head to head · open source
yazi vs xplr
yazi has 42,382 GitHub stars, 1,024 forks, 65 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. xplr has 4,828 stars, 96 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. yazi leads on adoption by 778% (42,382 vs 4,828 stars). yazi is written in Rust under MIT; xplr is written in Rust under MIT. yazi has attracted 2% as many forks as stars, xplr 2%. xplr was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 6 topic tags (cli, command-line, developer-tools, file-explorer), 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 | xplr | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 42K | ★ 4.8K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-21 | 2026-09-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 96 |
| 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 xplr if
- You want the xplr feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and xplr 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 xplr
xplr is a hackable, minimal and fast terminal UI file explorer, written in Rust and released under the MIT licence, for command line users who want a scriptable, keyboard controlled visual layer over the filesystem utilities they already run.
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Frequently asked questions
Is yazi or xplr more popular?
yazi has 42,382 GitHub stars and xplr has 4,828. yazi has the larger community by that measure.
Are yazi and xplr free?
Both are open source. yazi is licensed under MIT and xplr under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between yazi and xplr?
yazi is written in Rust and xplr 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 xplr?
Choose yazi if you want the larger community (42,382 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose xplr if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.