Spacedrive vs Stalwart

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted file sync & storage options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeatureSpacedriveStalwart
CategoryFile Sync & StorageFile Sync & Storage
LicenseAGPL-3.0free
LanguageRustRust
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentbinarydocker, one-click
GitHub stars★ 38,732★ 14,059
First released20222022
ReplacesGoogle Drive, Dropbox

Why pick each one

Choose Spacedrive if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • Mature project with 38.7k GitHub stars
  • Written in Rust
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Spacedrive details

Choose Stalwart if…

  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • One-click install on common self-host platforms
  • Mature project with 14.1k GitHub stars
Stalwart details

Frequently asked questions

Is Spacedrive or Stalwart better?

Neither is universally better. Spacedrive has the larger community, while Stalwart is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Spacedrive and Stalwart free and open-source?

Yes. Spacedrive is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Stalwart under free. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Spacedrive and Stalwart with Docker?

Spacedrive: check the project docs for container support. Stalwart: yes.

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