head to head · open source
syncthing vs joshuto
syncthing has 90,364 GitHub stars, 5,588 forks, 388 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. joshuto has 3,744 stars, 164 forks, 102 open issues and last shipped 17 days ago. syncthing leads on adoption by 2,314% (90,364 vs 3,744 stars). syncthing is written in Go under MPL-2.0; joshuto is written in Rust under LGPL-3.0. syncthing has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, joshuto 4%. syncthing 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
| syncthing | joshuto | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 90K | ★ 3.7K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-10 | 2026-10-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 164 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick syncthing if
- You weight community size — 90K stars and counting
- You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick joshuto if
- You want the joshuto feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and joshuto fits your workflow better
About syncthing
[![Syncthing][14]][15] Goals Syncthing is a continuous file synchronization program . It synchronizes files between two or more computers. We strive to fulfill the goals below. The goals are listed in order of importance, the most important ones first. This is the summary version of the goal list for more commentary, see the full [Goals document][13]. Syncthing should be: 1. Safe From Data Loss Protecting the user's data is paramount. We take every reasonable precaution to avoid corrupting the user's files. 2. Secure Against Attackers Again, protecting the user's data is paramount. Regardless of our other goals…
read the full syncthing overview →
About joshuto
joshuto ranger like terminal file manager written in Rust. Dependencies cargo = 1.90 rustc = 1.90 xsel/xclip/wl clipboard (optional, for clipboard support) fzf (optional) zoxide (optional) Also see Cargo.toml Building Installation For single user For single user with cargo System wide From pre compiled binary Dependencies: curl openssl Latest release Installs the latest version using the default installation path ( $HOME/.local/bin/ ). nix { description = "My configuration"; inputs = { nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos unstable"; joshuto.url = "github:kamiyaa/joshuto"; }; outputs = { nixpkgs, joshuto…
read the full joshuto overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is syncthing or joshuto more popular?
syncthing has 90,364 GitHub stars and joshuto has 3,744. syncthing has the larger community by that measure.
Are syncthing and joshuto free?
Both are open source. syncthing is licensed under MPL-2.0 and joshuto under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between syncthing and joshuto?
syncthing is written in Go and joshuto 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, syncthing or joshuto?
Choose syncthing if you want the larger community (90,364 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose joshuto if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.