# Alternatives to 7-Zip Free, fast, the 7z standard. 7-Zip ranks #3 of 8 in Compression tools, with an Alt Score of 90. It is licensed under LGPL-2.1, free from Free and available on Windows, macOS and Linux. 8 of 9 checklist rows are verified against a public source. Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/7-zip/ Category: Compression tools ## Overview - **Who it's for**: Windows users and IT admins who need to compress, extract, or manage archives without paying for software, plus developers who want a freely embeddable, open-source archiving engine. - **What you get**: A free, open-source file archiver built around its own 7z format, delivering compression ratios typically 2-10% better than ZIP tools like WinZip or PKZip. It packs and unpacks 7z, XZ, BZIP2, GZIP, TAR, ZIP, and WIM, and can unpack 30+ other formats including RAR and ISO. It includes AES-256 encryption, self-extracting archive creation, and Windows Shell integration, and is licensed under LGPL/BSD terms with no registration required. - **How it works**: Users right-click files in Windows Explorer (via the 7-Zip shell extension) or open the 7-Zip File Manager to add files to an archive, choosing format and compression settings, or to extract an existing archive's contents. Command-line and DLL/COM interfaces are also available for scripting or embedding into other applications. ## Profile - **License**: LGPL-2.1 (verified 2026-07-10) - **Pricing model**: Free (verified 2026-07-10) - **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-10) - **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux - **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-10) ## Ranked alternatives | # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms | |---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------| | 1 | [PeaZip](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/peazip.md) | 100 | LGPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux | | 2 | [Bandizip](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/bandizip.md) | 90 | Proprietary | Windows | | 3 | [NanaZip](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/nanazip.md) | 70 | MIT | Windows | | 4 | [WinRAR](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/winrar.md) | 70 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android | | 5 | [WinZip](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/winzip.md) | 70 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS | | 6 | [Keka](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/keka.md) | 50 | ? | macOS | | 7 | [The Unarchiver](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/the-unarchiver.md) | 30 | ? | macOS | Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/ ## Feature comparison Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified). | Compression tools checklist | 7-Zip | PeaZip | Bandizip | NanaZip | WinRAR | WinZip | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Pricing model | Free | Free | Freemium | Donationware | One-time | Subscription | | Starts at | Free | Free | $30 | Free | €29.95 | ? | | License | LGPL-2.1 | LGPL-3.0 | Proprietary | MIT | Proprietary | Proprietary | | Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows | Windows | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android | Windows, macOS | | Format support (7z, rar, zip) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Compression ratio | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | | Encryption (AES-256) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Split archives | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Context-menu integration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | | Open source | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | ? | | Free for commercial use | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | | Repair damaged archives | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | | Speed | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ## Sources Sources for 7-Zip. Each alternative is sourced on its own page. - **Platforms**: Windows, macOS, Linux — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “Download 7-Zip 26.02 (2026-06-25) for Windows ... 7-Zip for Linux: console version ... 7-Zip for MacOS: console version” - **License**: LGPL-2.1 — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the” - **Pricing model**: Free — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “Yes, 7-Zip is free software. You can use it on any computer. You don't need to register or pay for 7-Zip.” - **Starts at**: Free — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “Yes, 7-Zip is free software. You can use it on any computer. You don't need to register or pay for 7-Zip.” - **Status**: active — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “26.02 2026-06-25” - **Format support (7z, rar, zip)**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Note: 7z and zip are core formats; the FAQ confirms RAR/RAR5 support (extraction). - Quote: “But latest versions of 7-Zip supports RAR5 archives.” - **Compression ratio**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “7z is the new archive format, providing high compression ratio.” - **Encryption (AES-256)**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “7-Zip also supports encryption with AES-256 algorithm. This algorithm uses cipher key with length of 256 bits.” - **Split archives**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “7-Zip now can create multivolume SFX archives in 7z format.” - **Context-menu integration**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “7-Zip now can show icons for 7-Zip items in Explorer's context menu.” - **Open source**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License” - **Free for commercial use**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “Can I use 7-Zip in a commercial organization? Yes, 7-Zip is free software. You can use it on any computer. You don't need to register or pay for 7-Zip.” - **Repair damaged archives**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-10) - Quote: “How can I recover corrupted 7z archive? ... It's possible to recover some data.” --- Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/