head to head · open source
ranger vs cyberduck
ranger has 17,405 GitHub stars, 942 forks, 896 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. cyberduck has 4,788 stars, 369 forks, 506 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ranger leads on adoption by 264% (17,405 vs 4,788 stars). ranger is written in Python under GPL-3.0; cyberduck is written in Java under GPL-3.0. ranger has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, cyberduck 8%. cyberduck 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 | cyberduck | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 4.8K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 942 | ⑂ 369 |
| 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 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 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 →
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 ranger or cyberduck more popular?
ranger has 17,405 GitHub stars and cyberduck has 4,788. ranger has the larger community by that measure.
Are ranger and cyberduck free?
Both are open source. ranger is licensed under GPL-3.0 and cyberduck under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ranger and cyberduck?
ranger is written in Python 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, ranger or cyberduck?
Choose ranger if you want the larger community (17,405 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose cyberduck if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.