head to head · open source
BleachBit vs dua-cli
BleachBit has 6,939 GitHub stars, 454 forks, 313 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. dua-cli has 6,277 stars, 170 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. BleachBit leads on adoption by 11% (6,939 vs 6,277 stars). BleachBit is written in Python under GPL-3.0; dua-cli is written in Rust under MIT. BleachBit has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, dua-cli 3%. BleachBit was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (cleaner), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| BleachBit | dua-cli | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 6.9K | ★ 6.3K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 454 | ⑂ 170 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick BleachBit if
- You weight community size — 6.9K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dua-cli if
- You want the dua-cli feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and dua-cli fits your workflow better
About BleachBit
BleachBit is a free, GPL 3.0 system cleaner written in Python that deletes files on Windows and Linux to free disk space and protect privacy, made for desktop users and administrators who want a cross platform alternative to commercial cleanup tools.
read the full BleachBit overview →
About dua-cli
dua cli is a terminal based, parallel disk usage analyzer written in Rust that reports how much space a directory consumes and optionally deletes unwanted data, built for developers, system administrators, and anyone cleaning up storage from a shell rather than a graphical desktop application.
read the full dua-cli overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is BleachBit or dua-cli more popular?
BleachBit has 6,939 GitHub stars and dua-cli has 6,277. BleachBit has the larger community by that measure.
Are BleachBit and dua-cli free?
Both are open source. BleachBit is licensed under GPL-3.0 and dua-cli under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between BleachBit and dua-cli?
BleachBit is written in Python and dua-cli in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, BleachBit or dua-cli?
Choose BleachBit if you want the larger community (6,939 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose dua-cli if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.