head to head · open source
Files vs Cozy
Files has 45,547 GitHub stars, 2,920 forks, 458 open issues and last shipped today. Cozy has 1,269 stars, 141 forks, 56 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Files leads on adoption by 3,489% (45,547 vs 1,269 stars). Files is written in C# under MIT; Cozy is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. Files has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Cozy 11%. 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 | Cozy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C# | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 141 |
| 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 Cozy if
- You want the Cozy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Cozy 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 Cozy
Cozy is a platform that brings web services into one private space. Cozy Stack is the core server of the Cozy platform, and it runs as a single process. The project is written in Go, is developed by Twake Workplace, and is distributed under the AGPL v3 license. It lives in the self hosted personal cloud ecosystem, and it targets users who want to install software on their own hardware instead of relying on a third party profile.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Files or Cozy more popular?
Files has 45,547 GitHub stars and Cozy has 1,269. Files has the larger community by that measure.
Are Files and Cozy free?
Both are open source. Files is licensed under MIT and Cozy under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Files and Cozy?
Files is written in C# and Cozy in Go. 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 Cozy?
Choose Files if you want the larger community (45,547 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Cozy if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.