head to head · open source
Spacedrive vs cryfs
Spacedrive has 39,404 GitHub stars, 1,374 forks, 57 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. cryfs has 2,330 stars, 174 forks, 154 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Spacedrive leads on adoption by 1,591% (39,404 vs 2,330 stars). Spacedrive is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; cryfs is written in Rust under LGPL-3.0. Spacedrive has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, cryfs 7%. Spacedrive was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (encryption), 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
| Spacedrive | cryfs | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 174 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Spacedrive if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- 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 Spacedrive
Spacedrive One file manager for all your devices and clouds. Powered by a Virtual Distributed File System, complete with apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android v2.spacedrive.com • Discord • Getting Started What is Spacedrive? Spacedrive is a cross device data platform. Index files, emails, notes, and external sources. Search everything. Sync via P2P. Keep AI agents safe with built in screening. Content identity — every file gets a BLAKE3 content hash. Same file on two devices produces the same hash. Spacedrive tracks redundancy and deduplication across all your machines. Cross device — see all…
read the full Spacedrive 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 Spacedrive or cryfs more popular?
Spacedrive has 39,404 GitHub stars and cryfs has 2,330. Spacedrive has the larger community by that measure.
Are Spacedrive and cryfs free?
Both are open source. Spacedrive is licensed under Apache-2.0 and cryfs under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Spacedrive and cryfs?
Spacedrive is written in Rust 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, Spacedrive or cryfs?
Choose Spacedrive if you want the larger community (39,404 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose cryfs if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.