head to head · open source
nnn vs curbox-android
nnn has 21,895 GitHub stars, 817 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. curbox-android has 1,339 stars, 156 forks, 31 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. nnn leads on adoption by 1,535% (21,895 vs 1,339 stars). nnn is written in C under BSD-2-Clause; curbox-android is written in Kotlin under GPL-3.0. nnn has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, curbox-android 12%. nnn was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (android), 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.
← all 15422 open source comparisons
Side by side
| nnn | curbox-android | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 22K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 817 | ⑂ 156 |
| 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 curbox-android if
- You want the curbox-android feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and curbox-android 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 curbox-android
Curbox is a free, open source Android app and website blocker, written in Kotlin and licensed under GPL 3.0, built for people who want to cut screen time and short form scrolling without handing their usage data to a closed source vendor.
read the full curbox-android overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More System Cleanup & Optimization projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the System Cleanup & Optimization field.
Frequently asked questions
Is nnn or curbox-android more popular?
nnn has 21,895 GitHub stars and curbox-android has 1,339. nnn has the larger community by that measure.
Are nnn and curbox-android free?
Both are open source. nnn is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and curbox-android under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nnn and curbox-android?
nnn is written in C and curbox-android in Kotlin. 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 curbox-android?
Choose nnn if you want the larger community (21,895 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose curbox-android if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.