croc vs Puter

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted file sync & storage options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeaturecrocPuter
CategoryFile Sync & StorageFile Sync & Storage
LicenseMITAGPL-3.0
LanguageGoTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM32 MB512 MB
Deploymentbinarydocker
GitHub stars★ 39,485★ 43,003
First released20182026
ReplacesWeTransfer, AirDrop

Why pick each one

Choose croc if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Mature project with 39.5k GitHub stars
  • Written in Go
croc details

Choose Puter if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 43k GitHub stars
  • Written in TypeScript
Puter details

Frequently asked questions

Is croc or Puter better?

Neither is universally better. Puter has the larger community, while croc is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are croc and Puter free and open-source?

Yes. croc is licensed under MIT and Puter under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run croc and Puter with Docker?

croc: check the project docs for container support. Puter: yes.

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