this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
56 points (98.3% liked)

Selfhosted

46654 readers
1197 users here now

A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

Rules:

  1. Be civil: we're here to support and learn from one another. Insults won't be tolerated. Flame wars are frowned upon.

  2. No spam posting.

  3. Posts have to be centered around self-hosting. There are other communities for discussing hardware or home computing. If it's not obvious why your post topic revolves around selfhosting, please include details to make it clear.

  4. Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or github here. Just post the link for folks to click.

  5. Submission headline should match the article title (don’t cherry-pick information from the title to fit your agenda).

  6. No trolling.

Resources:

Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.

Questions? DM the mods!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
ruud@lemmy.world
Loki@lemmy.world
CannaVet@lemmy.world
devve@lemmy.world
HybridSarcasm@lemmy.world
HybridSarcasm@lemmy.hybridsarcasm.xyz
56
Google Drive alternative? (lemmy.today)
submitted 2 days ago by paequ2@lemmy.today to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
33 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Hello! How are folks self-hosting online storage, similar to Google Drive?

Some options I've found:

A bunch more: https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted?tab=readme-ov-file#file-transfer---web-based-file-managers

I mainly just need basic file management features. I don't plan to share files outside of my tailscale VPN. I do need to support multiple users though.

I'm not considering Nextcloud because that seems too big. I'm also not considering syncthing for this project because I don't want copies on multiple devices.

I'm currently just using ssh+nautilus and that's worked great for just me, but something similar to Google Drive would be easier to onboard my family.

top 33 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] trk@aussie.zone 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I've run Nextcloud since OwnCloud was the only option, with zero issues on any setup - be it direct, via snap, or via docker.

(EDIT: Out of interest I looked up the first subdomain I can remember using - it sent my username the login details in February 2015 so that's over a decade now!).

On a cheap VPS, a dedicated box, and now self hosted since I finally have a decent enough connection to support it. Ran out of storage on the VPS, then the 4TB dedicated box, now on 120TB self hosted (Nextcloud only using around 6TB mind you). CPU and RAM were never an issue.

Mostly documents (PDF, ODS, ODT), photos and videos from jobs, and some people (myself included) use the storage to back up their phone gallery.

I use shared and private folders, shared and private calendars, and shared and private contact lists on Android, iOS, and PCs (Windows and Linux). I have a public upload directory for customers to send us files and often share files directly using expiring read only links.

It's easy and it works, no idea wtf people are doing to have so much drama with it.

[–] oranki@piefed.social 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Nextcloud, despite you're not considering it. You can disable or not install the apps you don't need, like Calendar, Contacts, Photos, Dashboard, Activity, etc.

There's also a fork of Filebrowser, called Filebrowser Quantum, which I've been interested in, though haven't tried yet: https://github.com/gtsteffaniak/filebrowser

[–] sxan@midwest.social 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Have you ever used OwnCloud, before the fork?

I hated administrating OwnCloud, and that's kept me away from NextCloud. OwnCloud was a big, resource hogging, hot mess; did NextCloud do a huge refactor and clean it up?

[–] oranki@piefed.social 3 points 2 days ago

No, I haven't tried OC. Lot of people still prefer it over NC. I think both have come quite a long way since then.

I wouldn't say Nextcloud is hard to maintain, even less so if you keep the number of apps to a minimum. The initial setup may require some work, but small instances are mostly plug and play.

Note that I've never used AIO. If going for containers, the community images are better, despite AIO advertised as the official method. I recommend using Podman, check out

https://github.com/0ranki/nextcloud-previews

Also a blog post: https://oranki.net/posts/2025-01-02-self-hosting-my-way5-nextcloud/

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

Here's what I've used and can recommend:

  • samba - just a network share
  • Nextcloud - full featured cloud suite (calendar, contacts, etc)
  • owncloud infinite scale (OCIS) or the Euro fork [Open Cloud]{https://opencloud.eu/en) - the POSIX driver has a flat file structure and still supports users and shared data; OCIS is designed for larger installations, but running on a smaller, single instance totally works too

Since you rejected NextCloud, check out the other two. I'm switching from NextCloud to OCIS right now, and I may end up using OpenCloud if development looks stable.

[–] 0x0@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Whatever the alternative - or even googledrive - if you first store your files in a cryptomator folder then it really doesn't matter where you sync them to.

[–] percent@infosec.pub 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I started to go down that path, but then I heard that there were problems with data corruption

[–] 0x0@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No issues so far, got sources?
Anyway, always follow 3-2-1 for backups.

[–] percent@infosec.pub 2 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Nah it was a while back. IIRC there were multiple sources, but I don't remember any of them 🙃

Though, I don't really remember the details either. Maybe it was OS specific? I know there was a dodgy FUSE implementation out there for macOS at some point, and Cryptomator depends mounts its local drive with FUSE. I use macOS and NixOS, so it coulda been that.

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I don't get the sudden interest in Filebrowser. Never heard of the project before it went into Maintenance, now it seems like everyone wants to use it.

