Kitsmith / Utilities / Pearcleaner
A free, source-available Mac cleanup suite — app uninstall, orphaned-file search, Homebrew management, and more — from Alin Lupascu, currently on hold since late 2025.
Our take
Started as a learning project inspired by FreeMacSoft’s AppCleaner and grew into a broader utility: full app uninstall with orphaned-file search, a development-environment manager, a Homebrew manager, PKG and plugin managers, and app “lipo” (stripping unused architectures to save space) — 14.5k GitHub stars and reportedly 1.6M+ downloads. Built by Alin Lupascu, who states plainly on the project’s GitHub that active development has been on hold since the end of 2025 due to a job change and losing access to a personal Mac for building releases — not abandoned, in the developer’s own words, but not currently maintained either. Licensed Apache 2.0 with Commons Clause: you can read, modify, and use the source, but the license explicitly forbids monetizing Pearcleaner or any fork of it — source-available, not open source in the strict sense. The developer’s own README also warns that pearcleaner.com is an impersonator site unaffiliated with the real project; itsalin.com is the only site the developer claims.
- Price
- Free
- License
- Proprietary
- Requires
- macOS 13 Ventura through macOS 26 Tahoe.
- Get it via
- Homebrew · Direct
- Developer
- Alin Lupascu
Do you use Pearcleaner?
Who made this
Alin Lupascu’s own personal site identifies him directly as an "Open-Source Developer" and links to his GitHub, alienator88 — the same account behind Pearcleaner.
What it does
Full uninstall plus orphaned-file search
Removes an app and hunts down leftover files it left behind elsewhere on disk.
Homebrew and PKG management
Manage installed Homebrew casks/formulae and .pkg installer receipts from the same app.
App “lipo”
Strip unused CPU architectures from universal app binaries to reclaim disk space.
The deal
- Free, source-available under Apache 2.0 with Commons Clause
- Commons Clause explicitly prohibits selling or monetizing Pearcleaner or forks of it — not an OSI-approved open-source license despite the public source
Worth knowing: Development has been on hold since late 2025 — the developer’s own GitHub states a job change left them without a Mac to build and release from, and calls the project “not abandoned entirely” but paused indefinitely. The current build (5.4.3) still runs. Separately, the developer’s own README warns that pearcleaner.com is an impersonator site, not affiliated with the real project (itsalin.com).
Pearcleaner — questions people ask
Is Pearcleaner still maintained?
No, not currently — the developer’s own GitHub states development has been on hold since late 2025 due to a job change and losing access to a Mac for building releases. The existing build still works.
Is Pearcleaner open source?
The source is public, but it’s licensed Apache 2.0 with Commons Clause, which explicitly bars monetizing the app or forks of it — the developer calls it “source-available,” not open source in the strict sense.
Is pearcleaner.com the real site?
No — the developer’s own README warns that pearcleaner.com is an impersonator; itsalin.com is the only site the developer claims as legitimate.
Is Pearcleaner free?
Yes — Pearcleaner is free.
Does Pearcleaner work alongside a notch app like Alcove?
Yes — Pearcleaner lives in the screen, so it runs happily alongside any Dynamic Island hub or notch app.
Where can I download Pearcleaner?
Pearcleaner is available via Homebrew, Direct.
Reviews
No public ratings yet. Reader reviews are coming to Kitsmith soon.
Listing hand-verified August 30, 2026 from the developer's site and public sources.
How Pearcleaner compares
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AppCleaner
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GrandPerspective
Free (or $2.99 via Mac App Store — same app)A free, open-source disk-usage visualizer using tree maps — 20+ years running from a single developer — also on the Mac App Store for $2.99.
OnyX
FreeA free, all-in-one Mac maintenance utility — verify system files, clear caches, uninstall apps, and tweak hidden settings — from French developer Titanium Software, since 2003.