AList vs Gokapi
| Tagline | File list program supporting multiple storages, with WebDAV and web UI | Lightweight self-hosted file sharing with expiry links and password protection |
| Category | File Storage & Sync | File Storage & Sync |
| Replaces | Google Drive, Dropbox | Dropbox, Google Drive |
| GitHub stars | 50k | 1.9k |
| Language | Go | Go |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 2/5 Easy | 1/5 Effortless |
| Deploy options | Docker Manual | Docker Docker Compose Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 22 days ago | 1 month ago |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
AList
- Primarily a read/list and aggregation layer; not a true two-way sync engine like Dropbox
- No native desktop/mobile sync clients (relies on WebDAV)
- Limited collaboration, versioning, and team permission features
- Documentation is partly Chinese-first and can lag for some backends
Gokapi
- Not designed for persistent cloud storage; files are meant to be temporary
- No mobile sync client
- Single admin account only; no per-user quotas or teams
Bottom line
Choose Gokapi if you want the lower-effort setup; choose AList for the larger community and ecosystem. AList has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.
Gokapi
Lightweight self-hosted file sharing with expiry links and password protection