How to Clear Cache in Microsoft Edge on Mac (2026 Step-by-Step)

If Edge has been sluggish, serving stale pages, or hogging gigabytes you did not expect, knowing how to clear Edge cache on Mac is the fastest way to reset things. Microsoft Edge on macOS stores cached web content, cookies, browsing history, saved passwords, and site data in a handful of folders under your user Library. This guide walks through every method — from the built-in settings panel to the raw file-system paths — so you can choose what to delete and what to keep.

Where Edge Stores Its Cache on Mac

Edge on macOS is a Chromium-based browser, which means it inherits Chrome’s folder layout. The primary cache lives here:

• ~/Library/Caches/Microsoft Edge/ — HTTP disk cache, GPU shader cache, and code cache
• ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft Edge/ — profile data, cookies, history, local storage
• ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft Edge/Default/Cache/ — the main network cache folder inside the Default profile
• ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft Edge/Default/Code Cache/ — compiled JavaScript bytecode cache

On Apple Silicon Macs (M1 through M4) and Intel Macs running macOS Sequoia or Tahoe, these paths are identical. The tilde (~) expands to /Users/your-username. You can jump there in Finder by pressing Cmd + Shift + G and pasting the path.

How to Clear Edge Cache on Mac: Step-by-Step (Built-In Method)

The safest and most straightforward way is to use Edge’s own “Clear browsing data” panel. This method gives you granular control over what gets removed without touching the file system manually.

1. Open Microsoft Edge and press Cmd + Shift + Delete. The “Clear browsing data” dialog opens immediately.
2. Set the Time range dropdown. Choose All time to fully clear the cache, or Last 7 days for a lighter sweep.
3. Check Cached images and files. This is the main cache. Optionally also check Cookies and other site data if you want to wipe session state.
4. Leave Passwords unchecked unless you explicitly want to remove saved credentials — Edge syncs passwords through your Microsoft account, but local-only passwords would be lost.
5. Click Clear now. Edge processes the deletion and the dialog closes.
6. Restart Edge entirely (Cmd + Q, then reopen) so the browser registers the cleared state and does not re-write stale in-memory entries.

For most users this is all that is needed. The cache repopulates as you browse, and pages will reload their assets fresh on the next visit.

Clearing Cache for a Single Site Only

If you only need to bust the cache for one domain — a staging site or a web app you are developing — click the padlock icon in the address bar while on that page, choose Cookies and site data, then Manage on-device site data. Find the domain and click the trash icon. Only that site’s cache and storage are removed; everything else stays intact.

Clearing Edge Cache via Terminal

Terminal gives you a faster, scriptable alternative and lets you see exactly how much space you are reclaiming. Quit Edge completely before running these commands, otherwise the browser will re-lock the files.

Remove the top-level Caches folder for Edge:

rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/"Microsoft Edge"

Remove the per-profile network and code cache inside the Default profile:

rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/"Microsoft Edge"/Default/Cache
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/"Microsoft Edge"/Default/"Code Cache"

To check how large these directories are before deleting, use du:

du -sh ~/Library/Caches/"Microsoft Edge" ~/Library/Application\ Support/"Microsoft Edge"/Default/Cache

All of these paths are safe to wipe. Edge recreates them the next time it launches.

What About Other Profiles?

If you use multiple Edge profiles (for work and personal accounts, for example), each profile gets its own subdirectory under ~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft Edge/. The Default profile is Default/, and additional profiles are named Profile 1/, Profile 2/, and so on. Each has its own Cache/ and Code Cache/ folder. You can clear them individually via the settings panel while signed into each profile, or delete the cache subfolders from Terminal for every profile at once:

for dir in ~/Library/Application\ Support/"Microsoft Edge"/*/; do
  rm -rf "${dir}Cache" "${dir}Code Cache"
done

Edge Cache vs. Other Browser Caches: How Much Space Is at Stake?

Edge’s cache footprint is comparable to Chrome’s. On a Mac that has been in daily use for a year without clearing, it is common to find 1–2 GB across cached images, files, and code caches. Safari’s cache is generally smaller because it enforces stricter limits via the ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/ path and integrates directly with iCloud. Firefox stores its cache under ~/Library/Caches/Firefox/Profiles/ and follows similar size patterns to Edge.

If you are tracking down disk usage across multiple browsers, the guide to what is taking up space on your Mac gives a broader picture of how browser data sits alongside system caches, app containers, and developer tools. A tool like Crumb can audit all of these at once and show what is safe before you delete, which is especially useful when you are not sure which cache folders belong to which app.

How Often Should You Clear Edge Cache on Mac?

There is no universally correct answer, but a few situations call for it explicitly:

• A web app or site is behaving unexpectedly and you suspect stale assets (CSS, JavaScript, images).
• Edge is consuming noticeably more disk space than usual — the cache can grow to 1 GB or more without an automatic cap on some versions.
• You are troubleshooting authentication errors on a site — clearing cookies alongside the cache often resolves these.
• You are handing off your Mac to another person and want to remove locally stored session data.

For everyday browsing, clearing the cache once every few months is usually sufficient. Edge does perform some internal cache eviction, but it is conservative about it to preserve performance.

Keeping Browser and System Caches Under Control Long-Term

Edge’s cache is one slice of a much larger picture. macOS accumulates caches from dozens of apps in ~/Library/Caches/, and system-level caches land in /Library/Caches/. Developer tools like Xcode write gigabytes to ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/, and package managers leave their own footprints. The complete guide to clearing system cache on Mac covers those broader paths if you want to do a thorough cleanup beyond just the browser.

For Edge specifically, setting a habit of clearing cached images and files quarterly — without deleting passwords or history unless needed — keeps the cache from creeping toward the multi-gigabyte range while preserving your browsing experience.

Troubleshooting: Edge Cache Does Not Clear

Occasionally the “Clear now” button appears to succeed but disk usage does not drop. This usually happens because:

• Edge is still running in the background. Use Cmd + Q, confirm the app fully quits in Activity Monitor, then try again.
• You have multiple Edge processes (Canary or Dev channel alongside stable). Each has a separate cache under a differently named folder, for example ~/Library/Caches/Microsoft Edge Canary/.
• The space freed has not propagated to macOS Storage yet. macOS can take a minute or two to update the figures shown in System Settings → General → Storage.

If Terminal deletion also appears to fail, confirm Edge is not running with pgrep -l "Microsoft Edge" and quit any lingering processes before retrying.