head to head · open source
Seafile vs ownCloud
Seafile has 15,414 GitHub stars, 1,674 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped 18 days ago. ownCloud has 2,175 stars, 286 forks, 628 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Seafile leads on adoption by 609% (15,414 vs 2,175 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 | ★ 2.2K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-16 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 286 |
| 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
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 ownCloud
ownCloud Infinite Scale ownCloud Infinite Scale Introduction Quickstart Overview Clients Web Office Applications Authentication Installation Important Readings Run ownCloud Infinite Scale Use the Official Documentation Use the ocis Repo as Source Documentation Admin Documentation Development Documentation Security Contributing End User License Agreement Copyright Introduction ownCloud Infinite Scale (oCIS) is the new file sync & share platform that will be the foundation of your data management platform. Make sure to download the latest released version today! Quickstart For details of the commands used see the…
read the full ownCloud overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Seafile or ownCloud more popular?
Seafile has 15,414 GitHub stars and ownCloud has 2,175. 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 (15,414 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.