head to head · open source
Mole vs nnn
Mole has 73,641 GitHub stars, 2,611 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nnn has 22,107 stars, 834 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Mole leads on adoption by 233% (73,641 vs 22,107 stars). Mole is written in Shell under GPL-3.0; nnn is written in C under BSD-2-Clause. Mole has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, nnn 4%. Mole was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (command-line), 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
| Mole | nnn | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 74K | ★ 22K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Written in | Shell | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 834 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Mole if
- You weight community size — 74K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick nnn if
- You want the nnn feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and nnn fits your workflow better
About Mole
Mole 🐹 Clean, uninstall, analyze, optimize, and monitor your Mac. Free open source CLI, plus a native Mac app. 💡 Prefer a native app? Mole for Mac brings cleanup, app management, maintenance, disk maps, and live status into one lightweight, VoiceOver ready app. One license covers 2 Macs with lifetime updates and a 14 day refund. The CLI stays free and open source. Features All in one toolkit : Combines CleanMyMac, AppCleaner, DaisyDisk, and iStat Menus in a single binary Deep cleaning : Removes caches, logs, leftovers, and orphaned app data to reclaim gigabytes of space Smart uninstaller : Removes apps plus…
About nnn
nnn Supercharge your productivity! [ Features ] $ $ [ Quickstart ] $ $ [ Plugins ] $ $ [ Wiki ] nnn ( n³ ) is a full featured terminal file manager. It's tiny ( 150 KiB), nearly 0 config and incredibly fast. It is designed to be unobtrusive with smart workflows to match the trains of thought. nnn can analyze disk usage, batch rename, launch apps and pick files. The plugin repository has tons of plugins to extend the capabilities further e.g. live previews, (un)mount disks, find & list, file/dir diff, upload files. A patch framework hosts sizable user submitted patches which are subjective in nature. Independent…
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Frequently asked questions
Is Mole or nnn more popular?
Mole has 73,641 GitHub stars and nnn has 22,107. Mole has the larger community by that measure.
Are Mole and nnn free?
Both are open source. Mole is licensed under GPL-3.0 and nnn under BSD-2-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Mole and nnn?
Mole is written in Shell and nnn 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, Mole or nnn?
Choose Mole if you want the larger community (73,641 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose nnn if its feature set, stack or BSD-2-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.