head to head · open source
syncthing vs ranger
syncthing has 90,019 GitHub stars, 5,584 forks, 388 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ranger has 17,447 stars, 939 forks, 896 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. syncthing leads on adoption by 416% (90,019 vs 17,447 stars). syncthing is written in Go under MPL-2.0; ranger is written in Python under GPL-3.0. syncthing has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, ranger 5%. syncthing 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
| syncthing | ranger | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 90K | ★ 17K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 939 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick syncthing if
- You weight community size — 90K stars and counting
- You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- 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 syncthing
[![Syncthing][14]][15] Goals Syncthing is a continuous file synchronization program . It synchronizes files between two or more computers. We strive to fulfill the goals below. The goals are listed in order of importance, the most important ones first. This is the summary version of the goal list for more commentary, see the full [Goals document][13]. Syncthing should be: 1. Safe From Data Loss Protecting the user's data is paramount. We take every reasonable precaution to avoid corrupting the user's files. 2. Secure Against Attackers Again, protecting the user's data is paramount. Regardless of our other goals…
read the full syncthing 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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is syncthing or ranger more popular?
syncthing has 90,019 GitHub stars and ranger has 17,447. syncthing has the larger community by that measure.
Are syncthing and ranger free?
Both are open source. syncthing is licensed under MPL-2.0 and ranger under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between syncthing and ranger?
syncthing is written in Go 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, syncthing or ranger?
Choose syncthing if you want the larger community (90,019 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose ranger if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.