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What are the best personal file-syncing solutions?

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20 Options Considered

20 Options ConsideredPricePlatformsVersioning
Syncthing
––
rsync
––
NextCloud
Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Windows PhoneYes
Google Drive
Windows; OSX; LinuxYes
DropBox
Windows, Linux, OSX, Android, iOS, Windows PhoneYes
See Full List

Syncthing

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Danil Kutkevich
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Free and open-source

•••
Licensed under MIT.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Cross-platform

•••
Available for Linux, OS X and Windows and web.
Bryan
grigio
Top Pro

Reasonably active community forum

•••
Endi Sukaj
William Tanksley, Jr
Top Pro

Works out of the box

•••
Requires no configuration to protect your privacy; it just works.
Bryan
grigio
Top Pro

Unofficial Android client available

•••
An Android app was created by a third-party.
Andris Pelcbergs
FridSun
Top Con

In beta

•••
Although mostly stable, such stability is not guaranteed, and support is only community driven. Caution advised.
See 4 more ProsSee 4 more Pros

rsync

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Bryan
Top Pro

Fast and bandwidth efficient

•••
Only the changed parts of files are synced. For instance, if a long log file increases by just a few lines of text, a small diff will be sent to and saved in the archive. Rsync also compresses data in transit.
Andris Pelcbergs
Wernight
Top Pro

Works over SSH

•••
SSH support allows sending files securely over the network by encrypting all communcation.
Bryan
Danil Kutkevich
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Free and open source

•••
Licensed under GNU.
Andris Pelcbergs
Bryan
Top Pro

Pre-installed on OSX and most Linux distributions

•••
Many *nix systems bundle rsync so there's nothing to install. All you need to do is open up the terminal and start using rsync.
Ryan
Bryan
Top Con

No official GUI

•••
To use rsync, you have to know your way around the command line.
See 3 more ProsSee 3 more Pros

NextCloud

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Google Drive

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Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Built-in office suite

•••
Includes tools for writing, presentations and spreadsheets.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

File sharing & collaborative editing

•••
Google account holders and non-holders can be set to access and/or collaborate on files.
Wernight
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

15GB free

•••
This space is shared across Drive, Gmail & Picasa.
Wernight
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Cheap

•••
$10 per 1TB (i.e. $ 0.01 per GB), for up to 30 TB. Note: That's the same cost currently as Google Cloud Storage (which itself has very similar feature set).
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Extended functionality via apps

•••
Third party Drive applications running in Chrome can add functionality such as image/video editing, project management, flowchart creation, etc.
dan clark
Top Pro

Most trustworthy solution

•••
As it is provided by Google.
Ryan
Top Con

You're dependant on an external service

•••
All data has to pass through Google's servers to sync, meaning you're reliant on a third party. If their servers go down, so does you're ability to sync. If their server's have a glitch, you don't have the option to fix it.
Danil Kutkevich
Top Con

Proprietary

•••
thermoplastics
Daniel “Zimmer” Mann
Top Con

They own your uploaded date completly

•••
See 7 more Pros & ConsSee 7 more Pros & Cons

DropBox

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Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Cross-platform desktop and mobile

•••
Dropbox is available on iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows, Max and Linux.
Gowtham Gopalakrishnan
Top Pro

Beatiful Interface

•••
Has a very good, neat and clean interface.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Allows selective sync

•••
Selective Sync is a feature of the Dropbox desktop application that allows you to select only the folders you want to be synced to your computer.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Free (extra) storage space

•••
Dropbox personal accounts start out free, with 2GB of space, but users can get extra space by recommending the site to friends, or taking part in events like "Dropquest", where users can win extra space by solving puzzles.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Adjustable bandwidth use

•••
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Has an API/works nicely with other apps

•••
Many mobile apps can and do use Dropbox for storage. This means not just that your files are accessible on the go, but that those apps automatically get live syncing with your desktop and the web.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Add-ons

•••
There are official and third-party Dropbox add-ons that extend the functionality of the service and add ease of use features.
Ryan
Top Con

You're dependant on an external service

•••
All data has to pass through Dropbox's servers to sync, meaning you're reliant on a third party. If their servers go down, so does you're ability to sync. If their server's have a glitch, you don't have the option to fix it.
pneuma
Top Con

Shared files will count agaist the space limitation at both parties

•••
If your friend shares a 500 MB video file with you, the file will count against the space limitation at both ends. Therefore, you will quickly run out of space if you have more than a few people collaborating and sharing files together.
Danil Kutkevich
Top Con

