head to head · open source
Seafile vs ownCloud
Seafile has 15,254 GitHub stars, 1,677 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped 21 days ago. ownCloud has 2,122 stars, 274 forks, 628 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Seafile leads on adoption by 619% (15,254 vs 2,122 stars). Seafile is written in C under a custom or non-standard licence; ownCloud is written in Go under Apache-2.0. Seafile has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, ownCloud 13%. ownCloud was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (file-sharing, file-sync), 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 | ownCloud | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C | Go |
| Last push | 2026-08-28 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 274 |
| 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 ownCloud if
- You want the ownCloud feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and ownCloud fits your workflow better
About Seafile
Seafile is an open source cloud storage system written in C and positioned as a self hosted alternative to Dropbox and Google Drive. It organizes files into libraries, each of which can be synced separately, encrypted with a user chosen password, and shared between users or groups. The project lives in the self hosted file sync and document management ecosystem, where it combines storage, collaboration, knowledge management, and metadata features.
read the full Seafile overview →
About ownCloud
ownCloud Infinite Scale (oCIS) is a self hosted file sync and share server written in Go under the Apache 2.0 license. It lives in the ownCloud ecosystem and uses reva as a scalable backend with open APIs such as WebDAV and CS3. It presents itself as the foundation for a data management platform and as an open alternative to Google Workspace and Google Drive.
read the full ownCloud overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Seafile or ownCloud more popular?
Seafile has 15,254 GitHub stars and ownCloud has 2,122. Seafile has the larger community by that measure.
Are Seafile and ownCloud free?
Both are open source. Seafile has no licence declared in this registry, and ownCloud is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Seafile and ownCloud?
Seafile is written in C and ownCloud in Go. 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 ownCloud?
Choose Seafile if you want the larger community (15,254 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose ownCloud if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.