ExifCleaner alternative that runs in your browser

ExifCleaner (exifcleaner.com, source on GitHub as szTheory/exifcleaner) is one of the best answers to “I want ExifTool but with drag-and-drop.” It is free, MIT-licensed, runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux, batches folders, shows a before/after metadata diff, and states no automatic updates, no telemetry, and no network access. If your search for an ExifCleaner alternative is because you think they secretly upload photos, stop: that is not the documented product.

The real reasons people still want an alternative are ordinary: they cannot install an Electron app on a locked PC; they are on a Chromebook; they only have two JPEGs to check before a listing goes live; they want a metadata viewer in the same place as the wipe, in a browser they already trust. MetadataWipe is that alternative — not a claim that ExifCleaner is weak.

What ExifCleaner is better at

Batch. Tens to thousands of files, folder drop, recursion. MetadataWipe will not pretend to be a folder vacuum.

Formats. ExifCleaner inherits ExifTool’s write support: many stills, plus video and PDF among others. The maintainers also document ExifTool’s limits (for example, “remove all metadata” is not equally complete on every format; RAW and PDF have caveats on the ExifTool site). That honesty is a feature.

Auditability. You can read the GitHub repo. MetadataWipe is a website with client-side processing; you can watch the network tab, but you are not compiling the app.

Offline after install. Once the app is on disk, you do not need a webpage. MetadataWipe needs the page loaded (after that, the wipe itself does not send the photo).

Options. Preserve orientation, save as copy, strip macOS extended attributes — desktop affordances a one-tab wiper skips.

What MetadataWipe is better at

No install. School, library, corporate laptop without admin rights, or a machine you do not want another Electron runtime on (ExifCleaner users themselves joke about making an exception for Electron). Open the site, drop a photo.

Inspect then wipe. MetadataWipe is built as a viewer-and-remover: see GPS, camera, timestamps, then strip. ExifCleaner also inspects (expand a file for a diff). The browser path is simply faster when the question is “what is in this JPEG?”

Photo-shaped jobs. Marketplace shots, listing photos, a screenshot that picked up odd tags. You do not need 90-plus formats for that.

How to choose

Install ExifCleaner if you regularly clean a tree of files, if you need video/PDF, or if open-source desktop is a requirement. Use MetadataWipe if installing is the blocker or the job is a handful of stills. Windows users who landed here from a “simple EXIF GUI” search can also read removing EXIF on Windows and always verify the wipe.

How to wipe a photo in MetadataWipe instead of ExifCleaner

1. Open the MetadataWipe tool and drop in a JPEG or PNG.
2. Read the metadata panel. If GPS or camera fields should not travel, strip them.
3. Download the cleaned export (filename often includes -metadatawipe).
4. Re-open the export or use another viewer to confirm empty fields. Keep the camera original offline if you still need it.

For a whole catalog, ExifCleaner remains the more honest batch machine. For the file in your hand, the browser is enough.

Electron size and “no network” claims are why privacy people like ExifCleaner even when they dislike Chromium apps. You can verify with a firewall. MetadataWipe’s equivalent check is the browser Network tab during a wipe: you should not see the JPEG POST to a processor. Do that once if you are the kind of person who would have read ExifCleaner’s README. Then use whichever UI you will actually use — an unused secure tool does not strip GPS.

ExifCleaner’s GitHub notes ExifTool limitations (JPEG APP segments versus incomplete wipes on some other types). If you drop a PDF on ExifCleaner expecting author tags to vanish, read those limits. MetadataWipe will not take that PDF job. Different tools, different files, fewer surprises. If your “alternative” search was actually “I cannot compile/install on this PC,” MetadataWipe is the alternative. If it was “I want something even more batchable,” you already have the better batch tool — keep ExifCleaner.

Related guides

Continue with Windows-oriented stripping and verification when you need a second check after either tool.