head to head · open source
BleachBit vs dua-cli
BleachBit has 7,349 GitHub stars, 486 forks, 313 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dua-cli has 6,407 stars, 181 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. BleachBit leads on adoption by 15% (7,349 vs 6,407 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 | ★ 7.3K | ★ 6.4K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 486 | ⑂ 181 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick BleachBit if
- You weight community size — 7.3K 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 BleachBit cleans files to free disk space and to maintain privacy. Running from source To run BleachBit without installation, first install the system dependencies, then build the translations and run it: Many Linux systems have the basic dependencies: you may skip installation, but in case of any issues, please check for missing dependencies. Then, review the preferences. Then, select some options, and click Preview. Review the files, toggle options accordingly, and click Delete. For information regarding the command line interface, run: Read more about running from source. Links BleachBit home page…
read the full BleachBit overview →
About dua-cli
dua ( Disk Usage Analyzer ) is a tool to conveniently learn about the usage of disk space of a given directory. It's parallel by default and will max out your SSD, providing relevant information as fast as possible. Optionally delete superfluous data, and do so more quickly than rm . Run dua i to launch the interactive mode for exploring and deleting files. Installation Binary Release MacOS MacOS via MacPorts: MacOS via Homebrew Linux Linux requires the target to be specified explicitly to obtain the MUSL build. Windows via Scoop Windows via WinGet Pre built Binaries See the [releases section][releases] for…
read the full dua-cli overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is BleachBit or dua-cli more popular?
BleachBit has 7,349 GitHub stars and dua-cli has 6,407. 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 (7,349 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.