AList vs Tiny File Manager
| Tagline | File list program supporting multiple storages, with WebDAV and web UI | Single-file PHP web file manager that's fast and lightweight |
| Category | File Storage & Sync | File Storage & Sync |
| Replaces | Google Drive, Dropbox | Dropbox, Google Drive, Box |
| GitHub stars | 50k | 5.9k |
| Language | Go | PHP |
| 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 | 29 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
Tiny File Manager
- No file versioning or change history
- No desktop or mobile sync clients; purely browser-based access
- User management is flat config-file based; no LDAP or SSO integration
- No real-time collaboration or file commenting
Bottom line
Both are a similar lift to self-host; 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.