Proprietary

•••
pirmin
Top Con

Condoleezza Rice is in the board of directors

•••
See 9 more Pros & ConsSee 9 more Pros & Cons

Tresorit

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tido
Top Pro

Client-side encryption

•••
Encryption is performed before content gets uploaded to the cloud.
tido
Top Pro

Cross-platform

•••
With clients for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Blackberry.
tido
Top Pro

Free storage space (get additional space through bonuses)

•••
5 GB, up to 16 GB with bonuses.
VersatileHidimbi
Top Con

No Telephone Support

•••
Ryan
Danil Kutkevich
Top Con

Proprietary

•••
Because the software is proprietary, there's no way to review the security practices or really know how the software operates under the hood. As such it can be considered as not safe for sensitive information.
Kevin McFadden
Top Con

Significantly more expensive than just about everything else

•••
See 4 more Pros & ConsSee 4 more Pros & Cons

SpiderOak

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Bryan
Top Pro

Combines cloud syncing, storage service and backup client

•••
Thus you have a single service for all of the things instead of having to use multiple clients or services.
Ryan
Danil Kutkevich
Top Con

Proprietary

•••
Because the software is proprietary, there's no way to review the security practices or really know how the software operates under the hood. As such it can be considered as not safe for sensitive information.
Bryan
Top Con

Sharing is unintuitve

•••
The way that sharing is done is a bit backwards as you have to select "new" in the options to then go through a few boxes of selections to then finally pick what file to share.
See 1 more ConSee 1 more Con

HipChat

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Seafile

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Andris Pelcbergs
Danil Kutkevich
Top Pro

Free and open source

•••
Seafile community edition is licensed under GPLv2 with source code available on GitHub.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Client-side encryption

•••
All files are transferred with AES 128 bit encryption.
Bryan
Top Con

Requires maintenance

•••
You have to manually keep the server and clients up to date.
See 1 more ProSee 1 more Pro

BitTorrent Sync

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Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

No service cost, storage limits, perfomance limits or privacy concerns

•••
Since BitTorrent Sync uses P2P technology and does not require an external server from a third party, the only limitation if what is available to the user.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Clients on most platforms available

•••
BitTorrent Sync is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Windows Phone and BSD.
thermoplastics
Top Pro

Self hosted

•••
If user opens a malicious website that website may create users to access your data ("When registering, http traffic for creating new user on loopback http://127.0.0.1:8888"). Being self hosted one does not need to open a site to get to their files.
Izem Lavrenti
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Con

Proprietary

•••
Being proprietary, it's harder to audit.
Jonathan
Wernight
Top Con

Has some risky attack vectors

•••
The only really good thing it has is that data is self-hosted (i.e. hosted on a server running on your machine with data that are on your machine). If user opens a malicious website that website may create users to access your data ("When registering, http traffic for creating new user on...
Jonathan
mharding
Top Con

Pro version for a fee

•••
Selective Sync only available in Pro version. Business use is not allowed with free and Pro versions.
Izem Lavrenti
Paul Lemmens
Top Con

One peer of your network always has to be online to propagate changes to the other peers

•••
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Con

Android app drains battery fast

•••
See 6 more Pros & ConsSee 6 more Pros & Cons

pCloud

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Vanina Ivanova
Top Pro

Desktop app doesn't take space on HDD

•••
Vanina Ivanova
Top Pro

Supports mobile, web and desktop

•••
Files sync on all devices.
thermoplastics
Vanina Ivanova
Top Pro

Other users can add files to your account

•••
Supports upload links where users can add files to your storage.
thermoplastics
Vanina Ivanova
Top Pro

Good price

•••
$7.99/month for 2 TB storage.
Know any negative aspects of this option?
See 3 more ProsSee 3 more Pros

SyncMate

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Mega

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duplicity

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Wernight
Top Pro

Encrypted locally before sending (using GnuPG)

•••
Data is encrypted locally before being sent, and kept encrypted by a key that is never stored on the remote machine. So you might even store your data on a public space, people would still need your key or brute force it.
Wernight
Top Pro

Bandwidth and space efficient

•••
Duplicity uses the rsync algorithm so only the changed parts of files are sent to the archive when doing an incremental backup. For instance, if a long log file increases by just a few lines of text, a small diff will be sent to and saved in the archive. Other backup programs may save a complete co...
Wernight
Top Pro

Versioning and incremental backup

•••
You can retrieve older versions or files you recently deleted locally even after having updated your backup.
Wernight
Top Pro

Free and open-source

•••
Licensed under GNU GPL v2.
Wernight
Top Pro

Works with scp/ssh, ftp, rsync, Amazon S3...

