head to head · open source
Files vs Spacedrive
Files has 45,547 GitHub stars, 2,920 forks, 458 open issues and last shipped today. Spacedrive has 39,008 stars, 1,351 forks, 57 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Files leads on adoption by 17% (45,547 vs 39,008 stars). Files is written in C# under MIT; Spacedrive is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence. Files has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Spacedrive 3%. Files 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
| Files | Spacedrive | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 39K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | C# | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-07-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Files if
- You weight community size — 46K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Spacedrive if
- You want the Spacedrive feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Spacedrive fits your workflow better
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 →
About Spacedrive
Spacedrive is an open source, cross platform file explorer built on a virtual distributed filesystem written in Rust. It unifies local and remote storage—including cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive, and S3—into a single interface, enabling unified search, browsing, and syncing across devices without centralized servers.
read the full Spacedrive overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Files or Spacedrive more popular?
Files has 45,547 GitHub stars and Spacedrive has 39,008. Files has the larger community by that measure.
Are Files and Spacedrive free?
Both are open source. Files is licensed under MIT, and Spacedrive has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Files and Spacedrive?
Files is written in C# and Spacedrive in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Files or Spacedrive?
Choose Files if you want the larger community (45,547 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Spacedrive if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.