head to head · open source
ranger vs cyberduck
ranger has 17,448 GitHub stars, 940 forks, 896 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. cyberduck has 4,896 stars, 385 forks, 506 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. ranger leads on adoption by 256% (17,448 vs 4,896 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 | ★ 4.9K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 940 | ⑂ 385 |
| 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 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 cyberduck
Cyberduck This is the development home for Cyberduck, a libre file transfer client for macOS and Windows. Command line interface (CLI) for Linux, macOS and Windows. The core libraries are used in Mountain Duck. Mailing Lists There is a Google Groups Cyberduck discussion mailing list. The following additional mailing lists are hosted: News Announcements of new releases Localization Notifications about changes to the translations needed Source Source code is available licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 3. Pull requests welcome! Localizations Translations to new languages are welcome. We use…
read the full cyberduck overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ranger or cyberduck more popular?
ranger has 17,448 GitHub stars and cyberduck has 4,896. 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 (17,448 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.