head to head · open source
rclone vs Files
rclone has 59,830 GitHub stars, 5,407 forks, 1,273 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Files has 45,518 stars, 2,918 forks, 458 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. rclone leads on adoption by 31% (59,830 vs 45,518 stars). rclone is written in Go under MIT; Files is written in C# under MIT. rclone has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Files 6%. rclone 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
| rclone | Files | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 60K | ★ 46K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | C# |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.4K | ⑂ 2.9K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rclone if
- You weight community size — 60K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Files if
- You want the Files feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and Files fits your workflow better
About rclone
Rclone is an MIT licensed, Go based command line program that syncs files and directories to and from cloud storage providers, built for anyone who needs one tool for many backends instead of a separate client for every service.
read the full rclone overview →
About Files
Files is a modern, MIT licensed file manager for Windows, written in C and maintained by an open source community, for Windows users who want a customizable, actively developed alternative for organising files and folders.
read the full Files overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rclone or Files more popular?
rclone has 59,830 GitHub stars and Files has 45,518. rclone has the larger community by that measure.
Are rclone and Files free?
Both are open source. rclone is licensed under MIT and Files under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rclone and Files?
rclone is written in Go and Files 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, rclone or Files?
Choose rclone if you want the larger community (59,830 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Files if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.