Seafile vs elFinder
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?
Seafile
High-performance file sync and share with block storage
VS
elFinder
Web file manager with a desktop-style interface
| Feature | Seafile | elFinder |
|---|---|---|
| Category | File Sync & Storage | File Sync & Storage |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | C | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 15,077 | ★ 4,800 |
| First released | 2012 | 2010 |
| Replaces | Dropbox, Google Drive | Google Drive, Dropbox |
Why pick each one
Choose Seafile if…
- Excellent sync performance
- Stable and battle-tested
- Good for large libraries
Choose elFinder if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Active community (4.8k GitHub stars)
- Written in JavaScript
- Tiny footprint — runs in 128 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Seafile or elFinder better?
Neither is universally better. Seafile has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Seafile and elFinder free and open-source?
Yes. Seafile is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and elFinder under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Seafile and elFinder with Docker?
Seafile: yes. elFinder: check the project docs for container support.