head to head · open source
cloudreve vs PairDrop
cloudreve has 28,920 GitHub stars, 3,934 forks, 147 open issues and last shipped 14 days ago. PairDrop has 11,740 stars, 720 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. cloudreve leads on adoption by 146% (28,920 vs 11,740 stars). cloudreve is written in Go under GPL-3.0; PairDrop is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0. cloudreve has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, PairDrop 6%. cloudreve was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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
| cloudreve | PairDrop | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 12K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-20 | 2026-04-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.9K | ⑂ 720 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick cloudreve if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick PairDrop if
- You want the PairDrop feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and PairDrop fits your workflow better
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 →
About PairDrop
Send it , with PairDrop Local file sharing in your web browser . Inspired by Apple's AirDrop. Fork of Snapdrop. Report a bug Request feature Features File sharing on your local network that works on all platforms. A multi platform AirDrop like solution that works. Send images, documents or text via peer to peer connection to devices on the same local network. Internet transfers Join temporary public rooms to transfer files easily over the Internet. Web app Works on all devices with a modern web browser. Send a file from your phone to your laptop? Share photos in original quality with friends using Android and…
read the full PairDrop overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is cloudreve or PairDrop more popular?
cloudreve has 28,920 GitHub stars and PairDrop has 11,740. cloudreve has the larger community by that measure.
Are cloudreve and PairDrop free?
Both are open source. cloudreve is licensed under GPL-3.0 and PairDrop under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cloudreve and PairDrop?
cloudreve is written in Go and PairDrop in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, cloudreve or PairDrop?
Choose cloudreve if you want the larger community (28,920 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose PairDrop if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.