Seafile

✓ Verified FOSSGPL-2.0

Top open-source alternative to Google Drive / Dropbox

⭐ 15,321 Stars Official Website ↗

Beyond file syncing and sharing, a new way to organize your files with extensible file properties and flexible views

Tech StackC, Python, Django, MySQL

Self-Host DifficultyMedium

License ModelGPL-2.0

GitHub Repositoryhaiwen/seafile

Recommended VPS & Hardware Sizing

Estimated Hosting: $10 - $15/mo (e.g. Hetzner CPX21 or Linode)

Min RAM:2 GB

Rec RAM:4 GB

Compute:2 vCPU

Disk Space:25 GB SSD

Seafile vs Google Drive / Dropbox Comparison Matrix

Evaluation Criteria	Seafile (Open Source)	Google Drive / Dropbox (Proprietary)
Sync Speed	Unconstrained wire speed	Bandwidth throttling on Dropbox/Google

INTERACTIVE TCO MODELEstimated Rate: $18/user/mo

Financial Impact: Migrating from Google Drive / Dropbox to Self-Hosted Seafile

Detailed Stack Calculator →

Active Team Members / Seats: 25 Users

5 Users (Early Startup)50 Users (Scaleup)200 Users (Enterprise Org)

Google Drive / Dropbox (Cloud SaaS)Per-Seat Tax

$5,400per year ($450/mo)

3-Year Spend:$16,200

* Excludes enterprise SSO add-ons & usage overages

Seafile (Self-Hosted)Zero Per-Seat Fee

$120per year ($10/mo Linux VPS)

3-Year Compute:$360

* Commodity Hetzner / DigitalOcean compute instance

Cumulative 3-Year ROI+$15,840Net savings across 36 months (98% reduction)

Annual Free Cash:+$5,280/yr

Need C-Level Buy-In? Generate an instant ROI proposal memo to present to your CTO or CFO.

HEAD-TO-HEAD BATTLES // SIDE-BY-SIDE AUDIT

Compare Seafile Head-to-Head

Custom Comparison Engine →

★ PRIMARY REPLACEMENTFOSS vs SaaS

Seafilevs

Google Drive / Dropbox

Comprehensive benchmark comparing Seafile against proprietary Google Drive / Dropbox licensing and features.

View Full Battle Report→

StoragePEER BENCHMARK

MinIOvs

Amazon S3

S3-Compatible Object Storage on Any Server vs AWS Egress Bandwidth Bills

Inspect Comparison→

StoragePEER BENCHMARK

Nextcloudvs

Google Drive

Sovereign File Sync & Office Collaboration vs Google Workspace Ecosystem

Inspect Comparison→

StoragePEER BENCHMARK

Syncthingvs

Dropbox

Decentralized P2P Continuous Sync vs Centralized Cloud Storage

Inspect Comparison→

StoragePEER BENCHMARK

Immichvs

Google Photos

High-Performance Self-Hosted AI Photo Backup vs Google Storage Subscriptions

Inspect Comparison→

Core Capabilities & Features

✓Fast block-level delta sync algorithm

✓Client-side end-to-end encrypted folders

Self-Host Seafile with Docker Compose

Tweak configuration ports, secrets, and volumes live. Download or copy your ready-to-run container file:

1-Click Docker Compose Generator

Generate production-ready container definitions with customizable ports and volumes.

Select Open-Source Project:

SeafileGPL-2.0

High-performance enterprise file sync and share solution with client-side block encryption

Difficulty: Medium15,321 ⭐

Configure Parameters

()

docker-compose.seafile.yml

version: '2.0'

services:
  seafile:
    image: seafileltd/seafile-mc:latest
    ports:
      - "${SERVER_PORT:-80}:80"
    volumes:
      - ./seafile-data:/shared

Frequently Asked Questions: Self-Hosting Seafile

How do I self-host Seafile using Docker Compose?

You can deploy Seafile (haiwen/seafile) on any Linux server by copying the docker-compose.yml template on this page, configuring your desired host port and persistent volume directory, and running 'docker compose up -d'.

How does Seafile compare to Google Drive / Dropbox?

Seafile is an open-source, self-hosted alternative to Google Drive / Dropbox built with C, Python, Django, MySQL. Unlike Google Drive / Dropbox ($12 - $24 / user / month), Seafile has zero per-user licensing fees and keeps 100% of your data on your own infrastructure.

What are the minimum VPS RAM and CPU requirements for Seafile?

For production self-hosting (Medium difficulty tier), we recommend at least 4 GB RAM (minimum 2 GB), 2 vCPU, and 25 GB SSD storage, which typically costs $10 - $15/mo (e.g. Hetzner CPX21 or Linode).

Is Seafile free for commercial business use under the GPL-2.0 license?

Yes. Distributed under the GPL-2.0 license, Seafile can be self-hosted internally by businesses and engineering teams of any size without per-seat royalties.

README INTEGRATION // REPO EMBED

Embed Official Seafile Badge in GitHub README

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Live Preview:

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