head to head · open source
syncthing vs ownCloud
syncthing has 90,019 GitHub stars, 5,584 forks, 388 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ownCloud has 2,175 stars, 286 forks, 628 open issues and last shipped yesterday. syncthing leads on adoption by 4,039% (90,019 vs 2,175 stars). syncthing is written in Go under MPL-2.0; ownCloud is written in Go under Apache-2.0. syncthing has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, ownCloud 13%. syncthing was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (go), 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
| syncthing | ownCloud | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 90K | ★ 2.2K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 286 |
| 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 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 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 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 syncthing or ownCloud more popular?
syncthing has 90,019 GitHub stars and ownCloud has 2,175. syncthing has the larger community by that measure.
Are syncthing and ownCloud free?
Both are open source. syncthing is licensed under MPL-2.0 and ownCloud under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between syncthing and ownCloud?
syncthing is written in Go 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, syncthing or ownCloud?
Choose syncthing if you want the larger community (90,019 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose ownCloud if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.