head to head · open source
yazi vs Nextcloud
yazi has 43,192 GitHub stars, 1,055 forks, 65 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Nextcloud has 37,396 stars, 5,334 forks, 3,657 open issues and last shipped yesterday. yazi leads on adoption by 15% (43,192 vs 37,396 stars). yazi is written in Rust under MIT; Nextcloud is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0. yazi has attracted 2% as many forks as stars, Nextcloud 14%. Nextcloud 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
| yazi | Nextcloud | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 43K | ★ 37K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 5.3K |
| 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 Nextcloud if
- You want the Nextcloud feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and Nextcloud fits your workflow better
About yazi
Special thanks to: Yazi ⚡️ Blazing Fast Terminal File Manager Yazi (means "duck") is a terminal file manager written in Rust, based on non blocking async I/O. It aims to provide an efficient, user friendly, and customizable file management experience. 💡 A new article explaining its internal workings: Why is Yazi Fast? 🚀 Full Asynchronous Support : All I/O operations are asynchronous, CPU tasks are spread across multiple threads, making the most of available resources. 💪 Powerful Async Task Scheduling and Management : Provides real time progress updates, task cancellation, and internal task priority…
About Nextcloud
Nextcloud Server ☁ A safe home for all your data. Why is this so awesome? 🤩 📁 Access your Data You can store your files, contacts, calendars, and more on a server of your choosing. 🔄 Sync your Data You keep your files, contacts, calendars, and more synchronized amongst your devices. 🙌 Share your Data …by giving others access to the stuff you want them to see or to collaborate with. 🚀 Expandable with hundreds of Apps ...like Calendar, Contacts, Mail, Video Chat and all those you can discover in our App Store 🔒 Security with our encryption mechanisms, HackerOne bounty program and two factor authentication…
read the full Nextcloud overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is yazi or Nextcloud more popular?
yazi has 43,192 GitHub stars and Nextcloud has 37,396. yazi has the larger community by that measure.
Are yazi and Nextcloud free?
Both are open source. yazi is licensed under MIT and Nextcloud under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between yazi and Nextcloud?
yazi is written in Rust and Nextcloud in PHP. 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 Nextcloud?
Choose yazi if you want the larger community (43,192 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Nextcloud if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.