Self-hosted alternatives to Dropbox
Want file sync and sharing without handing your data to Dropbox? These 30 open-source apps run on your own server. Cheapest estimated hosting starts at about $3.5/month.
| App | Health | Stars | License | Docker | RAM (est.) | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Syncthing | Actively maintained | 90k | MPL-2.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| copyparty | Actively maintained | 47.2k | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Puter | Actively maintained | 44.1k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Nextcloud | Actively maintained | 37.4k | AGPL-3.0 | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Cloudreve | Actively maintained | 28.9k | GPL-3.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Filestash | Actively maintained | 14.9k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| ownCloud | Actively maintained | 8.8k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| miniserve | Actively maintained | 8.1k | MIT | – | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| OpenCloud | Actively maintained | 6.3k | Apache-2.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Unison | Actively maintained | 5.6k | GPL-3.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| TagSpaces | Actively maintained | 5.4k | AGPL-3.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Kinto | Actively maintained | 4.4k | Apache-2.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| FileGator | Actively maintained | 3.1k | MIT | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Peergos | Actively maintained | 2.5k | AGPL-3.0 | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Pydio | Actively maintained | 2.3k | AGPL-3.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Seafile | Maintained | 15.4k | GPL-2.0, GPL-3.0, AGPL-3.0, Apache-2.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Sync-in | Actively maintained | 2k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Hoodik | Actively maintained | 1.5k | CC-BY-NC-4.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| bewCloud | Actively maintained | 1.2k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Tiny File Manager | Maintained | 6k | GPL-3.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| FileRise | Actively maintained | 1k | MIT | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| mikochi | Actively maintained | 379 | MIT | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| IFM | Actively maintained | 370 | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Flare | Maintained | 138 | MIT | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| ClyoCloud | Health unknown | – | AGPL-3.0 | – | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| FileRun | Health unknown | – | ⊘ Proprietary | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Git Annex | Health unknown | – | GPL-3.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| OpenSSH SFTP server | Health unknown | – | BSD-2-Clause | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Resilio Sync | Health unknown | – | ⊘ Proprietary | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Samba | Health unknown | – | GPL-3.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
The options in detail
1. Syncthing
Peer-to-peer file synchronisation tool.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-11-03. Latest release v2.1.7 (2026-10-21). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
2. copyparty
Portable file server with accelerated resumable uploads, deduplication, WebDAV, FTP, zeroconf, media indexer, video thumbnails, audio transcoding, and write-only folders, in a single file with no mandatory dependencies.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-10-21. Latest release v1.20.26 (2026-10-14). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
3. Puter
Web-based operating system designed to be feature-rich, exceptionally fast, and highly extensible.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-11-03. Latest release 26.11 (2026-11-02). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
4. Nextcloud
Access and share your files, calendars, contacts, mail and more from any device, on your terms.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-11-04. Latest release v35.0.2 (2026-10-15). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
5. Cloudreve
File management and sharing system, supports multiple storage providers.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-10-20. Latest release 4.19.1 (2026-09-18). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
6. Filestash
Web file manager that lets you manage your data anywhere it is located: FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Git, S3, Minio, Dropbox, or Google Drive.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-10-29. Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
7. ownCloud
All-in-one solution for saving, synchronizing, viewing, editing and sharing files, calendars, address books and more.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-11-02. Latest release v10.16.6 (2026-10-06). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
8. miniserve
CLI tool to serve files and dirs over HTTP.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-11-02. Latest release v0.35.0 (2026-04-08). Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
9. OpenCloud
File Sharing and Collaboration Platform.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-11-02. Latest release v9.0.0 (2026-10-27). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
10. Unison
File-synchronization tool for OSX, Unix, and Windows.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-09-20. Latest release v2.54.0 (2026-05-01). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
11. TagSpaces
Offline, cross-platform file manager and organiser that also can function as a note taking app. The WebDAV version of the application can be installed on top of a WebDAV servers such as Nextcloud or ownCloud.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-11-02. Latest release v6.14.3 (2026-10-13). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
12. Kinto
Minimalist JSON storage service with synchronisation and sharing abilities.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-11-02. Latest release 26.5.0 (2026-10-13). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
13. FileGator
Powerful multi-user file manager with a single page front-end.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-10-27. Latest release v7.16.8 (2026-10-21). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
14. Peergos
Secure and private space online where you can store, share and view your photos, videos, music and documents. Also includes a calendar, news feed, task lists, chat and email client.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-11-01. Needs roughly 2 GB RAM. How to run it →
15. Pydio
Turn any web server into a powerful file management system and an alternative to mainstream cloud storage providers.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-10-30. Latest release v5.1.1 (2026-11-02). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
16. Seafile
File hosting and sharing solution primary for teams and organizations.
Maintained Last activity 2026-10-16. Latest release v9.0.5 (2024-02-27). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
17. Sync-in
File storage, syncing, sharing, and collaboration with real-time editing, permission management, and desktop/CLI clients.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-11-01. Latest release v2.6.2 (2026-11-01). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
18. Hoodik
End-to-end encrypted cloud storage server. Files are encrypted and decrypted in the browser, so the server only ever holds ciphertext. Runs on SQLite or PostgreSQL, stores chunks on local disk or any S3-compatible service.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-11-01. Latest release v2.5.9 (2026-10-22). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM incl. postgres. How to run it →
19. bewCloud
File sharing + sync, notes, and photos (alternative to Nextcloud and ownCloud's RSS reader).
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-10-18. Latest release v4.21.0 (2026-10-18). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
20. Tiny File Manager
Web based File Manager in PHP, simple, fast and small file manager with a single file.
Maintained Last activity 2026-07-20. Latest release 2.6 (2024-11-05). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
21. FileRise
Web file manager with uploads, tagging, share links, gallery/table views, and an in-browser editor.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-11-02. Latest release v3.39.0 (2026-11-02). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
22. mikochi
Browse remote folders, upload files, delete, rename, download and stream files to VLC/mpv.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-10-15. Latest release 1.12.2 (2026-10-15). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
23. IFM
Single script file manager.
Actively maintained Last activity 2026-08-20. Latest release v4.1.2 (2026-08-20). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
24. Flare
Nonbloated, modern, and highly configurable file/screenshot vault server with support for ShareX, Flameshot, and Spectacle. Offers OCR search and more.
Maintained Last activity 2026-11-03. Latest release rolling (2025-07-06). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
25. ClyoCloud
Personal cloud storage and media management application built for privacy, efficiency, and aesthetics.
Health unknown Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
26. FileRun
Complete solution for your files with integration with Google and Office.
Health unknown Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
27. Git Annex
File synchronization between computers, servers, external drives.
Health unknown Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
28. OpenSSH SFTP server
Secure File Transfer Program.
Health unknown Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
29. Resilio Sync
Proprietary peer-to-peer file synchronisation tool.
Health unknown Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
30. Samba
Standard Windows interoperability suite of programs for Linux and Unix. It provides secure, stable and fast file and print services for all clients using the SMB/CIFS protocol.
Health unknown Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
Why self-host instead of Dropbox?
- Own your data — it lives on a server you control, with backups you decide on.
- Predictable cost — a small VPS often replaces per-seat pricing for a whole team or family.
- No lock-in — open-source licenses let you keep running the software even if a vendor disappears.
The trade-off: you are responsible for updates, backups and security. Pick an app marked Actively maintained and with Docker support for the easiest ride.
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Other alternatives guides
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