When comparing Seafile vs rsync, the Slant community recommends rsync for most people. In the question“What are the best personal file-syncing solutions?” rsync is ranked 2nd while Seafile is ranked 6th. The most important reason people chose rsync is:
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.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Free and open source
Seafile community edition is licensed under GPLv2 with source code available on GitHub.
Pro Client-side encryption
All files are transferred with AES 128 bit encryption.
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.
Pro Works over SSH
SSH support allows sending files securely over the network by encrypting all communcation.
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.
Pro Free and open source
Licensed under GNU.
Cons
Con Requires maintenance
You have to manually keep the server and clients up to date.
Con No official GUI
To use rsync, you have to know your way around the command line.
Con Complicated, and you can accidentally overwrite the wrong files
