head to head · open source
syncthing vs ranger
syncthing has 89,310 GitHub stars, 5,518 forks, 388 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. ranger has 17,424 stars, 939 forks, 896 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. syncthing leads on adoption by 413% (89,310 vs 17,424 stars). syncthing is written in Go under MPL-2.0; ranger is written in Python under GPL-3.0. syncthing has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, ranger 5%. 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 | ranger | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 89K | ★ 17K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-10 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.5K | ⑂ 939 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick syncthing if
- You weight community size — 89K 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 ranger if
- You want the ranger feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and ranger fits your workflow better
About syncthing
Syncthing is an open source continuous file synchronization program written in Go that keeps files identical across two or more computers, aimed at individual users who want to sync their own data without a third party service.
read the full syncthing overview →
About ranger
Ranger is a console file manager with VI key bindings, written in Python and released under the GNU General Public License version 3, for terminal users who want to browse, preview, and manipulate files without leaving a Unix shell.
read the full ranger overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is syncthing or ranger more popular?
syncthing has 89,310 GitHub stars and ranger has 17,424. syncthing has the larger community by that measure.
Are syncthing and ranger free?
Both are open source. syncthing is licensed under MPL-2.0 and ranger under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between syncthing and ranger?
syncthing is written in Go and ranger 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, syncthing or ranger?
Choose syncthing if you want the larger community (89,310 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose ranger if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.