AList vs OnionShare
| Tagline | File list program supporting multiple storages, with WebDAV and web UI | Securely and anonymously share files of any size over Tor |
| Category | File Storage & Sync | File Storage & Sync |
| Replaces | Google Drive, Dropbox | Dropbox, Google Drive |
| GitHub stars | 50k | 7k |
| Language | Go | Python |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 2/5 Easy | 2/5 Easy |
| Deploy options | Docker Manual | Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 13 days ago | 3 days 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
OnionShare
- Requires Tor; recipients need Tor Browser, creating friction for non-technical users
- Shares are typically ephemeral and one-time by default; not suited for persistent storage
- No folder sync, versioning, or long-term file organisation
- Transfer speeds are slow due to Tor network routing
Bottom line
Both are a similar lift to self-host; choose AList for the larger community and ecosystem. OnionShare has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.