head to head · open source
Pearcleaner vs curbox-android
Pearcleaner has 14,669 GitHub stars, 377 forks, 84 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. curbox-android has 1,339 stars, 156 forks, 31 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Pearcleaner leads on adoption by 996% (14,669 vs 1,339 stars). Pearcleaner is written in Swift under a custom or non-standard licence; curbox-android is written in Kotlin under GPL-3.0. Pearcleaner has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, curbox-android 12%. curbox-android 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
| Pearcleaner | curbox-android | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Swift | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-06-22 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 377 | ⑂ 156 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Pearcleaner if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick curbox-android if
- You want the curbox-android feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and curbox-android fits your workflow better
About Pearcleaner
Pearcleaner is a free, source available, fair code licensed macOS application written in Swift and listed under Productivity & Utilities / System Cleanup & Optimization. It is described as a Mac app cleaner inspired by Freemacsoft's AppCleaner and by Sun Knudsen's Privacy Guides post about an app cleaner script. The project's homepage is hosted at itsalin.com, and the repository states that this is the only legitimate website owned by the author.
read the full Pearcleaner overview →
About curbox-android
Curbox is a free, open source Android app and website blocker, written in Kotlin and licensed under GPL 3.0, built for people who want to cut screen time and short form scrolling without handing their usage data to a closed source vendor.
read the full curbox-android overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Pearcleaner or curbox-android more popular?
Pearcleaner has 14,669 GitHub stars and curbox-android has 1,339. Pearcleaner has the larger community by that measure.
Are Pearcleaner and curbox-android free?
Both are open source. Pearcleaner has no licence declared in this registry, and curbox-android is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Pearcleaner and curbox-android?
Pearcleaner is written in Swift and curbox-android in Kotlin. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Pearcleaner or curbox-android?
Choose Pearcleaner if you want the larger community (14,669 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose curbox-android if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.