head to head · open source
yazi vs elio
yazi has 42,722 GitHub stars, 1,044 forks, 65 open issues and last shipped yesterday. elio has 891 stars, 27 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped yesterday. yazi leads on adoption by 4,695% (42,722 vs 891 stars). yazi is written in Rust under MIT; elio is written in Rust under MIT. yazi has attracted 2% as many forks as stars, elio 3%. elio was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 6 topic tags (cli, cross-platform, file-manager, filesystem), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| yazi | elio | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 43K | ★ 891 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-09 | 2026-10-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 27 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick yazi if
- You weight community size — 43K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick elio if
- You want the elio feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and elio fits your workflow better
About yazi
Yazi is a terminal file manager written in Rust on non blocking async I/O, aimed at developers and command line users who want fast, customizable file browsing without leaving the terminal.
About elio
elio is a snappy, batteries included terminal file manager written in Rust for Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD users who want rich previews, inline images, bulk actions, and trash support directly in their shell.
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More File Management & Sync projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the File Management & Sync field.
Frequently asked questions
Is yazi or elio more popular?
yazi has 42,722 GitHub stars and elio has 891. yazi has the larger community by that measure.
Are yazi and elio free?
Both are open source. yazi is licensed under MIT and elio under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between yazi and elio?
yazi is written in Rust and elio 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, yazi or elio?
Choose yazi if you want the larger community (42,722 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose elio if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.