head to head · open source
nnn vs portabase
nnn has 21,895 GitHub stars, 817 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. portabase has 1,750 stars, 116 forks, 33 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. nnn leads on adoption by 1,151% (21,895 vs 1,750 stars). nnn is written in C under BSD-2-Clause; portabase is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. nnn has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, portabase 7%. portabase 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 | portabase | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 22K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 817 | ⑂ 116 |
| 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 portabase if
- You want the portabase feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and portabase 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 portabase
Portabase is an Apache 2.0 licensed, self hosted TypeScript application that backs up and restores PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, SQLite, Firebird, Microsoft SQL Server, Azure SQL and Docker volumes from a single dashboard, and it is built for developers, DevOps engineers and self hosters who run their own database instances rather than buying a managed backup service.
read the full portabase overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nnn or portabase more popular?
nnn has 21,895 GitHub stars and portabase has 1,750. nnn has the larger community by that measure.
Are nnn and portabase free?
Both are open source. nnn is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and portabase under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nnn and portabase?
nnn is written in C and portabase in TypeScript. 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 portabase?
Choose nnn if you want the larger community (21,895 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose portabase if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.