head to head · open source
nnn vs BleachBit
nnn has 21,895 GitHub stars, 817 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. BleachBit has 6,939 stars, 454 forks, 313 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. nnn leads on adoption by 216% (21,895 vs 6,939 stars). nnn is written in C under BSD-2-Clause; BleachBit is written in Python under GPL-3.0. nnn has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, BleachBit 7%. BleachBit 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
| nnn | BleachBit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 22K | ★ 6.9K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 817 | ⑂ 454 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick nnn if
- You weight community size — 22K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick BleachBit if
- You want the BleachBit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and BleachBit fits your workflow better
About nnn
nnn (n³) is a tiny, nearly zero config terminal file manager written in C and released under the BSD 2 Clause licence, built for developers, sysadmins, and command line users who want fast filesystem browsing, disk usage analysis, batch renaming, and file picking without leaving the shell.
About BleachBit
BleachBit is a free, GPL 3.0 system cleaner written in Python that deletes files on Windows and Linux to free disk space and protect privacy, made for desktop users and administrators who want a cross platform alternative to commercial cleanup tools.
read the full BleachBit overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nnn or BleachBit more popular?
nnn has 21,895 GitHub stars and BleachBit has 6,939. nnn has the larger community by that measure.
Are nnn and BleachBit free?
Both are open source. nnn is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and BleachBit under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nnn and BleachBit?
nnn is written in C and BleachBit in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, nnn or BleachBit?
Choose nnn if you want the larger community (21,895 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose BleachBit if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.