[–] percent@infosec.pub 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I've been trying Peergos lately, and I'm pretty happy with it so far.

Google's nagging offers for free trials of Gemini made me realize that I was basically handing data over to an AI company 🤦🏻‍♂️ So I've been looking for an alternative too

[–] HelloRoot@lemy.lol 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

I personally really like sftpgo and I mount it via webdav.

I used seafile first, then nextcloud. Each for a couple of years and had significant problems with both.

[–] YurkshireLad@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago

I’m also using SFTPGo at home and it works well.

[–] robber@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 days ago

SFTPGo is such an awesome project, never had any problems with it.

[–] dataprolet@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 days ago

Nextcloud, hands down.

[–] sandbag@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Why not just cockpit with the file browser add-on?

[–] wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago

WebDAV would work. Mounts directly in the Finder in MacOS.

[–] MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

https://github.com/kd2org/karadav

Nextcloud client/app compatible WebDAV server with a lightweight file browser webUI, and multi-user support.

Should be the closest thing to Google Drive without actually running Nextcloud.

The only issue is it looks like the Nextcloud iOS clients don't work.

[–] mike_wooskey@lemmy.thewooskeys.com 2 points 2 days ago

I selfhost Cryptpad, but it sounds like it may be more than you're looking for.

[–] themadcodger@kbin.earth 2 points 2 days ago

Nextcloud got too bulky for me, and in my search I tried a number of different options before installing OpenCloud without realizing it isn't fully finished yet. That said, it still works well enough for my use case.

[–] JuvenoiaAgent@piefed.ca 2 points 2 days ago

FileBrowser has a fork under development: https://github.com/gtsteffaniak/filebrowser

I currently use copyparty. It's not the prettiest, but it's fast and the documentation on GitHub is extensive. The maintainer is also very friendly and helpful.

[–] aksdb@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Why does the storage layer of seafile scare you? Are you also scared of databases and prefer storing things in raw txt files? The difference is the same. You get certain features in return:

  • Versioning is possible (so each file can have a history you can roll back)
  • Sync is very fast
  • It can sync incremental changes even of big files

You still have access via:

  • Web
  • Synced locally using Seafile Client
  • WebDAV
  • Mounted as network filesystem anywhere using SeaDrive.
[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

I'm not OP and am a dev, but also prefer flat files. Here's my reasoning:

  • versioning - I use snapshots in my filesystem (BTRFS), which is more than enough, and have a git hosting solution for things I care about more
  • sync is plenty fast on OCIS and Samba, it's just kinda slow on Nextcloud; I'm sure Seafile is better, but it's not something I do frequently anyway, especially since backups from devices is automatic and uses a different, fast system
  • incremental - not my use case, most of my files either never change (movies) or are small (text flees)

My main concerns with Seafile specifically are:

  • developed by a Chinese company and doesn't seem particularly open to contributions
  • mostly written in C, so there's a good chance of security vulnerabilities
  • documentation about the disk format isn't very open, so third party tools don't really exist
  • main target is larger orgs, so I'm unlikely to get very good support

With flat files, I can easily switch to a different service if my needs change.

[–] paequ2@lemmy.today 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Are you also scared of databases and prefer storing things in raw txt files?

Yes, actually. 😅 I can't manage a database for more than a few weeks before I screw it up or want to easily edit something and stop using it.

I don't think databases are bad. I think I'm too much of a fuckup to manage one.

[–] aksdb@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

LOL, ok, fair 😁

You should in any case consider your backup strategy. If you have reliable backups, your fuckups can't be as bad anymore. If you don't have reliable backups, a "raw" storage doesn't help you either. Maybe even the contrary: you won't notice, if individual files get corrupted or even lost until it's too late. (Not talking about disk corruption, against which the right filesystem can guard you.... but I am not sure you trust filesystems either 😛)

[–] Clearwater@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

I use Nextcloud, but as you said it's a bit big, and with each update it's slowly turning into more of the entire G-Suite.

I've used filebrowser, but be aware that until just a few days ago, it gave out access to a shell. Even with that turned off, I'd be very weary of allowing access from out of the VPN. I had a server pwned with filebrowser appearing to be the vector, and to my memory console access was disabled for the account most likely breached.

[–] alphapuggle@programming.dev 1 points 2 days ago

There's a new version (fork?) of filebrowser dubbed "quantum" if that's your thing https://github.com/gtsteffaniak/filebrowser

[–] lorentz@feddit.it 1 points 2 days ago

I use filestash. I like it because it can connect with so many backends. In my setup it uses samba behind the scenes all the shares permissions are in a single configuration and I don't have to worry about a different set of user credentials.

[–] IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world -2 points 2 days ago

Self hosting backups for anything remotely critical is usually a terrible terrible idea. Carry on.

[–] nullpotential@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Zipline

[–] paequ2@lemmy.today 1 points 2 days ago

There are several projects named zipline. I think you're talking about this one though: https://github.com/diced/zipline