a Keka alternative
updated · by Anton Shakirov
most of the reason people install Keka has quietly stopped being true: macOS 26 opens 7z by double click and reads rar in the Terminal. what is left is a rar-shaped hole in Finder, and archives the built-in reader gives up on. hop covers that hole as one of eighteen tools behind a menu bar icon. Keka covers it as a dedicated archiver with a much longer format list.
if you make archives for other people — passwords, volumes, a format someone specified — Keka is built for exactly that and this is not. this page is for the person who gets a rar once a fortnight and would rather not keep an app for it.
what Keka is built for
breadth, and making archives rather than only opening them. it creates 7Z, ZIP, TAR, GZIP, BZIP2, XZ, LZIP, DMG, ISO, BROTLI, ZSTD, LRZIP, AAR and WIM, and extracts over thirty formats including RAR, EXE, CAB, MSI, APK and APPX. rar it does not create either — the format is proprietary and nobody outside RARLAB may write it.
it runs back to OS X 10.10 and costs two different amounts depending on where you get it. from the developer's own site it is free: version 1.6.7, 35.9 mb, checked on 10 September 2026. on the Mac App Store the same version is $6.49, checked the same day. he says plainly on his own site that the paid copy is the same app: the money supports the work, it does not buy extra features.
two prices for one app is not a Keka quirk. it happens across the Mac, and the copies differ in ways that have nothing to do with the price tag. why the same app costs differently in two places
what macOS already opens without Keka
before comparing archivers, look at what you already have. the usual advice, «macOS cannot open rar or 7z, install Keka», is half wrong, and has been since well before macOS 26.
does macOS open 7z?
yes, by double click. Archive Utility registers itself as the default viewer for the 7-Zip type: on macOS 26.6.2 the Launch Services database lists org.7-zip.7-zip-archive claimed by Archive Utility with Apple's own default flag. no third-party app is involved.
the Terminal goes further and writes the format too. `man tar` names 7-zip in both directions, and it holds up: `tar -c --format=7zip -f test.7z sample.txt` produced a file that `file` identifies as «7-zip archive data, version 0.3», and `tar -xf` unpacked it again. macOS, with nothing installed.
the library doing that work is libarchive, the open-source project macOS ships its tar on top of. its own format list is where to check what any given version can read and write. libarchive: formats supported
zip is older news: Finder has compressed and expanded it from the right-click menu for years, and Apple documents it in the macOS user guide. Apple: zip and unzip files and folders on Mac
why rar is the one that fails
rar is different, and the difference is not about the reader. the Terminal reads it fine: `tar --version` on macOS 26.6.2 reports libarchive 3.7.4, and that library reads rar including the version 5 format current WinRAR writes by default. what it will not read is an encrypted archive. a password stops it, and so do some older solid layouts.
the gap is in Finder. searching the Launch Services database for com.rarlab.rar-archive turns up only third-party apps: no Apple bundle claims the type at all. so a rar on your Desktop has nothing to open it with, and the file that would take one command in the Terminal looks broken instead.
the reason Apple never fixes this is the format: RARLAB publishes the layout for reading, but writing rar stays licensed to its own tools. RARLAB: the RAR archive format
so the honest summary before anything gets installed: if what arrived is a zip or a 7z, double-click it and stop reading. if it is a rar, you need either a command or an app — and that is the entire argument between Keka, hop and everything else on this page.
the command itself, along with what to do when it fails, is written out step by step on its own page. opening a rar file on a Mac
what is here instead
the formats that turn up in ordinary life: zip, rar, 7z, tar, tar.gz, tar.bz2, tar.xz and gz. deliberately a short list rather than a catalogue. drop an archive in, pick where it should land — Desktop, next to the original, or any folder — and press the button. drop ordinary files instead and the same window packs them up, in every format on the list except rar.
rar and 7z fetch a small signature-verified helper — about 6 mb — the first time one turns up, which is why the app itself stays around five.
| what arrived | with macOS alone | with hop |
|---|---|---|
| a zip or a 7z | double-click it, Archive Utility takes both | not needed — leave it with Archive Utility |
| a rar on the Desktop | no app claims the type, so the double click goes nowhere | double click unpacks it beside the file |
| a rar you would rather not double-click | one command in the Terminal, if you know it | drop it in the window, see what is inside, press the button |
| a rar with a password on it | libarchive stops at encrypted archives | same wall — this is where a dedicated archiver earns its place |
| a folder of clips to send someone | right-click, Compress — you get a zip and no say in it | drop them in, pick the format from the list |
the module behind all of this has its own page, with the full format list, where results land and what the helper actually is. the archive manager in hop
what hop takes over, and what it leaves alone
the complaint that follows installing any archiver is the same one every time: you wanted rar handled, and now every zip on the Mac opens in a window you did not ask for, with an icon you do not recognise.
