head to head · open source
rclone vs lf
rclone has 59,866 GitHub stars, 5,418 forks, 1,273 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. lf has 9,518 stars, 375 forks, 85 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. rclone leads on adoption by 529% (59,866 vs 9,518 stars). rclone is written in Go under MIT; lf is written in Go under MIT. rclone has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, lf 4%. 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 | lf | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 60K | ★ 9.5K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.4K | ⑂ 375 |
| 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 lf if
- You want the lf feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and lf 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 lf
lf is a terminal file manager written in Go for command line users who want fast, keyboard driven browsing of the filesystem without leaving the terminal.
More in Productivity & Utilities
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Frequently asked questions
Is rclone or lf more popular?
rclone has 59,866 GitHub stars and lf has 9,518. rclone has the larger community by that measure.
Are rclone and lf free?
Both are open source. rclone is licensed under MIT and lf under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rclone and lf?
rclone is written in Go and lf in Go. 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 lf?
Choose rclone if you want the larger community (59,866 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose lf if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.