•••
Duplicity does not make many demands on its archive server. As long as files can be saved to, read from, listed, and deleted from a location, that location can be used as a duplicity backend. Besides increasing choice for the user, it can make a server more secure, as clients only require minimal a...
Wernight
Top Pro

Has a Dockerized image

•••
Docker allows to run programs on any Linux without having to really install them, and allows to manage versions so it runs exactly the same on different machines.
thermoplastics
Daniel “Zimmer” Mann
Top Con

You have to invest a few minutes in setup time

•••
See 5 more ProsSee 5 more Pros

OwnCloud

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Andreas Kosmo
Top Pro

Open source software

•••
thermoplastics
Andreas Kosmo
Top Pro

Allows selective sync

•••
Desktop clients offer sync almost as versatile as dropbox.
thermoplastics
Andreas Kosmo
Top Pro

You have full control with your data

•••
Only chose a provider or host it on your soho-server.
thermoplastics
Andreas Kosmo
Top Con

Not plug and play as Dropbox etc

•••
You may need some help installing it on your web space, though some providers offer free install server.
See 2 more ProsSee 2 more Pros

Microsoft OneDrive

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Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Automatic photo uploads from phone

•••
When Android, iOS and Windows Phone users shoot a photo with their phone it is automatically uploaded to OneDrive via app.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Microsoft Office integration

•••
It integrates with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc as if you were using OneDrive locally.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

Collaboration via Office 365

•••
If you use Office 365 with OneDrive, you can share a file to edit collaboratively in real time.
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Pro

No setup for Windows 8/8.1

•••
If you use Windows 8 or 8.1, OneDrive is already built in your system and can be accessed via file explorer.
Ryan
Top Con

You're dependant on an external service

•••
All data has to pass through Google's servers to sync, meaning you're reliant on a third party. If their servers go down, so does you're ability to sync. If their server's have a glitch, you don't have the option to fix it.
Danil Kutkevich
Top Con

Proprietary

•••
Andris Pelcbergs
Top Con

Strictest code of conduct

•••
Terms of Service forbid any kind of nudity, or that incites, advocates, or expresses pornography or racism among other things.
See 5 more Pros & ConsSee 5 more Pros & Cons

Rclone

Add Video or Image
di bu
Top Pro

Sync with multiple cloud providers

•••
di bu
Top Pro

Cross-platform

•••
di bu
Top Pro

Free

•••
di bu
Top Pro

Opensource

•••
di bu
Top Con

Command line only

•••
See 3 more ProsSee 3 more Pros

Box

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Jonathan
Top Pro

Salesforce and NetSuite support

•••
Jonathan
Top Pro

Sharing and privacy features built for business and IT users

•••
Such as advanced sharing options, task assignment, notifications. Making an easy way to stay up to date on assigned tasks.
thermoplastics
Top Pro

Extendable via plugins

•••
There are plug-ins for applications that allow interactions with Box.
thermoplastics
Top Pro

Cross-platform desktop and mobile

•••
Box is available for Windows, OS X, iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phones. Which mean access to ones files no matter the device or platform used.
thermoplastics
Top Con

No Linux client

•••
See 3 more ProsSee 3 more Pros

Wuala

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tido
Top Pro

Client-side encryption

•••
Wuala encrypts the data on your computer before it is uploaded.
thermoplastics
Daniel “Zimmer” Mann
Top Pro

Best privacy

•••
thermoplastics
Daniel “Zimmer” Mann
Top Con

No longer developed

•••
Ryan
Danil Kutkevich
Top Con

Proprietary

•••
Because the software is proprietary, there's no way to review the security practices or really know how the software operates under the hood. As such it can be considered as not safe for sensitive information.
See 2 more Pros & ConsSee 2 more Pros & Cons

Amazon Zocalo

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Bryan
Top Pro

Cheap

•••
It costs $5/mo and offers 200GB of storage.
Ryan
Danil Kutkevich
Top Con

Proprietary

•••
Because the software is proprietary, there's no way to review the security practices or really know how the software operates under the hood. As such it can be considered as not safe for sensitive information.

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