head to head · open source
Files vs nging
Files has 45,856 GitHub stars, 2,952 forks, 458 open issues and last shipped today. nging has 1,594 stars, 223 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped 16 days ago. Files leads on adoption by 2,777% (45,856 vs 1,594 stars). Files is written in C# under MIT; nging is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. Files has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, nging 14%. 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.
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Side by side
| Files | nging | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C# | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-08 | 2026-09-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.0K | ⑂ 223 |
| 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 nging if
- You want the nging 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 nging 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 nging
Nging is a self hosted website server administration panel written in Go for sysadmins and self hosters who need to manage Caddy and Nginx sites, databases, scheduled tasks, and network tooling from one web interface across Windows, Linux, macOS, and ARM devices.
read the full nging overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Files or nging more popular?
Files has 45,856 GitHub stars and nging has 1,594. Files has the larger community by that measure.
Are Files and nging free?
Both are open source. Files is licensed under MIT and nging under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Files and nging?
Files is written in C# and nging 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 nging?
Choose Files if you want the larger community (45,856 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose nging if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.