SFTPGo vs Unison
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?
SFTPGo
Full-featured SFTP, FTP and WebDAV server
VS
Unison
Bidirectional file synchronizer with conflict detection
| Feature | SFTPGo | Unison |
|---|---|---|
| Category | File Sync & Storage | File Sync & Storage |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | OCaml |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | bare-metal, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 12,371 | ★ 5,429 |
| First released | 2019 | 1999 |
| Replaces | Dropbox | Dropbox |
Why pick each one
Choose SFTPGo if…
- Multi-protocol in one binary
- Flexible storage backends
- Strong access controls
Frequently asked questions
Is SFTPGo or Unison better?
Neither is universally better. SFTPGo has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are SFTPGo and Unison free and open-source?
Yes. SFTPGo is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Unison under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run SFTPGo and Unison with Docker?
SFTPGo: yes. Unison: check the project docs for container support.