head to head · open source
Mole vs Pearcleaner
Mole has 67,621 GitHub stars, 2,377 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Pearcleaner has 14,653 stars, 375 forks, 84 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. Mole leads on adoption by 361% (67,621 vs 14,653 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 | ★ 68K | ★ 15K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Shell | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-06-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 375 |
| 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 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 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 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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mole or Pearcleaner more popular?
Mole has 67,621 GitHub stars and Pearcleaner has 14,653. 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 (67,621 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.