head to head · open source
Spacedrive vs ffsend
Spacedrive has 39,417 GitHub stars, 1,375 forks, 57 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. ffsend has 7,423 stars, 207 forks, 33 open issues and last shipped 12 months ago. Spacedrive leads on adoption by 431% (39,417 vs 7,423 stars). Spacedrive is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; ffsend is written in Rust under GPL-3.0. Spacedrive has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, ffsend 3%. Spacedrive was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (encryption, rust), 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 | ffsend | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 7.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2025-11-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 207 |
| 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 ffsend if
- You want the ffsend feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and ffsend 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 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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Spacedrive or ffsend more popular?
Spacedrive has 39,417 GitHub stars and ffsend has 7,423. Spacedrive has the larger community by that measure.
Are Spacedrive and ffsend free?
Both are open source. Spacedrive is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ffsend under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Spacedrive and ffsend?
Spacedrive is written in Rust and ffsend 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 ffsend?
Choose Spacedrive if you want the larger community (39,417 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose ffsend if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.