Haiwen Seafile by haiwen

Beyond file syncing and sharing, a new way to organize your files with extensible file properties and flexible views

cloud-storagefile-syncfile-sharingwikimarkdownknowledge-managementdocument-management
Verdict 69/100 health $4.13/mo cheapest, hetzner 2/5 setup difficulty 3 open CVEs Last release 2.2 years ago

Self-host Haiwen Seafile on hetzner for $4.13/mo and save approximately $94/year vs Dropbox.

Health score
69 /100
6-dim composite
Self-hosts from
$4.13 /mo
hetzner · CAX11
Difficulty
2 /5
Docker + read README
GitHub stars
15k
1.6k forks

About Haiwen Seafile

From the project's README at github.com/haiwen/seafile. Lightly cleaned for readability; for the full source see the upstream repo.

Seafile is an open source cloud storage system with privacy protection and teamwork features. Collections of files are called libraries. Each library can be synced separately. A library can also be encrypted with a user chosen password. Seafile also allows users to create groups and easily sharing files into groups.

Beyond sync and share, Seafile provides advanced metadata management features and handy collaboration features. Feature Summary

1. Selective sync for any folder. 2. Correctly handles file conflicts based on history instead of timestamp. 3. Only transfer content delta to the server. Interrupted transfers can be resumed. 4. Sync with two or more servers. 5. Sync with existing folders. File sharing and collaboration

1. Sharing folders between users or into groups. 3. Download links with password protection 4. Upload links 5. Version control Drive client

Health score breakdown

6-dimension composite. See methodology for formula and weights.

activity
62
maturity
100
community
91
security
70
sustainability
53
adoption
38

Adoption signals

Real-world usage data, pulled from each registry. The bigger the numbers, the more battle-tested the project.

SignalValueSource
GitHub stars 15k github.com/haiwen/seafile
GitHub forks 1.6k github.com/haiwen/seafile

Release & maintenance

Is this project actively maintained, or about to die? Check the recency of last commit and last release.

Project age13.8 yearssince Jul 2012
Last commit21 days agoApr 16, 2026
Releases shipped63last: 2.2 years ago

Self-hosting cost across providers

Detected requirements: 4GB RAM, 40GB disk minimum. Cheapest plan per provider that meets the requirement.

ProviderPlanSpecsMonthly
hetzner CAX11 2c · 4GB · 40GB $4.13 USD Deploy →
vultr VC2 1c · 1GB · 25GB $5 USD Deploy →
linode Nanode 1GB 1c · 1GB · 25GB $5.12 USD Deploy →
digitalocean Basic Regular 1GB 1c · 1GB · 25GB $6 USD Deploy →

Security advisories

3 known advisories tracked via OSV.dev. 3 currently open without a documented fix. Most recent: CVE-2023-28874.

What people say on Hacker News

Replaces these paid SaaS

Haiwen Seafile is one of the open-source alternatives to:

Dropbox alternatives

Ready to self-host Haiwen Seafile?

Spin up a hetzner CAX11 (4GB RAM, 40GB disk) for $4.13/mo and follow the project's official install docs.

Data last refreshed May 7, 2026.

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Frequently asked questions

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