head to head · open source
Files vs cyberduck
Files has 45,547 GitHub stars, 2,920 forks, 458 open issues and last shipped today. cyberduck has 4,788 stars, 369 forks, 506 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Files leads on adoption by 851% (45,547 vs 4,788 stars). Files is written in C# under MIT; cyberduck is written in Java under GPL-3.0. Files has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, cyberduck 8%. Files 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
| Files | cyberduck | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 4.8K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C# | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 369 |
| 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 cyberduck if
- You want the cyberduck feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and cyberduck 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 cyberduck
Cyberduck is a libre FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Microsoft Azure & OneDrive and OpenStack Swift file transfer client for macOS and Windows, released under the GNU General Public License version 3 and developed at the iterate ch/cyberduck repository.
read the full cyberduck overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Files or cyberduck more popular?
Files has 45,547 GitHub stars and cyberduck has 4,788. Files has the larger community by that measure.
Are Files and cyberduck free?
Both are open source. Files is licensed under MIT and cyberduck under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Files and cyberduck?
Files is written in C# and cyberduck in Java. 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 cyberduck?
Choose Files if you want the larger community (45,547 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose cyberduck if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.