Seafile vs. NextCloud vs. Syncthing

All of these file-syncing Dropbox alternatives have features to access, sync, and share data across various devices. On top of that, each of them provides services like audio/video/text chat, or the calendar/contact/mail integration, and much more.

But before we dive deep into the features, it’s important to note that Syncthing is a lightweight peer-to-peer synchronization solution. that means that there’s no central third-party server holding a copy of all your data. Syncthing synchronizes files direction between all the machines which need access to those files.

On the contrary, both NextCloud and Seafile need a centralized server (your VPS) to sync data with all your connected machines and devices.

In a nutshell, Syncthing is a decentralized file synchronization solution. Meanwhile, the comparison of Seafile vs NextCloud is more direct, as both combine file synchronization with file management, calendar, contacts, and more.

That alone might be enough to swing you in one direction or another, but let’s get on with the features grid!

Licenses and Pricing

NextCloud was originally a fork of the ownCloud project, which offers both an open-source community edition and a proprietary enterprise edition. However, Nextcloud offers only an open-source version under the license GNU AGPLv3.

Seafile offers two editions: a free community edition and a professional edition with additional features for enterprise environments. The developers release the community edition under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License v3. Seafile releases its professional version under a proprietary license.

Syncthing has only one version, a free community edition released under the license GNU AGPLv3 initially, which they changed to MPL V2 (Mozilla Public License) at a later stage.