head to head · open source
Seafile vs cyberduck
Seafile has 15,418 GitHub stars, 1,675 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped 20 days ago. cyberduck has 4,896 stars, 385 forks, 506 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Seafile leads on adoption by 215% (15,418 vs 4,896 stars). Seafile is written in C under a custom or non-standard licence; cyberduck is written in Java under GPL-3.0. Seafile has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, cyberduck 8%. cyberduck 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
| Seafile | cyberduck | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 4.9K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C | Java |
| Last push | 2026-10-16 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 385 |
| 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 cyberduck if
- You want the cyberduck feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and cyberduck 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 cyberduck
Cyberduck This is the development home for Cyberduck, a libre file transfer client for macOS and Windows. Command line interface (CLI) for Linux, macOS and Windows. The core libraries are used in Mountain Duck. Mailing Lists There is a Google Groups Cyberduck discussion mailing list. The following additional mailing lists are hosted: News Announcements of new releases Localization Notifications about changes to the translations needed Source Source code is available licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 3. Pull requests welcome! Localizations Translations to new languages are welcome. We use…
read the full cyberduck 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 Seafile or cyberduck more popular?
Seafile has 15,418 GitHub stars and cyberduck has 4,896. Seafile has the larger community by that measure.
Are Seafile and cyberduck free?
Both are open source. Seafile has no licence declared in this registry, and cyberduck is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Seafile and cyberduck?
Seafile is written in C and cyberduck in Java. 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 cyberduck?
Choose Seafile if you want the larger community (15,418 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose cyberduck if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.