Alternatives To Dropbox: Host It Yourself

Alternatives To Dropbox: Host It Yourself

Peer To PeerGiven events of the past year or so, you may prefer not to store your documents on a third-party server.

There are many alternatives for synchronizing your files while keeping them on your own devices. One option is to use a hardware device like the Transporter to create your own private cloud.

If you are a bit more technical, you can do it with your own computer. The excellently-named Ben Brooks has a good writeup of some options called Goodbye Dropbox:

There are many, many, alternatives out there and I haven’t settled on just one. Instead I’m spreading out and doing the nerdy-masochistic method of using a lot of different services.

I have been hearing more and more good things about BitTorrent Sync (no, not that BitTorrent), and I think I need to dive into it more. Apparently there is a nice new iOS app.

None of these solutions are as simple as Dropbox, but if you want a bit more control over your files, it may be worth the extra legwork.

Have you moved your documents to a more secure off-the-cloud solution? What are you using?

(Photo by Tpoxi)

About the Author

Brooks Duncan helps individuals and small businesses go paperless. He's been an accountant, a software developer, a manager in a very large corporation, and has run DocumentSnap since 2008. You can find Brooks on Twitter at @documentsnap or @brooksduncan. Thanks for stopping by.

Leave a Reply 6 comments

Eric Lorenz - January 22, 2014 Reply

I think I am going to stay with Dropbox for now. The key to our situation is since my wife and daughter are also using this, and they are not as technically inclined… the solution MUST be easy to use. I haven’t found anything else in that class yet. Could I “roll my own” solution? Probably. But due to my work/travel schedule right now, it’s not possible. And, unless it has changed… last time I looked, Dropbox was the only service to have full client support across *all* platforms (Win, Mac, Android, Linux as well as web). That is a requirement for me.

    Brooks Duncan - January 24, 2014 Reply

    I hear you Eric. You just can’t beat Dropbox for ease of use and ubiquity.

Jan - January 14, 2014 Reply

I use Transporter from connected Data since about 5 month and I am very frustrated. The Library-folder disappears every now and then and I have to restart the desktop software multiple times a Day. And sharing is not as easy as with dropbox. You need to download a download software to download a linked file. So what do you do on iOS?
…not satisfied. I´m going to sell the transporter probably and try Synologys play series.

    Brooks Duncan - January 14, 2014 Reply

    Thanks for the note Jan. I agree the sharing thing is not ideal. I’m thinking of picking up a Synology too. I’ve been hearing so many great things about it too.

Boby - January 9, 2014 Reply

Thanks for the tip on this beta product. I just synced a couple of my DEVONThink Office Pro databases for access across my laptop and desktop computers. All is working well so far.

    Brooks Duncan - January 9, 2014 Reply

    Great, thanks for the report Boby!

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