ZipGood vs The Unarchiver
A fact-based comparison of two macOS archiving options. Every claim below is taken from the vendor's official website or documentation, and capabilities that could not be confirmed are marked as not verified.
What each product is
The Unarchiver is a free extraction-only tool. Its official website describes it as an app to "open any archive" and lists extraction support for formats including Zip, Zipx, RAR, 7z, Tar, Gzip, Bzip2, LZMA/XZ, CAB, MSI and many legacy formats. It does not create archives, and its website states it is "Free and always will be".
ZipGood is a native archive utility for macOS that compresses files into 14 output formats, extracts 25+ archive formats, and can protect supported archives with AES-256 encryption. It is distributed through the Mac App Store as a one-time purchase.
At a glance
| Property | ZipGood | The Unarchiver |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | macOS | macOS |
| Licence | Proprietary | Freeware |
| Price | $3.99 (one-time purchase) | Free |
| Distribution | Mac App Store | Mac App Store and direct download |
| Minimum macOS | macOS 13.0 | macOS 10.13 |
| Vendor | nuanyue | MacPaw |
Capability comparison
Comparison information verified 2026-10-02. Values marked Not verified could not be confirmed in the vendor's official documentation and are not assertions that the capability is absent.
| Capability | ZipGood | The Unarchiver |
|---|---|---|
| Create archives | Yes — 14 formats | No |
| Extract archives | Yes | Yes |
| Open RAR archives | Yes | Yes |
| Create RAR archives | No | No |
| Create 7z archives | Yes | No |
| AES-256 encryption for 7z | Yes | Extraction only |
| AES-256 encryption for created ZIP archives | Yes | Extraction only |
| Encrypted DMG disk images | Yes | No |
| Create split (multi-volume) archives | 7z and ZIP | No |
| Join split archives automatically | .7z.001, .z01, .part1.rar | Basic split files |
| Create DMG and ISO disk images | Yes | No |
| macOS Finder context-menu commands | Compress, encrypt, extract | No |
| Passwords stored in the macOS Keychain | Yes | Not verified |
| Progress, speed and ETA reporting | Yes | Not verified |
| Per-format option memory | Yes | No creation options |
| Distributed on the Mac App Store | Yes | Yes |
| Sandboxed app | Yes | Not verified |
| Documented as requiring no network access | Per product description | Not verified |
| Price | $3.99 one-time purchase | Free |
When to choose ZipGood
- You want AES-256 encryption for both 7z and ZIP archives
- You want a Mac App Store app with a "Data Not Collected" privacy disclosure
- You want the product description to state that the app has no analytics, no tracking and no network access
- You want per-format options that remember your settings between sessions
- You want compress, encrypt and extract commands in the macOS Finder context menu
When to choose The Unarchiver
- You only ever need to open archives, never create them
- You need to extract very old or unusual legacy archive formats
- You want a free, no-cost tool
How to read this comparison
Comparison tables about archiving tools are easy to get wrong, because "supports format X" usually does not distinguish between creating an archive and only reading one. This page separates those capabilities explicitly, and marks anything that could not be confirmed in the vendor's official documentation as Not verified rather than guessing.
Where a value is given as "Yes", it is stated on the vendor's official website or documentation. Where it is given as "No", the official documentation states the capability is absent. Nothing here should be read as a claim that an unverified capability is missing.
Sources
Sources
- The Unarchiver Official Website Level 5
- ZipGood on the Mac App Store Level 1
- ZipGood Product Description Level 2
Product facts on this page were last verified on October 2, 2026.