head to head · open source
ranger vs cryfs
ranger has 17,448 GitHub stars, 940 forks, 896 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. cryfs has 2,330 stars, 174 forks, 154 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. ranger leads on adoption by 649% (17,448 vs 2,330 stars). ranger is written in Python under GPL-3.0; cryfs is written in Rust under LGPL-3.0. ranger has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, cryfs 7%. cryfs was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| ranger | cryfs | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 940 | ⑂ 174 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ranger if
- You weight community size — 17K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cryfs if
- You want the cryfs feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and cryfs fits your workflow better
About ranger
Ranger 1.9.4 ============ Ranger is a console file manager with VI key bindings. It provides a minimalistic and nice curses interface with a view on the directory hierarchy. It ships with rifle , a file launcher that is good at automatically finding out which program to use for what file type. For mc aficionados there's also the multi pane viewmode. This file describes ranger and how to get it to run. For instructions on the usage, please read the man page ( man ranger in a terminal). See HACKING.md for development specific information. For configuration, check the files in ranger/config/ or copy the default…
read the full ranger overview →
About cryfs
CryFS 2.0 (Alpha) ⚠️ ALPHA VERSION WARNING ⚠️ CryFS 2.0 alpha is experimental software. You WILL lose your data. Do not use it for anything important. For stable CryFS, please use CryFS 1.0. You can find installation instructions for the stable version here. CryFS 2.0 is in an alpha stage that has not undergone extensive testing. Use it only for testing purposes and please report any issues in the GitHub issue tracker. What is CryFS? CryFS encrypts your files so you can safely store them in cloud storage services like Dropbox, iCloud, or OneDrive. Unlike other encryption tools that encrypt files individually…
read the full cryfs overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ranger or cryfs more popular?
ranger has 17,448 GitHub stars and cryfs has 2,330. ranger has the larger community by that measure.
Are ranger and cryfs free?
Both are open source. ranger is licensed under GPL-3.0 and cryfs under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ranger and cryfs?
ranger is written in Python and cryfs in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, ranger or cryfs?
Choose ranger if you want the larger community (17,448 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose cryfs if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.