head to head · open source
Files vs xplorer
Files has 45,620 GitHub stars, 2,933 forks, 458 open issues and last shipped yesterday. xplorer has 5,674 stars, 379 forks, 49 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. Files leads on adoption by 704% (45,620 vs 5,674 stars). Files is written in C# under MIT; xplorer is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Files has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, xplorer 7%. Files was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (file-manager, files, fluent-design), 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 | xplorer | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 5.7K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C# | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-22 | 2026-06-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 379 |
| 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 xplorer if
- You want the xplorer feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and xplorer 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 xplorer
Xplorer is a cross platform, AI integrated desktop file manager built as a Tauri 2 application with a Rust backend and a React frontend, aimed at developers, researchers, students, and power users who want more from their files than the manager their operating system ships with.
read the full xplorer overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Files or xplorer more popular?
Files has 45,620 GitHub stars and xplorer has 5,674. Files has the larger community by that measure.
Are Files and xplorer free?
Both are open source. Files is licensed under MIT and xplorer under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Files and xplorer?
Files is written in C# and xplorer in TypeScript. 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 xplorer?
Choose Files if you want the larger community (45,620 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose xplorer if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.