CryFS vs MinIO

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?
FeatureCryFSMinIO
CategoryFile Sync & StorageFile Sync & Storage
LicenseLGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageRustGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM64 MB256 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, binarydocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 2,297★ 61,387
First released20152015
ReplacesBoxcryptorAmazon S3

Why pick each one

Choose CryFS if…

  • Strong metadata protection
  • Pairs with any sync tool
CryFS details

Choose MinIO if…

  • Excellent performance
  • Drop-in S3 replacement
  • Scales horizontally
MinIO details

Frequently asked questions

Is CryFS or MinIO better?

Neither is universally better. MinIO has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are CryFS and MinIO free and open-source?

Yes. CryFS is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and MinIO under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run CryFS and MinIO with Docker?

CryFS: check the project docs for container support. MinIO: yes.

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