Microsoft OneDrive vs Syncthing
Microsoft OneDrive and Syncthing are both file sync and storage software. Microsoft OneDrive is a commercial product from Microsoft. Syncthing is open source under MPL-2.0, with 90k GitHub stars.
Which to pick
- Pick Microsoft OneDrive when
- You already use Microsoft 365 or Windows and want file sync and Office co-editing included in what you pay for.
- Pick Syncthing when
- You want folders kept in sync across your computers and servers without a cloud provider.
Side by side
Microsoft's cloud file storage and sync, built into Windows and Microsoft 365, with Office co-authoring and files-on-demand.
Continuous peer-to-peer file synchronisation between your own devices, encrypted, with no central server.
Windows pushes folder backup by default, which confuses users, and sharing behaviour differs between personal and business accounts.
It is sync, not backup, so deletions and corruption propagate, and the official Android app has been discontinued in favour of community forks.
Production-ready (both)
Cloud service, desktop app and mobile app
Desktop app and self-hosted server
Not published
Go
Closed source, sold by Microsoft
Open source, MPL-2.0 (weak copyleft)
Closed source: you use it under the maker's terms and cannot change or resell the code.
You can use it inside a product you sell; changes you make to its own files must be shared.
7.4k Wikipedia readers a month on phones
90k GitHub stars
Not known
Established: started 13 years ago, latest release v2.1.7.
Other comparisons
More file sync and cloud storage software
Both sides were judged on 2026-11-03 from makers' descriptions, Wikipedia, READMEs and GitHub data. License, age and popularity lines are worked out directly.