head to head · open source
Mole vs Pearcleaner
Mole has 73,641 GitHub stars, 2,611 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Pearcleaner has 15,029 stars, 401 forks, 84 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Mole leads on adoption by 390% (73,641 vs 15,029 stars). Mole is written in Shell under GPL-3.0; Pearcleaner is written in Swift under a custom or non-standard licence. Mole has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, Pearcleaner 3%. 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 | Pearcleaner | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 74K | ★ 15K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Shell | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-06-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 401 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Mole if
- You weight community size — 74K 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 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 Mole
Mole 🐹 Clean, uninstall, analyze, optimize, and monitor your Mac. Free open source CLI, plus a native Mac app. 💡 Prefer a native app? Mole for Mac brings cleanup, app management, maintenance, disk maps, and live status into one lightweight, VoiceOver ready app. One license covers 2 Macs with lifetime updates and a 14 day refund. The CLI stays free and open source. Features All in one toolkit : Combines CleanMyMac, AppCleaner, DaisyDisk, and iStat Menus in a single binary Deep cleaning : Removes caches, logs, leftovers, and orphaned app data to reclaim gigabytes of space Smart uninstaller : Removes apps plus…
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 Mole or Pearcleaner more popular?
Mole has 73,641 GitHub stars and Pearcleaner has 15,029. Mole has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mole and Pearcleaner free?
Both are open source. Mole is licensed under GPL-3.0, and Pearcleaner has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Mole and Pearcleaner?
Mole is written in Shell 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, Mole or Pearcleaner?
Choose Mole if you want the larger community (73,641 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Pearcleaner if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.