head to head · open source
cloudreve vs PairDrop
cloudreve has 28,737 GitHub stars, 3,896 forks, 147 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. PairDrop has 11,439 stars, 693 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. cloudreve leads on adoption by 151% (28,737 vs 11,439 stars). cloudreve is written in Go under GPL-3.0; PairDrop is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0. cloudreve has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, PairDrop 6%. cloudreve was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (file-sharing), 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
| cloudreve | PairDrop | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 11K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-04-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.9K | ⑂ 693 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick cloudreve if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick PairDrop if
- You want the PairDrop feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and PairDrop fits your workflow better
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 →
About PairDrop
PairDrop is open source JavaScript web app for file sharing. It lives in browser PWA ecosystem, using WebRTC, WebSockets, IndexedDB, Node.js. It is fork of Snapdrop. It is inspired by Apple AirDrop. It is listed as Productivity & Utilities / File Management & Sync. License is GPL 3.0. GitHub metadata lists 11390 stars and 690 forks.
read the full PairDrop overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is cloudreve or PairDrop more popular?
cloudreve has 28,737 GitHub stars and PairDrop has 11,439. cloudreve has the larger community by that measure.
Are cloudreve and PairDrop free?
Both are open source. cloudreve is licensed under GPL-3.0 and PairDrop under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cloudreve and PairDrop?
cloudreve is written in Go and PairDrop in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, cloudreve or PairDrop?
Choose cloudreve if you want the larger community (28,737 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose PairDrop if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.