Syncthing vs Syncthing Tray

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureSyncthingSyncthing Tray
CategoryFile Sync & StorageAutomation & Workflows
LicenseMPL-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguageGoC++
Setup difficultyEasyEasy
Min. RAM128 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, bare-metalbinary, source
GitHub stars★ 87,439★ 2,906
First released20142016
ReplacesDropbox, Resilio SyncResilio Sync

Why pick each one

Choose Syncthing if…

  • No central server needed
  • Very private by design
  • Lightweight and reliable
Syncthing details

Choose Syncthing Tray if…

  • Released under the GPL-3.0 license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Active community (2.9k GitHub stars)
  • Written in C++
Syncthing Tray details

Frequently asked questions

Is Syncthing or Syncthing Tray 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 Syncthing and Syncthing Tray free and open-source?

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

Can I run Syncthing and Syncthing Tray with Docker?

Syncthing: yes. Syncthing Tray: check the project docs for container support.

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