They are almost the same for basic file compression and uncompression. WinRAR is so popular that you have to find a way to open RAR files even though you don't use WinRAR before. It's widely used to archive movie files, music files, office documents, photos, etc.
WinRAR is one of the most popular archiver. Unrar is a free tool so folks didn't mind typing in 5 letters in a terminal window instead of paying for something just to uncompress an archive. Well, first WinRAR is a paid software developed for Windows. Mac users interested in Rar os x 10.5.8 generally download: WinRAR 5.91 Free WinRAR is a powerful compression tool with many integrated additional functions to help.