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File Sharing and Sync

Protects against the following threat(s):

Discover how to privately share your files between your devices, with your friends and family, or anonymously online.

File Sharing

If you have already use Proton Drive1 or have a Bitwarden Premium2 subscription, consider using the file sharing capabilities that they each offer, both of which use end-to-end encryption. Otherwise, the standalone options listed here ensure that the files you share are not read by a remote server.

Send

Send logo

Send is a fork of Mozilla's discontinued Firefox Send service which allows you to send files to others with a link. Files are encrypted on your device so that they cannot be read by the server, and they can be optionally password-protected as well. The maintainer of Send hosts a public instance. You can use other public instances, or you can host Send yourself.

Homepage

Send can be used via its web interface or via the ffsend CLI. If you are familiar with the command-line and send files frequently, we recommend using the CLI client to avoid JavaScript-based encryption. You can specify the --host flag to use a specific server:

ffsend upload --host https://send.vis.ee/ FILE

OnionShare

OnionShare logo

OnionShare is an open-source tool that lets you securely and anonymously share a file of any size. It works by starting a web server accessible as a Tor onion service, with an unguessable URL that you can share with the recipients to download or send files.

Homepage

Downloads

OnionShare provides the option to connect via Tor bridges to circumvent Censorship.

Criteria

Please note we are not affiliated with any of the projects we recommend. In addition to our standard criteria, we have developed a clear set of requirements to allow us to provide objective recommendations. We suggest you familiarize yourself with this list before choosing to use a project, and conduct your own research to ensure it's the right choice for you.

  • Must not store decrypted data on a remote server.
  • Must be open-source software.
  • Must either have clients for Linux, macOS, and Windows; or have a web interface.

FreedomBox

FreedomBox logo

FreedomBox is an operating system designed to be run on a single-board computer (SBC). The purpose is to make it easy to set up server applications that you might want to self-host.

Homepage

File Sync

Nextcloud (Client-Server)

Nextcloud logo

Nextcloud is a suite of free and open-source client-server software for creating your own file hosting services on a private server you control.

Homepage

Downloads

Danger

We don't recommend using the E2EE App for Nextcloud as it may lead to data loss; it is highly experimental and not production quality.

Syncthing (P2P)

Syncthing logo

Syncthing is an open-source peer-to-peer continuous file synchronization utility. It is used to synchronize files between two or more devices over the local network or the internet. Syncthing does not use a centralized server; it uses the Block Exchange Protocol to transfer data between devices. All data is encrypted using TLS.

Homepage

Downloads

Criteria

Please note we are not affiliated with any of the projects we recommend. In addition to our standard criteria, we have developed a clear set of requirements to allow us to provide objective recommendations. We suggest you familiarize yourself with this list before choosing to use a project, and conduct your own research to ensure it's the right choice for you.

Minimum Requirements

  • Must not require a third-party remote/cloud server.
  • Must be open-source software.
  • Must either have clients for Linux, macOS, and Windows; or have a web interface.

Best-Case

Our best-case criteria represents what we would like to see from the perfect project in this category. Our recommendations may not include any or all of this functionality, but those which do may rank higher than others on this page.

  • Should have mobile clients for iOS and Android which at least support document previews.
  • Should support photo backups from iOS and Android, and optionally support file/folder sync on Android.

  1. Proton Drive allows you to share files or folders by generating a shareable public link or sending a unique link to a designated email address. Public links can be protected with a password, set to expire, and completely revoked, while links shared via email can have custom permissions and be similarly revoked. Per Proton Drive's privacy policy, file contents, file and folder names, and thumbnail previews are end-to-end encrypted. ↩

  2. With a premium subscription, Bitwarden Send allows you to share files and text securely with end-to-end encryption. A password can be required along with the Send link. Bitwarden Send also features automatic deletion. ↩

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