head to head · open source
uppy vs PairDrop
uppy has 31,058 GitHub stars, 2,111 forks, 186 open issues and last shipped yesterday. PairDrop has 11,740 stars, 720 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. uppy leads on adoption by 165% (31,058 vs 11,740 stars). uppy is written in TypeScript under MIT; PairDrop is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0. uppy has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, PairDrop 6%. uppy was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| uppy | PairDrop | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 12K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-04-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 720 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick uppy if
- You weight community size — 31K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick PairDrop if
- You want the PairDrop feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and PairDrop fits your workflow better
About uppy
Uppy Uppy is a sleek, modular JavaScript file uploader that integrates seamlessly with any application. It’s fast, has a comprehensible API and lets you worry about more important problems than building a file uploader. Fetch files from local disk, remote URLs, Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, or snap and record selfies with a camera Preview and edit metadata with a nice interface Upload to the final destination, optionally process/encode Read the docs Try Uppy Uppy is being developed by the folks at Transloadit, a versatile API to handle any file in your app. Tests Deploys Example Code used in the above example: Try…
About PairDrop
Send it , with PairDrop Local file sharing in your web browser . Inspired by Apple's AirDrop. Fork of Snapdrop. Report a bug Request feature Features File sharing on your local network that works on all platforms. A multi platform AirDrop like solution that works. Send images, documents or text via peer to peer connection to devices on the same local network. Internet transfers Join temporary public rooms to transfer files easily over the Internet. Web app Works on all devices with a modern web browser. Send a file from your phone to your laptop? Share photos in original quality with friends using Android and…
read the full PairDrop overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More File Management & Sync projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the File Management & Sync field.
Frequently asked questions
Is uppy or PairDrop more popular?
uppy has 31,058 GitHub stars and PairDrop has 11,740. uppy has the larger community by that measure.
Are uppy and PairDrop free?
Both are open source. uppy is licensed under MIT and PairDrop under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between uppy and PairDrop?
uppy is written in TypeScript and PairDrop in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, uppy or PairDrop?
Choose uppy if you want the larger community (31,058 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose PairDrop if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.