head to head · open source
cloudreve vs vifm
cloudreve has 28,800 GitHub stars, 3,917 forks, 147 open issues and last shipped 16 days ago. vifm has 3,277 stars, 147 forks, 146 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. cloudreve leads on adoption by 779% (28,800 vs 3,277 stars). cloudreve is written in Go under GPL-3.0; vifm is written in C under GPL-2.0. cloudreve has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, vifm 4%. vifm 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
| cloudreve | vifm | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 29K | ★ 3.3K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-21 | 2026-10-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.9K | ⑂ 147 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick cloudreve if
- You weight community size — 29K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- 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 cloudreve
Cloudreve is a self hosted file management and sharing system written in Go that gives an organisation its own web file manager, sharing layer, and multi cloud storage gateway running on infrastructure it controls.
read the full cloudreve overview →
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 cloudreve or vifm more popular?
cloudreve has 28,800 GitHub stars and vifm has 3,277. cloudreve has the larger community by that measure.
Are cloudreve and vifm free?
Both are open source. cloudreve is licensed under GPL-3.0 and vifm under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cloudreve and vifm?
cloudreve is written in Go 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, cloudreve or vifm?
Choose cloudreve if you want the larger community (28,800 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose vifm if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.