copyparty vs Garage
| Tagline | Portable all-in-one file server with resumable uploads, WebDAV, FTP, and media indexing | Lightweight S3-compatible distributed object storage for self-hosters |
| Category | File Storage & Sync | File Storage & Sync |
| Replaces | Dropbox, Google Drive | Dropbox, Google Drive, Box |
| GitHub stars | 45k | 1.8k |
| Language | Python | Rust |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 2/5 Easy | 3/5 Moderate |
| Deploy options | Docker Manual | Docker Docker Compose Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 11 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.
copyparty
- No selective sync desktop client; files must be managed via web UI, CLI, or WebDAV
- User management and access control are basic compared to Dropbox Teams or Google Drive Shared Drives
- No online document editing (Docs/Sheets equivalent)
- Mobile apps are absent; mobile access is browser or WebDAV only
Garage
- No built-in web UI for browsing files; relies on external S3 clients
- Lacks advanced IAM policies compared to AWS S3
- No built-in CDN or edge caching layer
Bottom line
Choose copyparty if you want the lower-effort setup; choose copyparty for the larger community and ecosystem. copyparty has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.
copyparty
Portable all-in-one file server with resumable uploads, WebDAV, FTP, and media indexing