Best Self-Hosted File Sync & Storage in 2026

Quick Picks

Use Case	Best Choice	Why
Best overall	Nextcloud	Full cloud platform — file sync, calendar, contacts, office docs, 400+ apps
Best pure file sync	Seafile	Block-level dedup makes it the fastest sync engine available
Best peer-to-peer	Syncthing	No central server, no account, no trust required
Best lightweight platform	ownCloud oCIS	Single container, no database, Spaces for teams
Best lightweight file manager	Filebrowser	Web UI for server files in 20 MB of RAM
Best Dropbox replacement	Seafile	Closest experience to Dropbox’s fast, reliable sync
Best Google Drive replacement	Nextcloud	File sync + collaborative editing + office suite

The Full Ranking

1. Nextcloud — Best Overall

Nextcloud is the Swiss Army knife of self-hosted cloud platforms. File sync and sharing is just the starting point — it includes calendar, contacts, talk (video calls), office document editing (via Collabora or OnlyOffice), notes, tasks, and a plugin ecosystem with 400+ apps. If you want one platform to replace Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, Nextcloud is it.

The trade-off is resource usage. Nextcloud is a PHP application backed by PostgreSQL and Redis, and it needs 2-4 GB of RAM to run comfortably. Its sync client is slower than Seafile’s because it operates on whole files rather than block-level chunks. Large file libraries (100K+ files) can make the sync client sluggish.

Pros:

• Complete cloud platform — files, calendar, contacts, office docs, video calls
• 400+ apps in the Nextcloud App Store
• Desktop and mobile sync clients for every platform
• Collaborative document editing with Collabora or OnlyOffice integration
• Massive community (27K+ GitHub stars), extensive documentation
• LDAP/AD integration, SSO, and granular sharing permissions
• End-to-end encryption for sensitive folders

Cons:

• Higher resource usage (2-4 GB RAM recommended)
• Sync speed is slower than Seafile for large libraries
• PHP stack requires more tuning for performance (opcache, APCu, cron)
• Upgrades can break apps — test before updating
• Admin UI is sprawling — many settings spread across multiple pages

Best for: Anyone who wants a single platform replacing Dropbox, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, and Google Docs. The all-in-one play.

Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Nextcloud

2. Seafile — Best Pure File Sync

Seafile does one thing exceptionally well: sync files fast and reliably. Its custom data model uses block-level deduplication, meaning only changed portions of files are transferred — not entire files. This makes Seafile noticeably faster than Nextcloud for large file operations and repositories with thousands of files.

Seafile provides file versioning, client-side encryption for libraries, and collaborative editing via SeaDoc. It lacks the app ecosystem of Nextcloud (no calendar, contacts, or plugins), but that focus is also its strength — fewer moving parts, fewer things to break, and lower resource consumption.

Pros:

• Fastest sync engine of any self-hosted solution (block-level dedup)
• Client-side encrypted libraries — the server never sees plaintext
• Lower resource usage than Nextcloud (1-2 GB RAM)
• Desktop and mobile sync clients for all platforms
• File versioning and snapshots
• Stable — fewer upgrade issues than Nextcloud
• Active development since 2012

Cons:

• No app ecosystem — file sync and sharing only
• No calendar, contacts, or office suite
• Community Edition has limited features vs. Pro
• Fewer integrations than Nextcloud
• Smaller community than Nextcloud (12K GitHub stars)

Best for: Users who want Dropbox-like file sync without the bloat. If you only need file sync and don’t care about calendar, contacts, or office docs, Seafile is the better choice over Nextcloud.

Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Seafile

3. Syncthing — Best Peer-to-Peer

Syncthing is fundamentally different from Nextcloud and Seafile. There is no central server. Your devices sync directly with each other over encrypted connections. No account, no cloud, no single point of failure. If one device goes offline, the others keep syncing between themselves.

This architecture makes Syncthing the most private option — your data never touches a server you don’t control. It also means zero server maintenance for the sync itself. The Docker setup is optional; Syncthing runs natively on Linux, macOS, Windows, and Android.

The downside: no web UI for file browsing (just the admin dashboard), no link-based sharing, and no mobile file access unless the device with the files is online and running Syncthing.

Pros:

• No central server required — true peer-to-peer
• Encrypted in transit, optional encryption at rest
• Works on Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, FreeBSD
• Extremely lightweight (~50 MB RAM)
• No account needed — device IDs handle trust
• 67K+ GitHub stars — massive, active community
• Conflict handling with .sync-conflict files

Cons:

• No web-based file access or sharing links
• No mobile file browsing (iOS app is limited)
• Requires at least two devices to be useful
• No file versioning beyond simple conflict copies
• No collaborative editing
• Folder sharing requires manual device pairing on both ends

Best for: Privacy-focused users who want file sync between devices without trusting any server. Pairs well with a Nextcloud or Filebrowser instance for web access.

Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Syncthing

4. ownCloud oCIS — Best Lightweight Platform

ownCloud oCIS is a complete rewrite of ownCloud in Go. It runs as a single container with no external database — metadata is stored in the filesystem. Spaces (project-based collaboration areas) are a standout feature that Nextcloud doesn’t natively offer. Lighter and faster than Nextcloud, with a modern web UI.

