There are no good options here, not even official ones.
Somewhat amusingly, I bought a cheap knockoff MacBook charger off Amazon and it's been super-reliable other than running about 10ºC hotter than a standard Apple one.
I'm an Apple fanboy most of the time, but damn is this getting old.
Sugru works wonders though, if you catch it early enough.
Even if they insist on keeping their incredibly fragile cords, they could make them user swappable -- just like the wall end -- and sell replacements for $10.
It's a difficult problem to solve, I'd prefer if the cables were simply a cheap replaceable part.
I've gone through multiple power bricks and multiple lightning cables. The experience has made me even more hostile in the face of Apple's long history of proprietary cabling.
This is shocking. The only power adapter that every started to have fraying was one that went into a tight backup situation that I biked with every day for three years, plugged in and out of several times a day. There was a ton of wear on that cable, every few months I'd clean it off because of the abuse it took. And it still lasted three years.
Also, which proprietary cables are you talking about? Charging cables are the only proprietary connector on a Mac and this is an industry-wide phenomenon, not an Apple phenomenon. It's an odd juxtaposition of an extremely unusual cord experience along with an unusual opinion on proprietary cords.
Two have frayed in four years. Genuine Apple, not $20 knock offs.
The worst thing that happened was one of the dell chargers started making a quiet beeping/buzzing sound - I read it was to do with the components coming lose inside and the sound was caused by the switching supply. I decided out of choice to get another, although there was nothing actually wrong with it as far as performance goes.
https://www.thrillist.com/tech/nation/why-apple-hasnt-fixed-...
I usually wrap my Apple charger loosely and throw it in a backpack. You can optionally attach a cheap piece of Velcro to keep it all together.
Edit: Here's another good cable wrapping demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-74OEVUOKOw
The feeling in the cords is quite different; while mine is quite flexible, hers feels really stiff. I believe whatever change that was made, possibly BPA-free, it has reduced the wearability of their cables.
The other frustrating thing is that they aren't worth repairing. The overly clever coaxial cable design makes repairing a fray more hassle than it's worth.
A long time ago, before the MagSafe cables, name brand third-party Mac laptop chargers were available that you could use however you want without fraying. I had one from Macallay. The reason why it never had any issues when using it the same way Apple chargers failed was obvious: the cable where it connected to the computer was a lot thicker.
As far as I know, there's no legal third party MagSafe cables, and the knock off ones copy Apple's design anyway and have no advantages. I've learned to just use it on a desk most of the time when plugged in, since it's a nuisance to deal with failing power cables. But for me, that's a pretty big trade off in order to gain a more aesthetically pleasing cord thickness.
I suppose it's debatable what sort of usage counts as 'abuse' or not, but you can be assured that the Apple chargers will fail in the exact same circumstances that other chargers will not. It's probably my single biggest issue with their hardware, especially since they prevent any alternatives from being available.
I have just had to order 3 more chargers.
I am not saying that people weren't rough with them (quite likely at least 1 of the users were), but the Side mount Magsafe 1 chargers seemed to fare better.
What I found was that when she used a plugged-in device, she paid little attention to the angle the cable went out at. I guess it's from my time dealing with fiber, but I always make sure that if the cable has to turn a corner, I give it as gentle a curve as possible. This makes a huge difference in resisting fraying.
See this video for more details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEd7ru24Vx0
Not if you know how to coil it properly - yet the sheath on the cable of my MBP PSU has split, despite not using the fold-up cable storage arms that would encourage bending the cable at an awkward angle.
Works fine over about 1000 (?) repetitions so far.
Yelling at the persons who do that, followed by applying unsightly amounts of tape to make it impossible to do, will delay the inevitable.
(Third step, acceptance: order more cables from sources according to the tightness of your fist.)
(Or Apple might not care, as it's pretty obvious that the power cord is less sturdy than on every competitor's products. Presumably a cable grommet would ruin the look...)
Edit to add: you can buy a cable grommet for an Apple charger from various retailers, for example http://www.thefrayfix.com/ or https://www.thriftcat.org/upc/100001018599/85w-magsafe2-prot... )