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Pydio Cells vs Seafile: which one to choose in 2026?

Both are open source alternatives to Dropbox. We compare license, tech stack and features to help you decide which fits your team best.

Pydio CellsSeafile
CategoryStorageStorage
LicenseAGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
GitHub stars 2k 12k
Tech stackGo, ReactC, Python, MySQL
ReplacesDropboxDropbox

Seafile has more GitHub stars, which usually indicates a larger community (not necessarily that it's the best option for your use case).

Pydio Cells

Enterprise file sharing with auditing, an alternative to Dropbox Business.

Pros

  • Built for strict enterprise compliance and governance

Things to consider

  • More complex setup than simpler solutions like Seafile
View Pydio Cells's full profile

Seafile

Encrypted, efficient file sync, an alternative to Dropbox.

Pros

  • Noticeably better sync performance with lots of files

Things to consider

  • Less modern interface than Nextcloud
View Seafile's full profile

Key features

Pydio Cells

  • File approval workflows
  • Detailed access auditing
  • Version control and trash

Seafile

  • Optional end-to-end encryption per library
  • Space-efficient version control
  • Sync clients for every OS