Directory Lister vs File Browser
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?
Compare Directory Lister with
choose an app… Syncthing LocalSend MinIO copyparty Puter croc Spacedrive Nextcloud SeaweedFS
Compare File Browser with
choose an app… Immich Syncthing LocalSend MinIO Rclone copyparty Puter PhotoPrism croc Spacedrive Nextcloud Restic SeaweedFS Cloudreve Ente Photos DeepFace Magic Wormhole Snapdrop gallery-dl Kubo (IPFS) Ceph transfer.sh ProjectSend alt: Vert.sh File converter Seafile Duplicati Filestash Stalwart Kopia Color Thief BorgBackup darktable SFTPGo PairDrop ShareDrop Dufs Thumbor qrcp Nextcloud All-in-One Velero FilePizza OctoPrint ownCloud LibrePhotos CryptPad miniserve FileBrowser Quantum bup Conduit File Sync Backrest Resilio Sync alternative Onionshare wger Photoview closet GoToSocial NoNo upspin imaginary h5ai Tiny File Manager Send Google Photos Takeout Helper OpenCloud WebDAV Server Go Duplicacy Unison Flying Carpet Papra CKAN SparkleShare elFinder Pingvin Share gocryptfs Kinto pgBackRest Syncthing Android Wrapper bitmagnet Nextcloud Desktop Sync slskd Updog Zipline FileGator PicoShare RcloneView gohttpserver Gokapi LubeLogger Chibisafe Mazanoke Syncthing-Fork Peergos Palmr Reitti CryFS Pydio Cells Mainsail OpenCloud Files Enclosed git-annex ProjectSend Zenko CloudServer bittorrent-tracker Apaxy PsiTransfer Plik Firefox SyncStorage Nextcloud companion go-filecoin none WebDAV-Aria Syncany Sync-in HortusFox FreeFileSync Garage Linx Slink Sharry rmfakecloud Morphos server Picsur rsync.net alternative Stash NoDuplicate HomeHub Uguu rustypaste XBackBone Zen scanservjs Gossa Threema Web FileRise Pomf Readur Poznote Webtor QuickShare ownCloud Web DumbDrop Wingfit Local Content Share Cryptomator CLI 015 IFM mikochi Open Web Calendar ThinkDashboard Davros goploader Lufi Files Sharing Filebin Kleeja Z-Push PrivyDrop Flare Nephele File Drop Cryptomator Hub hash-calendar ZeroNote Pydio Cells Sync Shifter Passky Client Pydio Cells Client elixire Dropgate Server IPFS Podcasting Digirecord Feber FileRun GoSƐ Jirafeau LibreOffice pacebin Resilio Sync ResourceSpace Samba slcl Surfer Yetishare
Feature Directory Lister File Browser Category File Sync & Storage File Sync & Storage License MIT Apache-2.0 Language PHP Go Setup difficulty Medium Easy Min. RAM 512 MB 64 MB Deployment docker docker, binary GitHub stars ★ 2,533 ★ 35,800 First released 2026 2017 Replaces — Dropbox
Why pick each one
Choose Directory Lister if… Released under the MIT license First-class Docker support for quick deployment Active community (2.5k GitHub stars) Written in PHP Directory Lister details Choose File Browser if… Extremely lightweight Trivial to deploy Good for quick file access File Browser details
Frequently asked questions Is Directory Lister or File Browser better? File Browser is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Directory Lister if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Directory Lister and File Browser free and open-source? Yes. Directory Lister is licensed under MIT and File Browser under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Directory Lister and File Browser with Docker? Directory Lister: yes. File Browser: yes.