head to head · open source
syncthing vs psitransfer
syncthing has 90,446 GitHub stars, 5,598 forks, 388 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. psitransfer has 1,975 stars, 248 forks, 109 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. syncthing leads on adoption by 4,480% (90,446 vs 1,975 stars). syncthing is written in Go under MPL-2.0; psitransfer is written in JavaScript under BSD-2-Clause. syncthing has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, psitransfer 13%. psitransfer 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 | psitransfer | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 90K | ★ 2.0K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Written in | Go | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-10 | 2026-11-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.6K | ⑂ 248 |
| 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 psitransfer if
- You want the psitransfer feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and psitransfer 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 psitransfer
PsiTransfer Simple open source self hosted file sharing solution. It's an alternative to paid services like Dropbox, WeTransfer. No accounts, no logins Mobile friendly responsive interface Supports many and very big files (Streams ftw) Resumable up and downloads (tus.io) Set an expire time for your upload bucket One time downloads Download all files as zip/tar.gz archive Modal style file preview Requires Node =7.4 or use harmony async await flag Password protected download list (AES) /admin Page lists bucket information, Screenshot ( disabled until you set adminPass config value ) Lightweight Vue based frontend…
read the full psitransfer overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is syncthing or psitransfer more popular?
syncthing has 90,446 GitHub stars and psitransfer has 1,975. syncthing has the larger community by that measure.
Are syncthing and psitransfer free?
Both are open source. syncthing is licensed under MPL-2.0 and psitransfer under BSD-2-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between syncthing and psitransfer?
syncthing is written in Go and psitransfer in JavaScript. 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 psitransfer?
Choose syncthing if you want the larger community (90,446 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose psitransfer if its feature set, stack or BSD-2-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.