Flying Carpet vs LocalSend

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?
FeatureFlying CarpetLocalSend
CategoryFile Sync & StorageFile Sync & Storage
LicenseGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageRustDart
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM128 MB128 MB
Deploymentbinary, bare-metalbinary
GitHub stars★ 5,266★ 87,025
First released20172022
ReplacesAirDrop, SnapdropAirDrop

Why pick each one

Choose Flying Carpet if…

  • Works fully offline
  • Cross-platform including mobile
Flying Carpet details

Choose LocalSend if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Mature project with 87k GitHub stars
  • Written in Dart
LocalSend details

Frequently asked questions

Is Flying Carpet or LocalSend better?

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

Are Flying Carpet and LocalSend free and open-source?

Yes. Flying Carpet is licensed under GPL-3.0 and LocalSend under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Flying Carpet and LocalSend with Docker?

Flying Carpet: check the project docs for container support. LocalSend: check the project docs for container support.

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