head to head · open source
Nextcloud vs cloudreve
Nextcloud has 37,408 GitHub stars, 5,336 forks, 3,657 open issues and last shipped yesterday. cloudreve has 28,926 stars, 3,935 forks, 147 open issues and last shipped 16 days ago. Nextcloud leads on adoption by 29% (37,408 vs 28,926 stars). Nextcloud is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0; cloudreve is written in Go under GPL-3.0. Nextcloud has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, cloudreve 14%. Nextcloud was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (cloud, file-sharing), 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
| Nextcloud | cloudreve | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 37K | ★ 29K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | PHP | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-10-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.3K | ⑂ 3.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Nextcloud if
- You weight community size — 37K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cloudreve if
- You want the cloudreve feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and cloudreve fits your workflow better
About Nextcloud
Nextcloud Server ☁ A safe home for all your data. Why is this so awesome? 🤩 📁 Access your Data You can store your files, contacts, calendars, and more on a server of your choosing. 🔄 Sync your Data You keep your files, contacts, calendars, and more synchronized amongst your devices. 🙌 Share your Data …by giving others access to the stuff you want them to see or to collaborate with. 🚀 Expandable with hundreds of Apps ...like Calendar, Contacts, Mail, Video Chat and all those you can discover in our App Store 🔒 Security with our encryption mechanisms, HackerOne bounty program and two factor authentication…
read the full Nextcloud overview →
About cloudreve
中文版本 Cloudreve Self hosted file management system with multi cloud support. Homepage • Try it • Discussion • Documents • Download • Telegram • Discord :sparkles: Features :cloud: Support storing files into Local, Remote node, OneDrive, S3 compatible API, Qiniu Kodo, Aliyun OSS, Tencent COS, Huawei Cloud OBS, Kingsoft Cloud KS3, Upyun. :outbox tray: Upload/Download in directly transmission from client to storage providers. 💾 Integrate with Aria2/qBittorrent to download files in background, use multiple download nodes to share the load. 📚 Compress/Extract/Preview archived files, download files in batch. 💻…
read the full cloudreve overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Nextcloud or cloudreve more popular?
Nextcloud has 37,408 GitHub stars and cloudreve has 28,926. Nextcloud has the larger community by that measure.
Are Nextcloud and cloudreve free?
Both are open source. Nextcloud is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and cloudreve under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Nextcloud and cloudreve?
Nextcloud is written in PHP and cloudreve 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, Nextcloud or cloudreve?
Choose Nextcloud if you want the larger community (37,408 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose cloudreve if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.