head to head · open source
Pearcleaner vs portabase
Pearcleaner has 14,669 GitHub stars, 377 forks, 84 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. portabase has 1,750 stars, 116 forks, 33 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Pearcleaner leads on adoption by 738% (14,669 vs 1,750 stars). Pearcleaner is written in Swift under a custom or non-standard licence; portabase is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Pearcleaner has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, portabase 7%. portabase 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 | portabase | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Swift | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-06-22 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 377 | ⑂ 116 |
| 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 portabase if
- You want the portabase feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and portabase 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 portabase
Portabase is an Apache 2.0 licensed, self hosted TypeScript application that backs up and restores PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, SQLite, Firebird, Microsoft SQL Server, Azure SQL and Docker volumes from a single dashboard, and it is built for developers, DevOps engineers and self hosters who run their own database instances rather than buying a managed backup service.
read the full portabase overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Pearcleaner or portabase more popular?
Pearcleaner has 14,669 GitHub stars and portabase has 1,750. Pearcleaner has the larger community by that measure.
Are Pearcleaner and portabase free?
Both are open source. Pearcleaner has no licence declared in this registry, and portabase is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Pearcleaner and portabase?
Pearcleaner is written in Swift and portabase in TypeScript. 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 portabase?
Choose Pearcleaner if you want the larger community (14,669 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose portabase if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.