head to head · open source
yazi vs lf
yazi has 42,325 GitHub stars, 1,024 forks, 65 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. lf has 9,518 stars, 375 forks, 85 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. yazi leads on adoption by 345% (42,325 vs 9,518 stars). yazi is written in Rust under MIT; lf is written in Go under MIT. yazi has attracted 2% as many forks as stars, lf 4%. 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 | lf | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 42K | ★ 9.5K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 375 |
| 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 lf if
- You want the lf feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and lf 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 lf
lf is a terminal file manager written in Go for command line users who want fast, keyboard driven browsing of the filesystem without leaving the terminal.
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Frequently asked questions
Is yazi or lf more popular?
yazi has 42,325 GitHub stars and lf has 9,518. yazi has the larger community by that measure.
Are yazi and lf free?
Both are open source. yazi is licensed under MIT and lf under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between yazi and lf?
yazi is written in Rust and lf in Go. 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 lf?
Choose yazi if you want the larger community (42,325 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose lf if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.