FilePizza vs Lufi
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted file sync & storage options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
FilePizza
Peer-to-peer file transfers in your browser
VS
Lufi
Let users fight uploads with client-side encryption
| Feature | FilePizza | Lufi |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | File Sync & Storage | File Sync & Storage |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Perl |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 50 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 10,189 | ★ 300 |
| First released | 2023 | 2015 |
| Replaces | WeTransfer | WeTransfer, Firefox Send |
What are FilePizza and Lufi?
FilePizza
Peer-to-peer file transfers in your browser.
Lufi
Lufi is a file hosting application where files are encrypted in the browser before being uploaded, so the server never sees their contents. Files can be set to delete after a chosen expiration period.
- Client-side encryption
- Automatic file expiration
- Part of the Framasoft suite
FilePizza vs Lufi: key differences
FilePizza is written in TypeScript, while Lufi is built with Perl. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for FilePizza versus AGPL-3.0 for Lufi. FilePizza is the lighter option, starting around 50 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Lufi. Lufi is the more established project (first released 2015), while FilePizza arrived in 2023. FilePizza has the considerably larger community, at 10,189 GitHub stars versus 300. Lufi lists first-class Docker deployment; FilePizza does not.
Why pick each one
Choose FilePizza if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Mature project with 10.2k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 50 MB RAM
Choose Lufi if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Perl
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is FilePizza or Lufi better?
Neither is universally better. FilePizza has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are FilePizza and Lufi free and open-source?
Yes. FilePizza is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Lufi under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run FilePizza and Lufi with Docker?
FilePizza: check the project docs for container support. Lufi: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, FilePizza or Lufi?
FilePizza has the smaller minimum footprint at 50 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Lufi. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.