head to head · open source
rclone vs Files
rclone has 60,740 GitHub stars, 5,640 forks, 1,273 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Files has 46,461 stars, 3,012 forks, 458 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rclone leads on adoption by 31% (60,740 vs 46,461 stars). rclone is written in Go under MIT; Files is written in C# under MIT. rclone has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Files 6%. rclone 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
| rclone | Files | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 61K | ★ 46K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | C# |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 3.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rclone if
- You weight community size — 61K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Files if
- You want the Files feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and Files fits your workflow better
About rclone
Website Documentation Download Contributing Changelog Installation Forum Rclone Rclone ("rsync for cloud storage") is a command line program to sync files and directories to and from different cloud storage providers. Storage providers 1Fichier :page facing up: Akamai Netstorage :page facing up: Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun) Object Storage System (OSS) :page facing up: Amazon S3 :page facing up: ArvanCloud Object Storage (AOS) :page facing up: Bizfly Cloud Simple Storage :page facing up: Backblaze B2 :page facing up: Box :page facing up: Ceph :page facing up: China Mobile Ecloud Elastic Object Storage (EOS) :page…
read the full rclone overview →
About Files
Files is a modern file manager that helps users organize their files and folders. Our mission with Files is to build the best file manager for Windows, and we’re proud to be building it out in the open so everyone can participate. User feedback helps shape the features we work on, & the bug reports on GitHub help to make Files more reliable. Built and maintained by the open source community, Files features robust multitasking experiences, file tags, deep integrations, and an intuitive design. Installing and running Files Files is a community driven project that depends on your support to grow and improve. Please…
read the full Files overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rclone or Files more popular?
rclone has 60,740 GitHub stars and Files has 46,461. rclone has the larger community by that measure.
Are rclone and Files free?
Both are open source. rclone is licensed under MIT and Files under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rclone and Files?
rclone is written in Go and Files in C#. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, rclone or Files?
Choose rclone if you want the larger community (60,740 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Files if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.