BetterZip, however, sometimes struggles with highly corrupted or non-standard RAR5 archives. Because Keka uses the open-source libarchive and unrar engines, it tends to tolerate bad files better.
If you own a Mac, you know that the built-in Archive Utility is... basic. It handles .zip files and little else. Once you step outside that ecosystem—receiving a .rar file from a colleague, needing to password-protect sensitive data, or splitting a large backup into chunks—you need a third-party tool. betterzip vs keka
BetterZip destroys Keka in advanced features. Round 6: Password Protection & Encryption Keka: Supports AES-256 encryption for ZIP and 7z files. Setting a password is easy (a single field). However, Keka does not support encrypting file names inside a 7z archive (a serious privacy flaw). Anyone opening an encrypted 7z file from Keka can see the file names without the password; they just can't open the contents. BetterZip destroys Keka in advanced features
Choose Keka. It just works.
In this article, we will tear down both applications across ten critical categories: price, compression formats, speed, UI, advanced features (like previewing and cloud integration), password security, and customer support. Keka: Keka is free to use. You can download it directly from their website. However, to support development, they ask for a small fee (typically $4.50) via the Mac App Store. The free version is fully functional, has no ads, and no time limits. The App Store version is essentially a donation. not a compressed file.
BetterZip looks like a modern Mac app with a three-pane layout. When you open an archive, you see a Finder-like column browser (folders on the left, files on the right). You can drag individual files out of an archive without extracting the whole thing. You can also drag files into an archive to add them. It feels like managing a folder, not a compressed file.