Keka is a free, native macOS file archiver and extractor that handles dozens of compression formats — from the everyday ZIP to the more demanding 7z, RAR, and tar variants — all within a polished, drag-and-drop interface.
What is Keka?
Keka is a macOS-native compression utility that replaces Apple's built-in Archive Utility with something that can actually handle the full spectrum of archive formats a power user encounters. Drop a folder onto its dock icon to compress it; drop an archive to extract it. That's the whole pitch, and it executes that pitch flawlessly.
Underneath the clean façade, Keka leans on battle-tested open-source engines — p7zip, libarchive, and others — while wrapping them in a Mac-first experience that feels like it shipped with the OS. The main window is almost embarrassingly minimal: a format picker, a compression-level slider, and a few toggles. Everything else happens in the background or via Finder integration.
What does Keka do best?
Keka's strongest suit is silent, reliable extraction of formats macOS refuses to touch natively. Open a .7z from a developer colleague, a .rar downloaded from a forum, or a .tar.bz2 from a Linux build server — Keka unpacks all of them without a second thought and without sending you to a third-party website. Password-protected archives, multi-part archives, split volumes: handled.
On the creation side, Keka gives you genuine control over compression presets that Archive Utility simply doesn't expose. You can target a specific 7z compression level, strip extended attributes before sharing (crucial when sending to Windows users who'd otherwise see mysterious __MACOSX folders), and encrypt archives with AES-256. I've used the "exclude macOS metadata" toggle more times than I can count.
- Extraction: ZIP, 7z, RAR, TAR, GZ, BZ2, XZ, ISO, DMG, WIM, CAB, and more
- Creation: ZIP, 7z, TAR, GZ, BZ2, XZ, and several others
- Finder extension for right-click compression directly in the Finder
- Split archive creation for large file transfers
- AES-256 encryption when creating archives
- Option to delete originals after archiving
Is Keka free?
Keka is free to download directly from the developer's website at keka.io. A paid version exists on the Mac App Store — purchasing it there is the primary way to support the solo developer behind the project, and the App Store build is functionally identical. There is no feature gating, no trial expiry, and no nag screens on the free download. If Keka earns a permanent spot in your workflow, buying it on the App Store is a fair way to say thanks.
Who should use Keka?
Anyone who regularly works with files that originate outside the Apple ecosystem should have Keka installed. Developers pulling compressed tarballs, designers receiving assets in RAR archives, researchers downloading large datasets, gamers grabbing ISO images — the common thread is encountering a format that macOS shrugs at. Keka solves that problem once and then disappears into the background.
It's also the right tool for anyone who sends compressed files to Windows or Linux colleagues and cares about compatibility. The macOS-metadata-stripping option alone saves more cross-platform headaches than most people realise until the first time a Windows user asks why your ZIP contained a hidden folder.
What are the best Keka alternatives?
The most credible alternative is The Unarchiver, which is free on the Mac App Store and handles a similarly wide format list. The Unarchiver is extraction-only, though — it cannot create archives, so it falls short for anyone who needs to zip, compress, or encrypt files. BetterZip is a capable paid option with a more feature-rich UI and a built-in archive browser that lets you peek inside without fully extracting. Archiver 4 is another polished paid choice with a more visual drag-and-drop canvas. For most users, Keka hits the ideal balance: free, capable in both directions, and invisible when you don't need it.
How does Keka compare to The Unarchiver?
Both are free, both are native, and both extract the same broad range of formats admirably well. The decisive difference is that Keka also creates archives while The Unarchiver does not. If you only ever extract files sent to you by other people, The Unarchiver is a perfectly reasonable choice and its Finder integration is slightly smoother out of the box. If you need a single tool for both directions — or if you ever need to create a password-protected or encrypted archive — Keka is the one to install.
