Seafile 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.
| Seafile | Syncthing | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Storage | Storage |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| GitHub stars | 12k | 65k |
| Tech stack | C, Python, MySQL | 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).
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
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
Seafile
- Optional end-to-end encryption per library
- Space-efficient version control
- Sync clients for every OS
Syncthing
- P2P sync with no central server
- End-to-end encryption by design
- File version control