head to head · open source
cloudreve vs ranger
cloudreve has 28,737 GitHub stars, 3,896 forks, 147 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. ranger has 17,405 stars, 942 forks, 896 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. cloudreve leads on adoption by 65% (28,737 vs 17,405 stars). cloudreve is written in Go under GPL-3.0; ranger is written in Python under GPL-3.0. cloudreve has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, ranger 5%. 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-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
| cloudreve | ranger | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 17K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.9K | ⑂ 942 |
| 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 ranger if
- You want the ranger feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and ranger 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 ranger
Ranger is a console file manager with VI key bindings, written in Python and released under the GNU General Public License version 3, for terminal users who want to browse, preview, and manipulate files without leaving a Unix shell.
read the full ranger overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is cloudreve or ranger more popular?
cloudreve has 28,737 GitHub stars and ranger has 17,405. cloudreve has the larger community by that measure.
Are cloudreve and ranger free?
Both are open source. cloudreve is licensed under GPL-3.0 and ranger under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cloudreve and ranger?
cloudreve is written in Go and ranger in Python. 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 ranger?
Choose cloudreve if you want the larger community (28,737 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose ranger if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.