Pearcleaner alternative: the project is on hold

Pearcleaner still works. That's worth saying first, because most "alternative" pages open by implying the tool they compare against is broken, and this one isn't — it's a capable free uninstaller with an orphaned-file scan that AppCleaner has never had. What changed is upstream. The project's README now opens with a section headed "Project Status: On Hold", in which its developer writes that "development on the app has basically stopped since end of 2025". The last tagged release, v5.4.3, shipped on 26 November 2025. The last commit that changed code rather than documentation landed on 30 January 2026. If you're choosing a Mac uninstaller in August 2026, that's the fact the roundups haven't caught up with.

What Pearcleaner gets right

Pearcleaner earned its 14,269 GitHub stars (as of 10 August 2026) by doing more than the tool it was inspired by. Drag an app in and you get the familiar checklist of related files with sizes and checkboxes. But the app also ships an orphaned-file search for apps you removed long ago, a Homebrew manager, a development-environment manager, a PKG manager, a plugin and services manager, and App Lipo for stripping unused architectures out of universal binaries. That last one alone can reclaim a surprising amount from a disk full of Intel-and-Apple-Silicon apps.

The integration work is good too. There's a Finder extension for right-click uninstall, CLI support, deep-link automation, and Sentinel Monitor — a background watcher that offers cleanup when an app hits the Trash, which the README puts at roughly 2 MB of RAM. Installation is one line if you already have Homebrew:

brew install --cask pearcleaner

Its stated support range is wide: the README's compatibility table lists macOS 13 Ventura, 14 Sonoma, 15 Sequoia and 26 Tahoe as supported, with anything older ruled out by the Swift and SwiftUI APIs the app depends on. It asks for Full Disk Access to search for files and installs a privileged helper to act on system folders — both normal for this category, and both worth understanding before you approve them.

None of that is faint praise. On features alone, Pearcleaner is the most complete free Mac uninstaller available.

The notice to read before you install it

In early 2026 the developer added a status section to the top of the README. The short version, in his own framing: a new job, work on a friend's company, and other priorities left no time for the project — and, more concretely, he had been building on a work MacBook and no longer has a Mac available for personal development, so he can't build, test or release. Issue responses, feature work, PR reviews and new releases are on hold indefinitely. He's explicit that the project isn't abandoned and that he'd like to come back to it.

Take him at his word. This isn't a project that quietly stopped and left users guessing; it's one whose maintainer wrote down exactly what happened, which is more than most. The repository is not archived, and the code is all still there.

The practical question is what that means for a tool in this particular category. An uninstaller's whole job is knowing where macOS puts things — which Library subfolders hold what, how installers register helpers and login items, which paths are protected. Those details move between macOS releases. Apple ships a major version every autumn, and macOS 27 is due within months of this article. When the map changes, someone has to redraw it, and right now nobody is holding the pen. The app will keep working until it doesn't, and the gap between those two states is invisible from the outside.

The licence is not what the roundups say

Pearcleaner is widely described — including in older comparison posts, ours among them — as MIT-licensed open source. It isn't. The repository's LICENSE file names the terms plainly: Apache 2.0 with the Commons Clause. The Commons Clause is a condition bolted onto a permissive licence that removes one specific right: the right to sell the software, including selling a product or service whose value comes substantially from its functionality. GitHub's own licence detector doesn't classify the result as a recognised standard licence, and the project's own description calls it source-available and fair-code, not open source.

For someone who just wants to uninstall an app, this changes nothing at all. Download it, read the source, use it free, forever. It matters in exactly two situations: you want to fork it and ship a paid product, or you're at a company with a policy that distinguishes OSI-approved licences from source-available ones. If either applies, read the LICENSE file yourself rather than trusting a roundup — this one had it wrong for a year.

Who should just use Pearcleaner

Stop reading and install it if any of these fit:

• You have an Intel Mac, or you're on macOS 13. Pearcleaner supports both. SwoopByte Uninstaller supports neither, and that's a deliberate decision we're not reversing.
• You want a free orphaned-file scan and a free Homebrew and dev-environment manager, and you're comfortable with software that isn't currently getting updates.
• You want a CLI, a Finder extension, or deep-link automation.
• You want to read the code that's deleting your files. That's a legitimate reason to choose it over anything closed-source, ours included.

One piece of advice if you do: don't rush into the next macOS upgrade on the assumption that a compatibility fix is coming. Check the repository first. It costs thirty seconds.

Where SwoopByte Uninstaller is different

SwoopByte Uninstaller is a smaller tool with a narrower promise: remove one app cleanly, show you everything before it happens, and never make the removal permanent.

The free tier covers the installed-apps list, single-app uninstall with the full plain-language leftover preview — grouped and confidence-labelled, so you can see how sure the match is rather than just how big the file is — and a recently-removed list. The $12.99 one-time Pro upgrade adds removal of whole developer toolchains macOS can't uninstall (Homebrew, Node .pkg installs, nvm, pyenv, Rust, Docker), Leftover Finder for orphan scanning, and full history. Detection and sizes for those toolchains are free; only the remove action is Pro.

The safety design is the part we'd argue about if you pushed back. Matching is bundle-ID-first, and only exact matches arrive pre-checked — fuzzy name matches are shown but never ticked for you. iCloud, Dropbox and com.apple.* paths are protected. Every removal moves files to the Trash: permanent deletion exists nowhere in the codebase, so anything the app does is reversible until you empty the Trash yourself. None of that sits behind the paywall, because safety you have to pay for isn't safety.

Where Pearcleaner is broader — the Homebrew manager, App Lipo, PKG and plugin management, Intel and macOS 13 support — it stays broader. We're not claiming to replace it feature for feature.

The honest caveat: SwoopByte Uninstaller hasn't shipped. It runs on Apple Silicon Macs with macOS 14 or later, and you can join the waitlist to hear when it's out. Until then, an unmaintained tool that exists beats a maintained one that doesn't, and Pearcleaner is a perfectly reasonable thing to be using today.

FAQ

Is Pearcleaner still being updated in 2026?

No. The developer posted a "Project Status: On Hold" notice in the README explaining that development stopped around the end of 2025, largely because he no longer has a Mac available for personal development work. The last release, v5.4.3, was 26 November 2025; the last code change was 30 January 2026. The repository is not archived and he has said he'd like to return to it.

Is Pearcleaner safe to use?

Yes, with the ordinary caveat that applies to any uninstaller: it asks for Full Disk Access and installs a privileged helper so it can act on system folders. The source is public, so you can verify what it does with those permissions. The risk that grows over time isn't malice, it's staleness — an unmaintained tool's map of macOS drifts out of date as new versions ship.

Is Pearcleaner open source?

Not in the OSI sense, despite how often it's described that way. It's licensed under Apache 2.0 with the Commons Clause, which removes the right to sell the software. The source is public and free to use; the project calls itself source-available and fair-code.

Will Pearcleaner still work on the next macOS?

Unknown, and nobody can currently answer it. The README lists macOS 26 Tahoe as supported. Beyond that, no one is building or testing new releases, so a compatibility break wouldn't be fixed on the current timeline.

What's the closest alternative if I need the orphan scan?

AppCleaner doesn't have one at all. SwoopByte Uninstaller's Leftover Finder does the same job as part of its $12.99 one-time Pro upgrade, though it hasn't shipped yet. If you need an orphan scan today and free, Pearcleaner is still the answer.

Can Pearcleaner remove Homebrew and other developer tools?

Yes — it includes a Homebrew manager and a development-environment manager, both free. This is one of the areas where it does more than most paid uninstallers.

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