head to head · open source
uppy vs vifm
uppy has 31,012 GitHub stars, 2,109 forks, 186 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vifm has 3,277 stars, 147 forks, 146 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. uppy leads on adoption by 846% (31,012 vs 3,277 stars). uppy is written in TypeScript under MIT; vifm is written in C under GPL-2.0. uppy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, vifm 4%. uppy 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
| uppy | vifm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 3.3K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | C |
| Last push | 2026-10-06 | 2026-10-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 147 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick uppy if
- You weight community size — 31K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick vifm if
- You want the vifm feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and vifm fits your workflow better
About uppy
Uppy is an MIT licensed, TypeScript built, modular JavaScript file uploader for web browsers that drops into any web application, aimed at developers who would rather wire up plugins than build file uploading from scratch.
About vifm
Vifm is a curses based, Vim like file manager for the terminal that gives people who already use Vim complete keyboard control over their files without having to learn a new set of commands.
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Frequently asked questions
Is uppy or vifm more popular?
uppy has 31,012 GitHub stars and vifm has 3,277. uppy has the larger community by that measure.
Are uppy and vifm free?
Both are open source. uppy is licensed under MIT and vifm under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between uppy and vifm?
uppy is written in TypeScript and vifm in C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, uppy or vifm?
Choose uppy if you want the larger community (31,012 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose vifm if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.