head to head · open source
Mole vs gdu
Mole has 67,731 GitHub stars, 2,382 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. gdu has 5,982 stars, 235 forks, 54 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Mole leads on adoption by 1,032% (67,731 vs 5,982 stars). Mole is written in Shell under GPL-3.0; gdu is written in Go under MIT. Mole has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, gdu 4%. Mole 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
| Mole | gdu | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 68K | ★ 6.0K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Shell | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 235 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Mole if
- You weight community size — 68K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick gdu if
- You want the gdu feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and gdu fits your workflow better
About Mole
Mole is an open source macOS utility that combines system cleanup, application management, and live monitoring into a single native app and CLI tool. It runs on macOS 12+ for both Intel and Apple Silicon, offering a unified interface for reclaiming disk space, uninstalling apps thoroughly, visualizing storage, and tracking real time system health. Built in Shell and licensed under GPL 3.0, it aggregates functionality found across several paid tools—CleanMyMac, AppCleaner, DaisyDisk, and iStat Menus—into one binary.
About gdu
gdu (go DiskUsage()) is a fast disk usage analyzer with a console interface written in Go, aimed at developers, system administrators and other terminal users who need to find out what is consuming space on a disk.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mole or gdu more popular?
Mole has 67,731 GitHub stars and gdu has 5,982. Mole has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mole and gdu free?
Both are open source. Mole is licensed under GPL-3.0 and gdu under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mole and gdu?
Mole is written in Shell and gdu in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Mole or gdu?
Choose Mole if you want the larger community (67,731 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose gdu if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.