head to head · open source
Excalidraw vs Pearcleaner
Excalidraw has 135,053 GitHub stars, 15,973 forks, 3,445 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Pearcleaner has 15,029 stars, 401 forks, 84 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Excalidraw leads on adoption by 799% (135,053 vs 15,029 stars). Excalidraw is written in TypeScript under MIT; Pearcleaner is written in Swift under a custom or non-standard licence. Excalidraw has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, Pearcleaner 3%. Excalidraw was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| Excalidraw | Pearcleaner | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 135K | ★ 15K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | TypeScript | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-06-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 16K | ⑂ 401 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Excalidraw if
- You weight community size — 135K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Pearcleaner if
- You want the Pearcleaner feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and Pearcleaner fits your workflow better
About Excalidraw
Excalidraw Editor Blog Documentation Excalidraw+ An open source virtual hand drawn style whiteboard. Collaborative and end to end encrypted. Create beautiful hand drawn like diagrams, wireframes, or whatever you like. Features The Excalidraw editor (npm package) supports: 💯 Free & open source. 🎨 Infinite, canvas based whiteboard. ✍️ Hand drawn like style. 🌓 Dark mode. 🏗️ Customizable. 📷 Image support. 😀 Shape libraries support. 🌐 Localization (i18n) support. 🖼️ Export to PNG, SVG & clipboard. 💾 Open format export drawings as an .excalidraw json file. ⚒️ Wide range of tools rectangle, circle, diamond…
read the full Excalidraw overview →
About Pearcleaner
Pearcleaner Website The only legitimate website owned by me is Anything else offering Pearcleaner downloads is either a scam or not affiliated with me. More details HERE. Project Status: On Hold As you may have noticed, development on the app has basically stopped since end of 2025, so I wanted to provide some context. Between a new job, joining a friend who is building a SaaS company, and other life priorities, I no longer have the time needed to actively maintain or continue development on the project. Another major reason is that I previously relied on my work MacBook for development. After changing jobs, I…
read the full Pearcleaner overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Excalidraw or Pearcleaner more popular?
Excalidraw has 135,053 GitHub stars and Pearcleaner has 15,029. Excalidraw has the larger community by that measure.
Are Excalidraw and Pearcleaner free?
Both are open source. Excalidraw is licensed under MIT, and Pearcleaner has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Excalidraw and Pearcleaner?
Excalidraw is written in TypeScript and Pearcleaner in Swift. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Excalidraw or Pearcleaner?
Choose Excalidraw if you want the larger community (135,053 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Pearcleaner if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.