File Browser vs Surfer
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 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 Directory Lister 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 Yetishare
Compare Surfer with
choose an app… Syncthing LocalSend MinIO copyparty Puter croc Spacedrive Nextcloud SeaweedFS
Feature File Browser Surfer Category File Sync & Storage File Sync & Storage License Apache-2.0 MIT Language Go Nodejs Setup difficulty Easy Medium Min. RAM 64 MB 512 MB Deployment docker, binary bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 35,800 — First released 2017 2020 Replaces Dropbox —
Why pick each one
Choose File Browser if… Extremely lightweight Trivial to deploy Good for quick file access File Browser details Choose Surfer if… Released under the MIT license Written in Nodejs Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM Surfer details
Frequently asked questions Is File Browser or Surfer better? File Browser is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Surfer if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are File Browser and Surfer free and open-source? Yes. File Browser is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Surfer under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run File Browser and Surfer with Docker? File Browser: yes. Surfer: check the project docs for container support.