head to head · open source
rclone vs updog
rclone has 59,942 GitHub stars, 5,430 forks, 1,273 open issues and last shipped yesterday. updog has 3,412 stars, 341 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 10 months ago. rclone leads on adoption by 1,657% (59,942 vs 3,412 stars). rclone is written in Go under MIT; updog is written in Python under MIT. rclone has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, updog 10%. 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 | updog | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 60K | ★ 3.4K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-24 | 2025-11-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.4K | ⑂ 341 |
| 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 updog if
- You want the updog feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and updog 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 updog
Updog is a Python 3.11+ HTTP/S file server that replaces Python's SimpleHTTPServer, adding file uploads alongside downloads, ad hoc SSL certificates and HTTP basic authentication for developers and operators who need to move files between machines without standing up a full file sharing service.
read the full updog overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rclone or updog more popular?
rclone has 59,942 GitHub stars and updog has 3,412. rclone has the larger community by that measure.
Are rclone and updog free?
Both are open source. rclone is licensed under MIT and updog under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rclone and updog?
rclone is written in Go and updog 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, rclone or updog?
Choose rclone if you want the larger community (59,942 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose updog if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.