the archiver that grabs everything
hop's settings offer exactly one file type: rar. the offer only appears when no Apple app owns the type — always the case for rar, never the case for zip or 7z. those stay with Archive Utility, and hop does not ask for them. it can take rar back from another third-party archiver, if one grabbed it earlier, and the settings card shows the real state rather than what it hoped for.
with that on, a double click unpacks the rar right beside itself in a small progress window. with it off, hop is a window you drop things into and nothing about your Mac changes.
while we are on what Archive Utility does behind your back: the __MACOSX folder in a zip made on a Mac is its work, not a virus. what the __MACOSX folder in a zip is
where Keka is better than this
a short list, and none of it is hedging — taken from the developer's own feature list on 10 September 2026.
passwords, and splitting an archive in two
- encryption on the way out: AES-256 for 7z archives, and the legacy Zip 2.0 scheme for zip, so the person on the other end can open it with whatever they have
- splitting one archive into pieces that fit a mail attachment or an upload limit, and still expand back into the original
- fourteen formats it can create against our eight, including DMG, ISO and WIM — if someone specified a format, the odds are Keka has it
- over thirty formats it will extract, against our eight: EXE, CAB, MSI, APK, APPX and the long tail behind them
- compression settings per format, which matters when you are the one making the archive rather than the one receiving it
the pattern is plain enough. hop is built for archives arriving, Keka for archives leaving. if your week involves making archives to someone else's specification, this page is not trying to talk you out of a tool that does that job.
The Unarchiver is the other name that comes up in the same breath, and it sits differently again: a wide extraction list, and nothing it can create. how this compares with The Unarchiver
nothing runs until you press the button
an archive from a stranger is not something you want opening itself. dropping a file into hop starts nothing: the window shows what it is holding and waits.
everything happens locally. no file is uploaded, nothing is inspected by a server, and it all works with the Wi-Fi off. the app is free and open source under MIT, and the other seventeen tools come with it rather than costing extra.
that is the trade being offered here — not a better archiver than Keka, but one fewer app on the Mac, next to seventeen others of the same size. another of the eighteen: the file converter
how to try it without deciding anything
- install hop, about 6 mb, with no sign-up and no licence key
- leave zip and 7z alone — macOS already has them, and hop will not ask for them
- next time a rar arrives, drop it into the panel instead of installing an archiver for it
- if you find yourself needing a password or a split archive, Keka is free from its site and takes a minute to install
frequently asked questions
- does macOS open 7z without an app?
- yes. on macOS 26 Archive Utility is registered as the default viewer for 7z, so a double click works, and `tar` in the Terminal both reads and writes the format. checked on 26.6.2 in September 2026.
- then why does everyone say you need an archiver?
- because of rar, and the advice got generalised. no Apple app claims the rar type, so a double click on a rar goes nowhere — that is the gap an archiver actually fills.
- does it open rar files?
- yes — rar, 7z, zip, tar, tar.gz, tar.bz2, tar.xz and gz. encrypted rar archives are the exception, and they stop the built-in reader too.
- will it take over all my archives?
- no. settings offer rar and only rar, and only when no Apple app owns it. zip, 7z and the native formats stay with Archive Utility.
- can it create archives too?
- yes. drop ordinary files instead of an archive and it packs them, in every format on the list except rar, which nobody outside RARLAB may write.
- how many formats compared with Keka?
- far fewer, and deliberately: eight that turn up in ordinary use against Keka's thirty-plus, and eight created against its fourteen.
- is Keka free or paid?
- both, depending on where you get it: free from the developer's site and $6.49 on the Mac App Store, checked on 10 September 2026. he says himself it is the same app either way.
- where do unpacked files go?
- the Desktop by default, or next to the original, or any folder you choose.
the hop side of this
archives — zip, rar, 7z and the rest — unpacked right where you are looking.
about the author
Anton Shakirovmakes hop
makes hop and every page on this site. eighteen tools under a single menu bar icon, MIT licensed and open source. reads and answers issues and email himself.