Pydio Cells vs Syncthing: 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 Cells | Syncthing | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Storage | Storage |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| GitHub stars | 2k | 65k |
| Tech stack | Go, React | Go |
| Replaces | Dropbox | Dropbox |
Syncthing 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
Syncthing
Encrypted P2P sync between devices, a decentralized alternative to Dropbox.
Pros
- Doesn't depend on any third-party cloud server
Things to consider
- Not centralized storage: each device keeps its own copy
Key features
Pydio Cells
- File approval workflows
- Detailed access auditing
- Version control and trash
Syncthing
- P2P sync with no central server
- End-to-end encryption by design
- File version control