Alternatives to PowerArchiver
A commercial archive manager for Windows and macOS that opens over 60 formats and encrypts archives. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
PowerArchiver
A commercial archive manager for Windows and macOS that opens over 60 formats and encrypts archives.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as PowerArchiver.
WinZip
A commercial archiver for Windows and Mac that zips, unzips, encrypts and shares files.
WinZip is another paid commercial archiver for Windows and Mac with encryption, backup and an Enterprise edition for managed deployments.
WinRAR
The archiver that created the RAR format, sold as shareware whose trial has never really expired.
WinRAR is paid and closed source, the only tool that creates RAR archives with recovery records, but its graphical version is Windows only.
7-Zip
The small, free archiver that opens practically every archive format and compresses better than ZIP.
7-Zip is free and open source under LGPL-2.1, with strong 7z compression and a command line, but lacks FIPS compliance options and graphical macOS builds.
PeaZip
A cross-platform archive manager that reads over two hundred formats and has a real file manager built in.
PeaZip is free and open source, reads over 200 formats on Windows, macOS and Linux, and offers multiple encryption standards without paid tiers.
Bandizip
Fast archiver for Windows and macOS with strong Unicode handling.
Bandizip is a freemium archiver for Windows and macOS with strong Unicode handling and multi-core compression, with ads in its free edition.
NanaZip
A 7-Zip fork that adds the Windows 11 right-click menu and ships through the Microsoft Store.
NanaZip is a free MIT-licensed 7-Zip fork for Windows 10 and 11 that integrates with the Windows 11 context menu, with no macOS version.
Zipware
A freeware Windows archiver that extracts ZIP, RAR, 7z and many other formats and creates ZIP and 7z archives.
Zipware is closed source Windows freeware, free for commercial use, creating AES-256 encrypted ZIP and 7z archives but not RAR.
Explzh
A Windows archiver for LZH, ZIP, CAB, RAR, 7z and tar with Explorer integration and ZIP repair.
Explzh is a Windows archiver strong on LZH and Japanese ZIP archives, with ZIP repair, but needs a paid licence for commercial use.
Also worth comparing
These listings name PowerArchiver as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Archiver
A macOS app for extracting, creating, previewing and encrypting RAR, Zip, 7z and other archives.
PowerArchiver is a paid archiver for macOS and Windows that opens over 60 formats with AES-256 encryption and a command-line edition, sold in several editions.
BetterZip
A macOS archive utility for opening, editing and creating ZIP, RAR, 7z, TAR and DMG files.
PowerArchiver is a paid archiver for macOS and Windows that opens over 60 formats with AES-256 encryption and a command-line edition.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
PowerISO
A Windows tool for creating, editing, burning and mounting disc images and writing bootable USB drives.
7-Zip-zstd
Build of 7-Zip that adds Zstandard, Brotli, LZ4, LZ5 and Fast-LZMA2 compression.
Keka
macOS file archiver for 7z, ZIP, TAR and more, with password protection.
Ark
KDE's graphical archive manager for browsing, creating, extracting and modifying compressed archives.
