head to head · open source
yazi vs pairdrop-android
yazi has 42,620 GitHub stars, 1,040 forks, 65 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. pairdrop-android has 1,076 stars, 81 forks, 29 open issues and last shipped today. yazi leads on adoption by 3,861% (42,620 vs 1,076 stars). yazi is written in Rust under MIT; pairdrop-android is written in Java under GPL-3.0. yazi has attracted 2% as many forks as stars, pairdrop-android 8%. pairdrop-android was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (android), 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 | pairdrop-android | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 43K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Java |
| Last push | 2026-10-03 | 2026-10-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 81 |
| 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 pairdrop-android if
- You want the pairdrop-android feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and pairdrop-android 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 pairdrop-android
PairDrop for Android is an open source Android client that lets you quickly send files from your phone to a PC or other devices over a local network using the PairDrop and self hosted Snapdrop services.
read the full pairdrop-android overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is yazi or pairdrop-android more popular?
yazi has 42,620 GitHub stars and pairdrop-android has 1,076. yazi has the larger community by that measure.
Are yazi and pairdrop-android free?
Both are open source. yazi is licensed under MIT and pairdrop-android under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between yazi and pairdrop-android?
yazi is written in Rust and pairdrop-android in Java. 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 pairdrop-android?
Choose yazi if you want the larger community (42,620 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose pairdrop-android if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.