Pros:

• Single container — no database, cache, or cron needed
• Lower resource usage than Nextcloud (256-512 MB RAM)
• Spaces for project-based team collaboration
• Built-in identity provider and OIDC support
• Fast startup (compiled Go binary)
• Apache-2.0 license

Cons:

• No CalDAV/CardDAV (no calendar or contacts)
• No video calls or app marketplace
• Smaller community and less documentation than Nextcloud
• Enterprise-focused — fewer community tutorials
• Legacy ownCloud 10 (PHP) is a different product in maintenance mode

Best for: Teams who want file sync with project-based collaboration (Spaces) and prefer a lighter, simpler platform than Nextcloud.

Read our full guide: How to Self-Host ownCloud oCIS

5. Filebrowser — Best Lightweight File Manager

Filebrowser is not a sync tool. It is a web-based file manager that gives you browser access to files on your server. Upload, download, rename, move, share via link — all through a clean web UI. It runs in ~20 MB of RAM with a single container.

Filebrowser fills a different niche than the sync tools above. Use it when you want web access to files on a server without installing sync clients on every device. It supports multiple users with configurable permissions, link-based sharing with optional passwords and expiry, and a built-in text editor.

Pros:

• Extremely lightweight (~20 MB RAM, single container)
• Clean, fast web UI
• Multi-user with per-user root directories and permissions
• Link-based file sharing with passwords and expiry
• Built-in text/code editor
• Zero configuration to get started

Cons:

• No sync client — web only
• No file versioning
• No mobile app
• No calendar, contacts, or collaboration features
• Limited to what a web file manager can do

Best for: Accessing server files from a browser. Use alongside Syncthing for sync + web access, or as a lightweight alternative when Nextcloud is overkill.

Read our full guide: How to Self-Host Filebrowser

Full Comparison Table

Feature	Nextcloud	Seafile	Syncthing	Filebrowser
Architecture	Client-server	Client-server	Peer-to-peer	Web file manager
Desktop sync client	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Mobile sync client	Yes (Android, iOS)	Yes (Android, iOS)	Yes (Android; limited iOS)	No
Web file browser	Yes	Yes	No (admin UI only)	Yes
Link-based sharing	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
File versioning	Yes	Yes (snapshots)	No	No
Client-side encryption	Per-folder E2E	Per-library	In transit	No
Collaborative editing	Yes (Collabora/OnlyOffice)	Yes (SeaDoc)	No	No
Calendar & contacts	Yes	No	No	No
App ecosystem	400+ plugins	Limited	None	None
Multi-user	Yes	Yes	N/A (device-based)	Yes
LDAP/SSO	Yes	Yes (Pro)	No	No
RAM usage (idle)	500-800 MB	300-500 MB	~50 MB	~20 MB
Containers required	3+ (app, db, Redis)	3 (server, db, memcached)	1	1
Sync speed (large files)	Moderate	Fast (block-level)	Fast (direct)	N/A
GitHub stars	27K+	12K+	67K+	27K+
License	AGPL-3.0	AGPL-3.0	MPL-2.0	Apache-2.0

How We Evaluated

Each solution was assessed on six criteria:

1. Sync reliability and speed — How fast does it sync large files and large numbers of files? Does it handle conflicts cleanly?
2. Resource efficiency — RAM, CPU, and disk overhead on the server. Matters for small home servers and VPS instances.
3. Feature breadth — What can you do beyond basic file sync? Sharing, versioning, encryption, collaboration.
4. Setup complexity — How many containers, how much configuration, how quickly can you go from zero to working?
5. Client coverage — Desktop and mobile app availability, browser access, API quality.
6. Community and maintenance — GitHub activity, documentation quality, release cadence, community size.

Nextcloud wins overall because it replaces the most cloud services in a single deployment. Seafile wins for pure sync because its block-level engine is measurably faster. Syncthing wins for privacy because no data ever touches a central server. Filebrowser wins for simplicity when you just need web file access without sync overhead.

FAQ

Can I use Syncthing and Nextcloud together?

Yes, and it is a common setup. Use Syncthing for fast device-to-device sync of working files, and Nextcloud for web access, sharing links, calendar, and contacts. They serve different purposes and complement each other well. Just avoid syncing the same directory with both tools simultaneously — pick one sync engine per folder.

Which is the best Dropbox replacement?

Seafile. Its block-level sync engine is the closest experience to Dropbox in terms of speed and reliability. Nextcloud is the better choice if you also want to replace Google Calendar, Contacts, and Docs alongside Dropbox.

How much storage do I need?

As much as you have files. All four solutions store data on your server’s filesystem. Start with whatever disk space you have and expand with additional drives, NAS, or network mounts. For reference, the average Dropbox user stores 2-5 GB — most home servers have far more than that available.

Do I need a reverse proxy for these?

For remote access with HTTPS, yes. All four work behind Nginx Proxy Manager, Traefik, or Caddy. Syncthing is the exception for sync traffic (it handles its own encryption), but the web UI benefits from a reverse proxy if exposed remotely.

Related

• How to Self-Host Nextcloud
• How to Self-Host Seafile
• How to Self-Host Syncthing
• How to Self-Host Filebrowser
• Nextcloud vs Seafile
• Nextcloud vs Syncthing
• Seafile vs Syncthing
• Nextcloud vs ownCloud
• Self-Hosted Alternatives to Google Drive
• Self-Hosted Alternatives to Dropbox
• Self-Hosted Alternatives to OneDrive
• Self-Hosted Alternatives to iCloud Drive
• Docker Compose Basics
• Reverse Proxy Setup
• Backup Strategy