h5ai vs Seafile
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?
h5ai
Modern HTTP web server index for browsing files
VS
Seafile
High-performance file sync and share with block storage
| Feature | h5ai | Seafile |
|---|---|---|
| Category | File Sync & Storage | File Sync & Storage |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | C |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 6,052 | ★ 15,077 |
| First released | 2012 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Google Drive | Dropbox, Google Drive |
Why pick each one
Choose h5ai if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 6.1k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Choose Seafile if…
- Excellent sync performance
- Stable and battle-tested
- Good for large libraries
Frequently asked questions
Is h5ai or Seafile better?
Neither is universally better. Seafile has the larger community, while h5ai is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are h5ai and Seafile free and open-source?
Yes. h5ai is licensed under MIT and Seafile under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run h5ai and Seafile with Docker?
h5ai: check the project docs for container support. Seafile: yes.