PairDrop vs Syncthing
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 PairDrop with
choose an app… LocalSend MinIO copyparty Puter croc Spacedrive Nextcloud File Browser SeaweedFS Cloudreve Magic Wormhole Snapdrop Kubo (IPFS) Ceph transfer.sh ProjectSend alt: Vert.sh File converter Seafile Stalwart SFTPGo ShareDrop Dufs qrcp Nextcloud All-in-One FilePizza Resilio Sync alternative Onionshare Send Flying Carpet Pingvin Share Updog PicoShare Gokapi ProjectSend PsiTransfer Plik Linx rustypaste XBackBone Pomf Lufi Filebin Kleeja
Compare Syncthing with
choose an app… Immich LocalSend MinIO Rclone copyparty Puter PhotoPrism croc Spacedrive Nextcloud File Browser 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 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 Syncthing Tray 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 Surfer Yetishare
Feature PairDrop Syncthing Category File Sync & Storage File Sync & Storage License GPL-3.0 MPL-2.0 Language JavaScript Go Setup difficulty Easy Easy Min. RAM 64 MB 128 MB Deployment docker, bare-metal docker, binary, bare-metal GitHub stars ★ 11,133 ★ 87,439 First released 2022 2014 Replaces AirDrop, WeTransfer Dropbox, Resilio Sync
Why pick each one
Choose PairDrop if… Released under the GPL-3.0 license Easy to set up — beginner-friendly First-class Docker support for quick deployment Mature project with 11.1k GitHub stars PairDrop details Choose Syncthing if… No central server needed Very private by design Lightweight and reliable Syncthing details
Frequently asked questions Is PairDrop or Syncthing better? Neither is universally better. Syncthing has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are PairDrop and Syncthing free and open-source? Yes. PairDrop is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Syncthing under MPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run PairDrop and Syncthing with Docker? PairDrop: yes. Syncthing: yes.