head to head · open source
ranger vs vifm
ranger has 17,464 GitHub stars, 938 forks, 896 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. vifm has 3,288 stars, 150 forks, 146 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. ranger leads on adoption by 431% (17,464 vs 3,288 stars). ranger is written in Python under GPL-3.0; vifm is written in C under GPL-2.0. ranger has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, vifm 5%. vifm 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
| ranger | vifm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 3.3K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-11-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 938 | ⑂ 150 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ranger if
- You weight community size — 17K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick vifm if
- You want the vifm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and vifm fits your workflow better
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 →
About vifm
Vifm – Vim like file manager [![][AA]][A] [![][FF]][F] [![][UU]][U] [![][SS]][S] Vifm is a curses based Vim like file manager extended with some useful ideas from mutt. If you use Vim, Vifm gives you complete keyboard control over your files without having to learn a new set of commands. It goes not just about Vim like keybindings, but also about modes, options, registers, commands and other things you might already like in Vim. Just like Vim, Vifm tries to adhere to the Unix philosophy. So instead of working solutions which are set in stone user is provided with a set of means for customization of Vifm to one's…
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Frequently asked questions
Is ranger or vifm more popular?
ranger has 17,464 GitHub stars and vifm has 3,288. ranger has the larger community by that measure.
Are ranger and vifm free?
Both are open source. ranger is licensed under GPL-3.0 and vifm under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ranger and vifm?
ranger is written in Python and vifm in C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, ranger or vifm?
Choose ranger if you want the larger community (17,464 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose vifm if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.