Puter vs Syncthing-Fork

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?
FeaturePuterSyncthing-Fork
CategoryFile Sync & StorageFile Sync & Storage
LicenseAGPL-3.0MPL-2.0
LanguageTypeScriptJava
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM512 MB128 MB
Deploymentdockerbare-metal, binary
GitHub stars★ 43,003★ 2,534
First released20262017
ReplacesDropbox, Google Drive

Why pick each one

Choose Puter if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 43k GitHub stars
  • Written in TypeScript
Puter details

Choose Syncthing-Fork if…

  • Actively maintained
  • No central server needed
Syncthing-Fork details

Frequently asked questions

Is Puter or Syncthing-Fork better?

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

Are Puter and Syncthing-Fork free and open-source?

Yes. Puter is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Syncthing-Fork under MPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Puter and Syncthing-Fork with Docker?

Puter: yes. Syncthing-Fork: check the project docs for container support.

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