head to head · open source
Files vs cloudreve
Files has 45,547 GitHub stars, 2,920 forks, 458 open issues and last shipped today. cloudreve has 28,737 stars, 3,896 forks, 147 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Files leads on adoption by 58% (45,547 vs 28,737 stars). Files is written in C# under MIT; cloudreve is written in Go under GPL-3.0. Files has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, cloudreve 14%. Files was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (file-manager), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Files | cloudreve | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 29K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C# | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 3.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Files if
- You weight community size — 46K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cloudreve if
- You want the cloudreve feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and cloudreve fits your workflow better
About Files
Files is a modern, MIT licensed file manager for Windows, written in C and maintained by an open source community, for Windows users who want a customizable, actively developed alternative for organising files and folders.
read the full Files overview →
About cloudreve
Cloudreve is a self hosted file management and sharing system written in Go that gives an organisation its own web file manager, sharing layer, and multi cloud storage gateway running on infrastructure it controls.
read the full cloudreve overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Files or cloudreve more popular?
Files has 45,547 GitHub stars and cloudreve has 28,737. Files has the larger community by that measure.
Are Files and cloudreve free?
Both are open source. Files is licensed under MIT and cloudreve under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Files and cloudreve?
Files is written in C# and cloudreve in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Files or cloudreve?
Choose Files if you want the larger community (45,547 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose cloudreve if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.