head to head · open source
Mole vs squirreldisk
Mole has 68,696 GitHub stars, 2,438 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. squirreldisk has 1,840 stars, 82 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mole leads on adoption by 3,633% (68,696 vs 1,840 stars). Mole is written in Shell under GPL-3.0; squirreldisk is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0. Mole has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, squirreldisk 4%. Mole was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (macos), 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
| Mole | squirreldisk | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 69K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Shell | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-28 | 2026-09-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 82 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Mole if
- You weight community size — 69K 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 squirreldisk if
- You want the squirreldisk feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and squirreldisk 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 squirreldisk
SquirrelDisk is a free, open source disk usage analyzer for macOS, Windows and Linux that shows what fills a disk, a server reached over SSH or cloud storage in an animated sunburst or treemap, for anyone who needs to find and clear that space.
read the full squirreldisk overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mole or squirreldisk more popular?
Mole has 68,696 GitHub stars and squirreldisk has 1,840. Mole has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mole and squirreldisk free?
Both are open source. Mole is licensed under GPL-3.0 and squirreldisk under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mole and squirreldisk?
Mole is written in Shell and squirreldisk 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, Mole or squirreldisk?
Choose Mole if you want the larger community (68,696 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose squirreldisk if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.