anything. The bad news: the obvious move, clearing everything, throws away your logins and barely touches the biggest folders. This guide shows where the space goes, measured on a real machine, and what to delete in which order.

The short answer#

• Cache is usually the biggest piece. Clear it from Chrome and you stay signed in.
• Site data from web apps can reach gigabytes per profile.
• The on-device AI model can add about 4 GB.
• Old profiles each carry their own copy of all this.

Why is Chrome taking up so much space?#

Chrome does not store your data in one place. It keeps four kinds of things on disk, and each grows on its own:

1. Cache. Copies of images, scripts and video segments from pages you visited, so they load faster next time. Every profile has its own cache.
2. Site data. Web apps like Gmail, Notion, Figma or YouTube Music store offline copies and databases on your computer through service workers and IndexedDB. This is the part most people never look at.
3. The on-device AI model. Recent Chrome versions can download Gemini Nano, Google's small AI model that runs locally for built-in AI features. It lives in a folder called OptGuideOnDeviceModel.
4. The app itself, sometimes with an older version kept next to the new one after an update.

Chrome is also allowed to use a lot. Google's own developer guide says Chrome lets the browser use up to 80% of total disk space for site storage, and a single site up to 60%. When your disk runs low, Chrome deletes site data for the least recently used sites first. So Chrome will not fill your disk to zero, but it is happy to sit on many gigabytes until it has to let go.

How do I check how much space Chrome uses on a Mac?#

Tested on a MacBook Pro (M1 Pro), macOS 26.3, Chrome 155.0.8059.84, October 19, 2026.

The fastest way is Terminal. Open Terminal (Command+Space, type Terminal) and paste these three lines one at a time:

du -sh ~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome
du -sh ~/Library/Caches/Google/Chrome
du -sh /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app

du -sh only reads sizes. It does not change or delete anything.

Here is what our Mac returned:

No Terminal? In Finder, press Command+Shift+G, paste ~/Library/Caches/Google/Chrome, select the folder and press Command+I to see its size. Repeat for the Application Support path.

On Windows, the same data lives in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data. The cache sits inside each profile folder there instead of in a separate place.

Where Chrome's space actually goes (measured)#

Totals hide the useful part. We broke the 24 GB down one more level with du -sh on each sub-folder.

The cache: 9.6 GB. This Mac has six Chrome profiles. Each profile's cache was between 1.1 GB and 2.1 GB. In the busiest profile, 1.3 GB was the normal page cache and 741 MB was Code Cache, which stores compiled JavaScript so web apps start faster.

The profiles: 8.9 GB. The largest single profile used 3.8 GB, and almost none of that was history or bookmarks:

So 3.5 GB of a 3.8 GB profile was data that websites chose to store. History, the thing people usually blame, was under 100 MB.

The on-device AI model: 4.0 GB. The OptGuideOnDeviceModel folder was the largest single folder in Application Support. Google's built-in AI guide says the model needs at least 22 GB free on the drive to download, and that it is removed automatically if free space falls below 10 GB. It downloads again once there is room. You can see its status at chrome://on-device-internals.

The app: 1.4 GB. Inside the app bundle we found two copies of Chrome's framework: version 155.0.8059.41 (716 MB) and 155.0.8059.84 (728 MB). Chrome keeps the previous version next to the new one around an update. Macworld has reported cases where old versions were not cleaned up and piled up much larger.

How to free up space in Chrome, in order#

Work from the steps that free the most and cost nothing, to the ones that sign you out. Do everything from inside Chrome where you can.

1. Clear cached images and files (keeps logins)#

1. Press Command+Shift+Delete (Ctrl+Shift+Delete on Windows).
2. Set Time range to All time.
3. Tick Cached images and files only. Untick Cookies and other site data and Browsing history.
4. Click Delete data.

This targets the biggest folder and keeps you signed in, because logins live in cookies, which you left alone. Google's help page notes that pages may load a little slower at first, while the cache refills. If you have several profiles, repeat this in each one. For the difference between the two boxes, see cache vs cookies, and for the full walk-through, how to clear cache in Chrome.

2. Delete storage for sites you no longer use#

This is where gigabytes hide, and Chrome shows it per site:

1. Paste chrome://settings/content/all into the address bar.
2. Look at the stored data next to each site. Web apps, video sites and old trial accounts are the usual heavy ones.
3. Click the trash icon next to sites you no longer use.

Deleting a site's data signs you out of that site only. Leave the sites you use every day alone. Their data will simply come back. If one site keeps misbehaving, you can clear cache for one site instead of all of them.

If you do this often, Cleaner, our free Chrome extension, clears the site you are on in one click and shows what it removed. Its protected sites list keeps your mail and work tools signed in when you clean everything else.

3. Decide about the on-device AI model#

The 4 GB model powers Chrome's built-in AI features. If you do not use them and want the space back:

1. Open Settings, then System.
2. Turn off On-device AI, if your version shows the switch.

PCWorld reports that turning this switch off deletes the model file and stops Chrome from downloading it again. The switch can be missing on unsupported or work-managed computers. Do not just delete the OptGuideOnDeviceModel folder in Finder. While the feature stays on, Chrome can download it again. If you have plenty of free space, leaving it alone is fine. Chrome removes it by itself when space gets tight.

4. Remove profiles you no longer use#

Every profile carries its own cache and site data. On our Mac, even the smaller profiles held 180 MB to 1.1 GB each, plus 1.1 GB or more of cache.

1. Click your profile picture at the top right of Chrome.
2. Open Manage Chrome profiles.
3. On an unused profile, click the three dots, then Delete.

Deleting a profile deletes its bookmarks, history and saved passwords on this computer. If that profile was syncing to a Google Account, its data stays in the account. Export anything you need first.

5. Restart Chrome after updates#

If the app bundle holds more than one version, relaunch Chrome so the update finishes. A fresh download from Google also replaces the bundle with a single, current copy. Your profiles live outside the app, so reinstalling does not touch them.

6. Empty your Downloads folder#

Not Chrome's storage strictly, but Chrome fills ~/Downloads and never empties it. Sort it by size in Finder and move or delete what you no longer need.

What not to delete by hand#

It is tempting to drag Chrome folders into the Trash. A few rules keep that from going wrong:

• Quit Chrome first if you delete anything in Finder. Deleting files a running browser is using can corrupt a profile.
• Never delete a whole profile folder like Default or Profile 1 from Finder. That removes passwords and bookmarks that are not synced. Use Manage Chrome profiles instead.
• Leave Local State and Preferences alone. They hold settings for all profiles.
• Do not delete the AI model folder by hand while the feature is on. It can download again. Use the Settings switch.

The cache folder in ~/Library/Caches/Google/Chrome is the one exception people get away with when Chrome is closed, but clearing it from inside Chrome is just as fast and safer.

How much space should Chrome take up?#

There is no "normal" number, so judge by folder, not total:

As of October 2026, a lightly used single profile on a Mac commonly stays under a few gigabytes. Multiple busy profiles plus the AI model is how you get to 20 GB and beyond.

Keep it from growing back#

Chrome's cache will refill. That is its job, and a full cache is not a problem by itself. What you can control is the rest:

• Clear the one site that breaks, when it breaks, instead of everything. Clearing cache without losing passwords shows how.
• Open site settings every few months and drop sites you left.
• Keep fewer profiles. One per person or job is plenty.
• Close web apps you do not use. Service workers grow with use.

If Chrome also feels slow, storage is rarely the cause. Memory is. See Chrome using too much memory for that side of the problem, or the full 20-minute Chrome clean-up checklist.