head to head · open source
yazi vs explorerplusplus
yazi has 42,469 GitHub stars, 1,030 forks, 65 open issues and last shipped yesterday. explorerplusplus has 3,301 stars, 426 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped yesterday. yazi leads on adoption by 1,187% (42,469 vs 3,301 stars). yazi is written in Rust under MIT; explorerplusplus is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. yazi has attracted 2% as many forks as stars, explorerplusplus 13%. yazi 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
| yazi | explorerplusplus | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 42K | ★ 3.3K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-28 | 2026-09-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 426 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick yazi if
- You weight community size — 42K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick explorerplusplus if
- You want the explorerplusplus feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and explorerplusplus 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 explorerplusplus
Explorer++ is a lightweight, fast and completely portable open source file manager for Windows, written in C++ and licensed under GPL 3.0, aimed at Windows users who want tabbed browsing and more advanced file operations than the built in File Explorer provides.
read the full explorerplusplus overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is yazi or explorerplusplus more popular?
yazi has 42,469 GitHub stars and explorerplusplus has 3,301. yazi has the larger community by that measure.
Are yazi and explorerplusplus free?
Both are open source. yazi is licensed under MIT and explorerplusplus under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between yazi and explorerplusplus?
yazi is written in Rust and explorerplusplus 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, yazi or explorerplusplus?
Choose yazi if you want the larger community (42,469 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose explorerplusplus if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.