head to head · open source
Spacedrive vs Nextcloud
Spacedrive has 39,003 GitHub stars, 1,350 forks, 57 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Nextcloud has 36,828 stars, 5,222 forks, 3,657 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Spacedrive leads on adoption by 6% (39,003 vs 36,828 stars). Spacedrive is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; Nextcloud is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0. Spacedrive has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, Nextcloud 14%. Nextcloud 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
| Spacedrive | Nextcloud | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 37K |
| License | Custom / other | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 5.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Spacedrive if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Nextcloud if
- You want the Nextcloud feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and Nextcloud fits your workflow better
About Spacedrive
Spacedrive is an open source, cross platform file explorer built on a virtual distributed filesystem written in Rust. It unifies local and remote storage—including cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive, and S3—into a single interface, enabling unified search, browsing, and syncing across devices without centralized servers.
read the full Spacedrive overview →
About Nextcloud
Nextcloud is a self hosted cloud collaboration platform built in PHP, licensed under AGPL 3.0. It enables organizations and individuals to store, synchronize, and share files, contacts, calendars, and other data on infrastructure they control, replacing reliance on third party cloud services. The project lives in the open source cloud software ecosystem and serves as a decentralized alternative to proprietary suites like Dropbox, Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365.
read the full Nextcloud overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Spacedrive or Nextcloud more popular?
Spacedrive has 39,003 GitHub stars and Nextcloud has 36,828. Spacedrive has the larger community by that measure.
Are Spacedrive and Nextcloud free?
Both are open source. Spacedrive has no licence declared in this registry, and Nextcloud is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Spacedrive and Nextcloud?
Spacedrive is written in Rust and Nextcloud in PHP. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Spacedrive or Nextcloud?
Choose Spacedrive if you want the larger community (39,003 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Nextcloud if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.