head to head · open source
Spacedrive vs ranger
Spacedrive has 39,008 GitHub stars, 1,351 forks, 57 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. ranger has 17,405 stars, 942 forks, 896 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. Spacedrive leads on adoption by 124% (39,008 vs 17,405 stars). Spacedrive is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; ranger is written in Python under GPL-3.0. Spacedrive has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, ranger 5%. ranger was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (file-manager), 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
| Spacedrive | ranger | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 17K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Python |
| Last push | 2026-07-29 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 942 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Spacedrive if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- 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 Spacedrive
Spacedrive is an open source, cross platform file explorer built on a virtual distributed filesystem written in Rust. It unifies local and remote storage—including cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive, and S3—into a single interface, enabling unified search, browsing, and syncing across devices without centralized servers.
read the full Spacedrive overview →
About ranger
Ranger is a console file manager with VI key bindings, written in Python and released under the GNU General Public License version 3, for terminal users who want to browse, preview, and manipulate files without leaving a Unix shell.
read the full ranger overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Spacedrive or ranger more popular?
Spacedrive has 39,008 GitHub stars and ranger has 17,405. Spacedrive has the larger community by that measure.
Are Spacedrive and ranger free?
Both are open source. Spacedrive has no licence declared in this registry, and ranger is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Spacedrive and ranger?
Spacedrive is written in Rust 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, Spacedrive or ranger?
Choose Spacedrive if you want the larger community (39,008 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose ranger if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.