head to head · open source
syncthing vs dufs
syncthing has 90,019 GitHub stars, 5,584 forks, 388 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dufs has 11,021 stars, 615 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. syncthing leads on adoption by 717% (90,019 vs 11,021 stars). syncthing is written in Go under MPL-2.0; dufs is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. syncthing has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, dufs 6%. syncthing 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.
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Side by side
| syncthing | dufs | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 90K | ★ 11K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 615 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick syncthing if
- You weight community size — 90K stars and counting
- You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dufs if
- You want the dufs feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and dufs fits your workflow better
About syncthing
[![Syncthing][14]][15] Goals Syncthing is a continuous file synchronization program . It synchronizes files between two or more computers. We strive to fulfill the goals below. The goals are listed in order of importance, the most important ones first. This is the summary version of the goal list for more commentary, see the full [Goals document][13]. Syncthing should be: 1. Safe From Data Loss Protecting the user's data is paramount. We take every reasonable precaution to avoid corrupting the user's files. 2. Secure Against Attackers Again, protecting the user's data is paramount. Regardless of our other goals…
read the full syncthing overview →
About dufs
Dufs Dufs is a distinctive utility file server that supports static serving, uploading, searching, accessing control, webdav... Features Serve static files Download folder as zip file Upload files and folders (Drag & Drop) Create/Edit/Search files Resumable/partial uploads/downloads Access control Support https Support webdav Easy to use with curl Install With cargo With docker With Homebrew Binaries on macOS, Linux, Windows Download from Github Releases, unzip and add dufs to your $PATH. CLI Examples Serve current working directory in read only mode Allow all operations like upload/delete/search/create/edit…
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Frequently asked questions
Is syncthing or dufs more popular?
syncthing has 90,019 GitHub stars and dufs has 11,021. syncthing has the larger community by that measure.
Are syncthing and dufs free?
Both are open source. syncthing is licensed under MPL-2.0 and dufs under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between syncthing and dufs?
syncthing is written in Go and dufs 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, syncthing or dufs?
Choose syncthing if you want the larger community (90,019 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose dufs if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.