Hello! How are folks self-hosting online storage, similar to Google Drive?
Some options I’ve found:
- https://filebrowser.org/ (maintenance-only mode)
- https://www.seafile.com/en/home/ (weird disk layout scares me)
- https://tinyfilemanager.github.io/ (i like simple!)
- https://github.com/mickael-kerjean/filestash
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.
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.
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.
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
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?
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/
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.
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.
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 😛)
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.
Nextcloud, hands down.
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.
I’m also using SFTPGo at home and it works well.
SFTPGo is such an awesome project, never had any problems with it.
I selfhost Cryptpad, but it sounds like it may be more than you’re looking for.
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.
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.
WebDAV would work. Mounts directly in the Finder in MacOS.
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.
There’s a new version (fork?) of filebrowser dubbed “quantum” if that’s your thing https://github.com/gtsteffaniak/filebrowser
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.
Self hosting backups for anything remotely critical is usually a terrible terrible idea. Carry on.
