head to head · open source
ffsend vs cryfs
ffsend has 7,423 GitHub stars, 207 forks, 33 open issues and last shipped 12 months ago. cryfs has 2,330 stars, 174 forks, 154 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. ffsend leads on adoption by 219% (7,423 vs 2,330 stars). ffsend is written in Rust under GPL-3.0; cryfs is written in Rust under LGPL-3.0. ffsend has attracted 3% 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. 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
| ffsend | cryfs | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.4K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Rust |
| Last push | 2025-11-20 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 207 | ⑂ 174 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ffsend if
- You weight community size — 7.4K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 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 ffsend
[![Build status on GitLab CI][gitlab ci master badge]][gitlab ci link] [![Newest release on crates.io][crate version badge]][crate link] [![Project license][crate license badge]](LICENSE) [crate license badge]: [crate link]: [crate version badge]: [gitlab ci link]: [gitlab ci master badge]: Notice: the default Send host is provided by [@timvisee][timvisee] (info). Please consider to [donate] and help keep it running. ffsend Easily and securely share files from the command line. A [Send][send] client. Easily and securely share files and directories from the command line through a safe, private and encrypted link…
read the full ffsend 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 ffsend or cryfs more popular?
ffsend has 7,423 GitHub stars and cryfs has 2,330. ffsend has the larger community by that measure.
Are ffsend and cryfs free?
Both are open source. ffsend is licensed under GPL-3.0 and cryfs under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ffsend and cryfs?
ffsend 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, ffsend or cryfs?
Choose ffsend if you want the larger community (7,423 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.