head to head · open source
copyparty vs ranger
copyparty has 47,252 GitHub stars, 1,921 forks, 252 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. ranger has 17,448 stars, 940 forks, 896 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. copyparty leads on adoption by 171% (47,252 vs 17,448 stars). copyparty is written in Python under MIT; ranger is written in Python under GPL-3.0. copyparty has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, ranger 5%. copyparty 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| copyparty | ranger | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 17K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-21 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 940 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick copyparty if
- You weight community size — 47K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ranger if
- You want the ranger 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 ranger fits your workflow better
About copyparty
💾🎉 copyparty turn almost any device into a file server with resumable uploads/downloads using any web browser server only needs Python (2 or 3), all dependencies optional 🔌 protocols: http(s) // webdav // sftp // ftp(s) // tftp // smb/cifs 📱 android app // iPhone shortcuts 👉 Get started! or visit the read only demo server 👀 running on a nuc in my basement 📷 screenshots: browser // upload // unpost // thumbnails // search // fsearch // zip DL // md viewer 🎬 videos: upload // cli upload // race the beam // 👉 feature showcase (youtube) built in Norway 🇳🇴 with contributions from not norway readme toc top…
read the full copyparty overview →
About ranger
Ranger 1.9.4 ============ Ranger is a console file manager with VI key bindings. It provides a minimalistic and nice curses interface with a view on the directory hierarchy. It ships with rifle , a file launcher that is good at automatically finding out which program to use for what file type. For mc aficionados there's also the multi pane viewmode. This file describes ranger and how to get it to run. For instructions on the usage, please read the man page ( man ranger in a terminal). See HACKING.md for development specific information. For configuration, check the files in ranger/config/ or copy the default…
read the full ranger overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More File Management & Sync projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the File Management & Sync field.
Frequently asked questions
Is copyparty or ranger more popular?
copyparty has 47,252 GitHub stars and ranger has 17,448. copyparty has the larger community by that measure.
Are copyparty and ranger free?
Both are open source. copyparty is licensed under MIT and ranger under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between copyparty and ranger?
copyparty is written in Python and ranger 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, copyparty or ranger?
Choose copyparty if you want the larger community (47,252 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose ranger if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.