head to head · open source
Files vs flea
Files has 45,911 GitHub stars, 2,956 forks, 458 open issues and last shipped yesterday. flea has 767 stars, 87 forks, 85 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Files leads on adoption by 5,886% (45,911 vs 767 stars). Files is written in C# under MIT; flea is written in Shell under MIT. Files has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, flea 11%. Files was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (file-manager), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Files | flea | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 767 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | C# | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 87 |
| 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 flea if
- You want the flea feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and flea 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 flea
Flea is a fast, keyboard first GUI file manager for the Omarchy desktop on Linux, built with a Quickshell front end and a Rust backend for people who navigate and manage files from the keyboard.
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More File Management & Sync projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the File Management & Sync field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Files or flea more popular?
Files has 45,911 GitHub stars and flea has 767. Files has the larger community by that measure.
Are Files and flea free?
Both are open source. Files is licensed under MIT and flea under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Files and flea?
Files is written in C# and flea in Shell. 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 flea?
Choose Files if you want the larger community (45,911 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose flea if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.