head to head · open source
Seafile vs cryfs
Seafile has 15,418 GitHub stars, 1,675 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped 20 days ago. cryfs has 2,330 stars, 174 forks, 154 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Seafile leads on adoption by 562% (15,418 vs 2,330 stars). Seafile is written in C under a custom or non-standard licence; cryfs is written in Rust under LGPL-3.0. Seafile has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, cryfs 7%. cryfs was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (cloud-storage), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Seafile | cryfs | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | Custom / other | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-16 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 174 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Seafile if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick cryfs if
- You want the cryfs feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and cryfs fits your workflow better
About Seafile
Introduction Seafile is an open source cloud storage system with privacy protection and teamwork features. Collections of files are called libraries. Each library can be synced separately. A library can also be encrypted with a user chosen password. Seafile also allows users to create groups and easily sharing files into groups. Beyond sync and share, Seafile provides advanced metadata management features and handy collaboration features. Feature Summary Seafile has the following features: File syncing 1. Selective sync for any folder. 2. Correctly handles file conflicts based on history instead of timestamp. 3…
read the full Seafile overview →
About cryfs
CryFS 2.0 (Alpha) ⚠️ ALPHA VERSION WARNING ⚠️ CryFS 2.0 alpha is experimental software. You WILL lose your data. Do not use it for anything important. For stable CryFS, please use CryFS 1.0. You can find installation instructions for the stable version here. CryFS 2.0 is in an alpha stage that has not undergone extensive testing. Use it only for testing purposes and please report any issues in the GitHub issue tracker. What is CryFS? CryFS encrypts your files so you can safely store them in cloud storage services like Dropbox, iCloud, or OneDrive. Unlike other encryption tools that encrypt files individually…
read the full cryfs overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Seafile or cryfs more popular?
Seafile has 15,418 GitHub stars and cryfs has 2,330. Seafile has the larger community by that measure.
Are Seafile and cryfs free?
Both are open source. Seafile has no licence declared in this registry, and cryfs is licensed under LGPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Seafile and cryfs?
Seafile is written in C and cryfs in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Seafile or cryfs?
Choose Seafile if you want the larger community (15,418 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose cryfs if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.